We were always very close to the priest. They would always come over to eat on Sundays with us and
everything. I’m glad you asked about the dynamic of the church because I always had a problem with the
church. Simply because . . . And it's still that way today: when you walk in, there's a black side of the
church and a white side of the church. My daddy was always a rebel. So we sat on the white side. And the
graveyard is separated by the black side and the white side. My daddy is buried on the white side. Yeah.
That's what . . . My parents are the only two blacks buried on the opposite side of the graveyard. He just
wasn’t having it. He was an activist. I don't know how that got instilled in him to be that way, but he
wasn’t having it. I look out on the congregation, and I always wondered how can a priest look out on the
congregation on a regular basis and see the people, the parishioners, divided that way and not ever speak
on it? Not ever say anything. That's why I had a problem with it. That's why I didn't mind going to church
at school because it wasn't that way. I was only one of nine blacks, but still, you know you didn't feel
like you didn't belong. And it just felt strange.
Link to Biography
