-Caveat Lector- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Amelia" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2000 11:28 PM Subject: Civil rights leader Hosea Williams dies at 74 > He shall be sadly missed, especially around the holidays when he served > meals to so many each year. > AKE > > Civil rights leader Hosea Williams dies at 74 > > By KRISTEN WYATT > The Associated Press > 11/16/00 8:12 PM > > > ATLANTA (AP) -- Hosea Williams, the fiery lieutenant to Martin Luther King > Jr. who was at the forefront of the civil rights struggle for more than > three decades, died of cancer Thursday. He was 74. > > Williams died at Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital, where he was admitted for an > infection Oct. 20. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago and > had a cancerous kidney removed last year. > > "We were with him when he was absent with body and were present when the > Lord took him," said Williams' daughter, Elisabeth Williams-Omilami. "He was > selfless. What he did for this earth will now reveal itself because the > fruit of the seeds he sowed will begin to emerge." > > The chief organizer of King's marches and demonstrations, Williams helped > lead the "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma, Ala., in 1965. Another leader, John > Lewis, called Williams a patriot. > > "Hosea Williams must be looked upon as one of the founding fathers of the > new America," he said. "Through his actions, he helped liberate all of us." > > Williams was also at the Memphis, Tenn., motel where King was shot in 1968. > > He recalled his anger that day during a 1993 interview with The Associated > Press: "I was wishing I could pull some molecules out of the air and make me > a weapon and just wipe out every white person near, because I thought they > had shot Dr. King at that time." > > He continued: "I said to myself, 'America, racists, economic exploiters, you > sure have messed up now ... because there lies the only one among us, the > main one, who has tried to keep us calm. Now you've killed him."' > > The shot, he said, ended King's dream because it fragmented his lieutenants. > > Williams was born Jan. 5, 1926, in Attapulgus, Ga., the illegitimate son of > a blind girl who fled a state training school when she discovered she was > pregnant. He was raised by his grandfather, whom he described as a tough man > who had killed at least three people, including one on church steps on a > Sunday morning. > > A drifter who held odd jobs across Florida, Williams wound up in the Army, > was badly wounded in Europe and returned to Georgia, where he was beaten > bloody while trying to use a whites-only drinking fountain at a bus station > in Americus. > > During the next five weeks in a military hospital, he recalled, he kept > thinking: "I'd fought on the wrong side." > > Williams later taught agricultural chemistry before joining the civil rights > movement. He recalled his children crying in a Savannah drug store when he > told them they could not join white children spinning on soda counter stools > because of segregation rules. > > He became King's advance man throughout the South during the 1960s. > > "I, as field director, would go ahead of the others and mobilize the street > people in the black communities," he recalled. "Jesse Jackson would come in > later and deal with the middle-class blacks and Andy Young would negotiate > with the white power structure." > > Said Jackson: "He never took his mind off of changing the conditions of the > people. He never surrendered his spirit." > > Williams and Lewis led the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in > Selma protesting the denial of voting rights to blacks. All-white troopers > and sheriff's deputies used tear gas, nightsticks and whips to break up the > march. > > Two decades later, Williams led a march into virtually all-white Forsyth > County north of Atlanta and was greeted by Ku Klux Klansmen and their > sympathizers throwing bottles and rocks. > > As he ducked the projectiles, he recalled, he was thinking of King. > > "I know that old rascal was just a-laughin'. Yeah, old King just a-layin' > there in that grave. He was just tickled to death. Old Hosea is still > trying," Williams said. > > After the furor of the '60s, his graying, goateed chin and raspy voice were > well-known at civil rights meetings and protests. In 1977, he was ousted as > executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in a > power struggle. Officially, the reason was that he was not devoting full > time to the job. It took a court order to get Williams to vacate his office. > > Williams scorned most elected black officials, whom he accused of turning > their backs on the American poor. His following was strongest among older > blacks, many of whom weathered the 1960s with him. > > He remained explosive, once taking a traffic conviction to the U.S. Supreme > Court, where he lost. He was arrested twice on charges of trying to carry a > gun aboard an airliner. > > When he was jailed, which happened more than 125 times, he often waved it > off as "just another attempt to silence Hosea Williams" or to stop his > attacks on "the downtown power structure." > > Williams later entered politics, serving as a state representative, Atlanta > city councilman and DeKalb County commissioner before retiring from politics > in 1994. He also operated a company that specialized in cleaning supplies > and a bonding company. > > He remained in the public eye with his holiday dinners for the poor, which > fed thousands each year, and through '60s-style symbolic gestures, such as > jailhouse fasts and camping out atop King's tomb. > > King's widow, Coretta Scott King, lamented his death. > > "He fought tirelessly unto his last breath to help the broken, the hurting > and the downtrodden have a better life," she said. > > Williams' wife, Juanita Williams, died Aug. 23 of a form of anemia at the > age of 75. Their son, Hosea Williams II, was 43 when he died of a rare form > of leukemia in 1998. > > Williams is survived by two other sons and four daughters. Funeral > arrangements were pending. > > > Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not > be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. > > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
