Calvin Butts

Template:TOCnestleft Calvin Butts

Praise for Ralph Warnock

A September, 2001 article from the Baltimore Sun Raphael Warnock addressed Raphael Warnock's new position as pastor of Douglas Memorial Community Church in West Baltimore, as well as his participation "in a daylong symposium: "The Black Church's Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic."

From the article:

The Rev. Calvin Butts, pastor of Abyssinian, said he wasn't surprised Warnock was hired.

"He's one of the brightest and most intelligent and academically prepared young clergymen in the country," Butts said. "He got along excellently with the church members of all ages. He's a forceful leader, very serious about the issues that impact especially the African-American community. He's one of the more thoughtful preachers of his generation."

Dream of Equality awardee

Calvin Butts is a past recipient of Asian Americans for Equality's annual Dream of Equality award.

Rioter

From an interview with History Makers:

HM "And you know, at the time you went to Morehouse [College, Atlanta, Georgia], it was at that the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Did you become involved in civil rights activities?"

COB "Absolutely. A number of things: we organized. One of our most vigorous organizing activities was around Horace Tate when he was running for mayor of Atlanta. But you know, I worked with [HM] Bernice [Johnson] Reagon, who was in "Sweet Honey and the Rock." She used to have gatherings down at the Magnolia Ballroom in Vine City. And I remember playing the role of the Smoke King. I am the Smoke King. I am black. (Laughter) It was great, [W.E.B.] DuBois. And we talked a lot about--we had the Soul Roots Festival. And you know, I remember Stokely Carmichael coming through, H. Rap Brown, Cleve[land] Sellers. I remember going down to South Carolina State [University, Orangeburg, South Carolina] after the [Orange] massacre, so very much so. But of course, '67 [1967]--[Reverend Dr. Martin Luther] King [Jr.] was dead in April of '68 [1968], I remember rioting."

HM "What happened, specifically?"

"Well, we were watching "Shane" in Sale Chapel. And they turned off the movie, which almost started a riot 'cause it was right at the best part of "Shane," "Shane." Say what? And the movie went (unclear). They had already announced that Martin King had been shot, so that had sort of sent a reverberation. But then they put the movie back on, so we said, well. And then they announced that he was dead. The movie went off, and we went off. I remember going across to Canterbury House and meeting with some fellows that I had been working within an organization called PRIDE, People Ready In Defense of Ebony. Earlier PRIDE had gone to the infirmary there. Dr. [James B.?] Ellison had said you know, what would happen if we had some gunshot wounds. And I said get out of here. We guys--(unclear)--revolutionaries. But now it was serious business.

We, we dug up all of our preplans and we went to another location and made a bunch of Molotov cocktails. We bought the gasoline, filled up the, the bottles and stuff, the rags, and then we put them in bags. And then we went out that evening, and we burned several stores to the ground. We firebombed a local church. The fire caught in the basement. They got to it before it raged throughout the church. The church is still there. We terrorized cars with whites in them. And we were on a good roll. I had about, I started out with about seven of these Molotov cocktails, and I had about two left. And at that time, there was a friend of mine and I, and we were walking across this open field. I think the Morehouse School of Medicine may be sitting there now or just across the street from them. It was right in that area. And I remember as we were walking, we heard this whir, and we looked around and it was an armored car, like a, an Atlanta police, like a half-track truck or something. And I tell this story, I said the only thing I can see was a guy sitting on top with a neck that was very red, and he had a shotgun in his hand. And the moonlight reflected off the shotgun, so you could see this long silver barrel and this guy with a red neck holding this gun, and this half-track truck, and this big light flashing. I guess they were looking for us. And I remember telling the audience, I looked down at one of these Molotov cocktails, and I looked up at this half-track truck and this guy with this big shotgun and his very red neck. And all of a sudden I understood that non, that violence was not the way (laughter); nonviolence was the way."

References

Template:Reflist