Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
52
Pastor recounts 'cultural training' rejection of racism
As a child in rural Florida in the 1940s, the Rev. Harry Mann was taught to believe that black people were inferior. But the voice of God reversed that "cultural training" in 1958, Mann said, when he watched Martin Luther King Jr. lead a demonstration on TV.
Now a retired Methodist pastor living in St. Augustine, Mann shared his story as the nation's oldest city celebrat
d activists and the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 last week. The commemorations finished Sunday with the unveiling of a vision for a civil rights marker in the Plaza de la Constitucion in
downtown St. Augustine.
Mann's change of heart, a triumph of the civil rights struggle, happened in a
boardinghouse in Hardee County while he watched a televised demonstration. At first, he felt a tinge of resentment and anger toward the protesters.
"Then a voice came up in my head, saying, 'Harry, is that what it means to love your neighbor as yourself?'" Mann said. "It came from the outside in the sense that it was not part of my cultural training from growing up. I guess my religious training kicked in, and for the first time, I saw the difference between my religious training and my cultural training."
After a stint in the Air Force, Mann became a Methodist pastor and later served in several churches in Florida. The 65-year-old moved to St. Au
gustine full time in August with his wife, Pam. He now works as a chaplain at several nursing homes in St. Johns County. He attends First United Methodist Church, where he publicized his experien
ce d
uring a church apology to black activists last week. The activists had been turned away from the church in 1964 because of their race.
"The big change is in the beginning, when you begin to see everybody as equals," Mann said. "Because we were not taught that blacks were equals, as we were growing up."
He said he hopes his story of religion erasing racism will help people. That moment in 1958 was the one moment in his life when he really felt God speaking to him, he said. It wasn't audible. It was in his conscience, he said.
Carrie Johnson, a spokeswoman for St. Augustine's 40th Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations, known as 40th ACCORD, was present at First United Methodist Church when Mann told his story last week.
Sunday, she was in the downtown plaza as members of 40th ACCORD spoke of their dreams to erect a bust of King or a sculpture of the freedom marchers in the plaza. Another hope is to create
a "
freedom trail" along the streets and establishments where activists marched and protested, she said.
Gerald Eubanks, leader of the Civil Rights Committee of St. Augustine, said he wants
to create a "wall of freedom" that would be nationally significant and not necessarily in the plaza. Like 40th ACCORD, the committee had its final event of the week Sunday, a reception in honor of St. Augustine activist R.B. Hayling.
Though Johnson said she doesn't know Mann, her reaction to his story was "Praise God."
"We all need to exhume and get rid of the bitterness inside ourselves," Johnson said.
******************
Apparently, Mr. Mann doesn't do any research nor does he read New Nation News, or he would know that in no way are negroes the equal of t
he white man. The voice he heard back in 1958 is an indication that he is schizophrenic.
I'm sorry to say I was Baptized in the United Methodist Church when I was 12 year
s old. Sinc
e then, I've learned that the United Methodist are the second biggest bunch of pissy panty apologists, commie/homo supporters that walk the face of the earth, right behind Catholics.
T.N.B.
Pastor recounts 'cultural training' rejection of racism
As a child in rural Florida in the 1940s, the Rev. Harry Mann was taught to believe that black people were inferior. But the voice of God reversed that "cultural training" in 1958, Mann said, when he watched Martin Luther King Jr. lead a demonstration on TV.
Now a retired Methodist pastor living in St. Augustine, Mann shared his story as the nation's oldest city celebrat
d activists and the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 last week. The commemorations finished Sunday with the unveiling of a vision for a civil rights marker in the Plaza de la Constitucion in
downtown St. Augustine.
Mann's change of heart, a triumph of the civil rights struggle, happened in a
boardinghouse in Hardee County while he watched a televised demonstration. At first, he felt a tinge of resentment and anger toward the protesters.
"Then a voice came up in my head, saying, 'Harry, is that what it means to love your neighbor as yourself?'" Mann said. "It came from the outside in the sense that it was not part of my cultural training from growing up. I guess my religious training kicked in, and for the first time, I saw the difference between my religious training and my cultural training."
After a stint in the Air Force, Mann became a Methodist pastor and later served in several churches in Florida. The 65-year-old moved to St. Au
gustine full time in August with his wife, Pam. He now works as a chaplain at several nursing homes in St. Johns County. He attends First United Methodist Church, where he publicized his experien
ce d
uring a church apology to black activists last week. The activists had been turned away from the church in 1964 because of their race.
"The big change is in the beginning, when you begin to see everybody as equals," Mann said. "Because we were not taught that blacks were equals, as we were growing up."
He said he hopes his story of religion erasing racism will help people. That moment in 1958 was the one moment in his life when he really felt God speaking to him, he said. It wasn't audible. It was in his conscience, he said.
Carrie Johnson, a spokeswoman for St. Augustine's 40th Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations, known as 40th ACCORD, was present at First United Methodist Church when Mann told his story last week.
Sunday, she was in the downtown plaza as members of 40th ACCORD spoke of their dreams to erect a bust of King or a sculpture of the freedom marchers in the plaza. Another hope is to create
a "
freedom trail" along the streets and establishments where activists marched and protested, she said.
Gerald Eubanks, leader of the Civil Rights Committee of St. Augustine, said he wants
to create a "wall of freedom" that would be nationally significant and not necessarily in the plaza. Like 40th ACCORD, the committee had its final event of the week Sunday, a reception in honor of St. Augustine activist R.B. Hayling.
Though Johnson said she doesn't know Mann, her reaction to his story was "Praise God."
"We all need to exhume and get rid of the bitterness inside ourselves," Johnson said.
******************
Apparently, Mr. Mann doesn't do any research nor does he read New Nation News, or he would know that in no way are negroes the equal of t
he white man. The voice he heard back in 1958 is an indication that he is schizophrenic.
I'm sorry to say I was Baptized in the United Methodist Church when I was 12 year
s old. Sinc
e then, I've learned that the United Methodist are the second biggest bunch of pissy panty apologists, commie/homo supporters that walk the face of the earth, right behind Catholics.
T.N.B.