Tennessee Independent Media Center
18 Jan 2006
By Anna Thompson

Nashville, TN: Speaking to a full house at Vanderbilt University on a snowy evening in Nashville, James Lawson returned to the university which rejected him for his civil rights work in the early 1960’s during the Nashville sit-ins. Lawson, who has not lived in Nashville since 1962, met his wife in Tennessee and had his first child while studying as a divinty student. In 1960, Vanderbilt Trustees expelled Lawson for his civil rights work. Lawson continued his work through the Fellowship of Reconciliation and was eventually successful in desegregating Nashville’s lunch counters. In 1970, Lawson’s expulsion was rescinded by the Board of Trustees.

Lawson felt that the damage being done to the whole nationby segregation was immeasurable, “I remember the signs that said, ‘No Jew Allowed’ and ‘No Colored Person Allowed.’ These signs were everywhere. I was first refected in my own home town in Ohio. What damage was this doing to our nation? We knew we had a responsibility to move out and we knew something was wrong. That is in essence what Rosa Parks felt. “

Referring to the civil rights movement, Lawson recalled key efforts through the 1960’s to desegregate America. Lawson was critical of recent efforts to disconnect the memory of Martin Luther King from the populist movement which he spoke with and for. Additinally Lawson was critical of efforts to sanitize the memory of Martin Luther King, “King was, in his own time, perhaps the most hated man in America.” Lawson also pointed out that MLK was a paster, a father and had a family which is often forgotten, referring to King’s ordinary life, “We sanitize King’s life at our own risk and at the risk of our nation, saying it is easier to build monuments to the dead than it is to make a better world for the living.”

Finally, Lawson said King was the finest prophet the United States has ever produced, “He represents the prophetic work of one who has a profound sense of awe. King pulled together both the ordinary and the extraordinary. He stands on the shoulders of the prophets. King was the finest representative of the United States since Jefferson.” Lawson said King stood for the second American revolution, and that he tried to “address the wrongs and turn them toward the rights.” Lawson praised King’s non-violent approach to social change, “Since 1939 the major portion of our public tax dollar has gone toward building the present defense industry, this is a direct consequence of our failure to change.”

Lawson began addressing current issues of what he termed the struggle. “We have a long way to go before we get there,” Lawson said, beginning his critique with the defense industry then going on to critique ultra-right nationalism and the politics of greed. “We first called our movement the black freedom movement, but it was a movement for all the people of our nation.”

He then went on to the domestic gains achieved by the civil rights movement, saying that Head Start, Affordable Housing, Medicare and Scholarship Funds were far greater results of the struggle for civil rights than desegregation or the right to vote, “Remember that elections can be easily manipulated.” Lawson said there is no greater injustice than the assault of Plantation Capitalism currently in fashion. He said Americans must redress the poverty level and less wages that many American workers earn. “Our movement must be an inclusive movement, it must cut across all lines and not become the responsibility of the few, but of every one of us. When I think of the 1960’s I think of the hundreds of nameless people who participated in the Nashville sit-ins. These anonymous people were the ones who created community.”

While discussing the important efforts of the 1960’s, Lawson also stressed that any social movement must be non-violent, “Non-violence taps the section of the human mind which embraces love and compassion instead of fear and uncertainty - nonviolence is the only way the most profound aspirations of human beings can be fulfilled. Let us never think warfare and violence will bring us justice and democracy anywhere. Means and ends interconnect, war does not produce a democratic people. We will not crush the desire of the Iraqi people to govern themselves. Religious leaders must stop praising a violent and oppressive administration. With our wealth and power we have become the number one purveyor of violence around the world.”

After addressing the current situation with the war in Iraq, Lawson said the civil rights movement of social justice belongs to all people, “We sought to have people understand that no matter the environment in which we live we can love rather than hate, and that we will treat one another with compassion and dignity and there are no forces which can turn us in the opposite direction. We must, if we want a loving community, to reach out to our neighbors and build dignity and community with one another if our nation is to truly change.” Lawson concluded his lecture quoting the efforts of pre-civil war abolitionists, “If you honor the movement then let your life become a marvelous illustration of the world you desire.”