Reverend Robert Graetz
Unfortunately, this week has been tough, and I sit here tonight with swirling emotions struggling to write this blog. Though my summer has been an amazing one, as I hopefully have conveyed on these pages, not every day is easy. Besides the complicated nature of the work in which I’ve been engaged, I realize the difficulty of living in a place and culture that is virtually foreign to me: relationships with the people I love and care about can change while I’m gone; phone and email conversations are not substitutes for the comfort of friends and family back home; and even the up-to-the minute nature of online news doesn’t replace the experience of living through the headlines, whether they be good or bad.
I wanted to briefly share an inspirational experience that I had tonight. In 1955, Reverend Robert Graetz, who is white, was called to become the minister of Montgomery’s all-black Trinity Church, fresh out of seminary in Ohio. Several months after his appointment, an African American woman, who used Rev. Graetz’s church for youth meetings, was arrested for refusing to leave her seat in the front of the bus. Rev. Graetz called Rosa Parks that night to confirm what had taken place, and the next day stood up in his pulpit and became one of the first ministers, white or black, to publicly support the Montgomery bus boycott. Following his declaration of support, Rev. Graetz became one of the leaders of the boycott, an active participant in the civil rights movement, and a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Earlier tonight I had the opportunity to hear Rev. Graetz speak in his adopted hometown of Montgomery (he’s now semi-retired and living in Ohio). In the audience sat a virtual “who’s who” of civil rights activists: Judge Thomas Gray, whose brother, Fred Gray, is the renowned civil rights attorney made famous when he represented the bus boycotters in court; Reva Harris, a close friend of Dr. King’s, whose husband organized an African American taxi service during the boycott and who provided shelter to 31 Freedom Riders when they came to Montgomery; the niece of E.D. Nixon, considered the “Father of the Civil Rights Movement”; and finally, several members of Trinity Church who actively participated in the boycott.
Though I have experienced something of this sort in my own family, for one of the first times in my life, I observed people treat others of a different race than their own as if they were all part of the same family. The God that Rev. Graetz invoked was not the God of war or of divisiveness, but of compassion, of unity and of respect. Rev. Graetz spoke of the need for the Church and for society to be more accepting of homosexuality, and related to the audience that his oldest son, who was gay, died of AIDS in the 1980s. His son came out, however, with the full support of his family, which I can only imagine as being extremely difficult given the fact that the Lutheran Church only welcomed gays and lesbians in the 1990s.
Rev. Graetz also imparted his advice to the next generation, emphasizing not only the importance of knowing our collective history, but also the need for people to exercise the right to vote. This advice was particularly relevant given President Bush’s signing of the Voting Rights Act today, but also had special meaning for me since I recently visited the Voting Rights Museum in Selma. On a related topic, Rev. Graetz discussed what it means to put one’s life on the line for a cause in which he believed. As he put it, he and the other civil rights leaders knew that some of them would die fighting for their rights, but decided that they were willing to do so in order to be able to change the lives of the generation that succeeded them. (Rev. Graetz’s house was bombed several times in 1956 and 1957).
Though his name may not carry the instant recognition associated with Dr. King’s, meeting Rev. Graetz tonight reinforced the fact that my work here is a continuation of the reform that he first advocated along with Dr. King and the other civil rights leaders of the 1950s and ‘60s in Montgomery. We have come a long way since the days of Martin Luther King’s and Rev. Graetz’s heroic deeds, but we still have farther to go.
P.S. Grit Count = 6 regular grits, 2 cheese grits.
I wanted to briefly share an inspirational experience that I had tonight. In 1955, Reverend Robert Graetz, who is white, was called to become the minister of Montgomery’s all-black Trinity Church, fresh out of seminary in Ohio. Several months after his appointment, an African American woman, who used Rev. Graetz’s church for youth meetings, was arrested for refusing to leave her seat in the front of the bus. Rev. Graetz called Rosa Parks that night to confirm what had taken place, and the next day stood up in his pulpit and became one of the first ministers, white or black, to publicly support the Montgomery bus boycott. Following his declaration of support, Rev. Graetz became one of the leaders of the boycott, an active participant in the civil rights movement, and a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Earlier tonight I had the opportunity to hear Rev. Graetz speak in his adopted hometown of Montgomery (he’s now semi-retired and living in Ohio). In the audience sat a virtual “who’s who” of civil rights activists: Judge Thomas Gray, whose brother, Fred Gray, is the renowned civil rights attorney made famous when he represented the bus boycotters in court; Reva Harris, a close friend of Dr. King’s, whose husband organized an African American taxi service during the boycott and who provided shelter to 31 Freedom Riders when they came to Montgomery; the niece of E.D. Nixon, considered the “Father of the Civil Rights Movement”; and finally, several members of Trinity Church who actively participated in the boycott.
Though I have experienced something of this sort in my own family, for one of the first times in my life, I observed people treat others of a different race than their own as if they were all part of the same family. The God that Rev. Graetz invoked was not the God of war or of divisiveness, but of compassion, of unity and of respect. Rev. Graetz spoke of the need for the Church and for society to be more accepting of homosexuality, and related to the audience that his oldest son, who was gay, died of AIDS in the 1980s. His son came out, however, with the full support of his family, which I can only imagine as being extremely difficult given the fact that the Lutheran Church only welcomed gays and lesbians in the 1990s.
Rev. Graetz also imparted his advice to the next generation, emphasizing not only the importance of knowing our collective history, but also the need for people to exercise the right to vote. This advice was particularly relevant given President Bush’s signing of the Voting Rights Act today, but also had special meaning for me since I recently visited the Voting Rights Museum in Selma. On a related topic, Rev. Graetz discussed what it means to put one’s life on the line for a cause in which he believed. As he put it, he and the other civil rights leaders knew that some of them would die fighting for their rights, but decided that they were willing to do so in order to be able to change the lives of the generation that succeeded them. (Rev. Graetz’s house was bombed several times in 1956 and 1957).
Though his name may not carry the instant recognition associated with Dr. King’s, meeting Rev. Graetz tonight reinforced the fact that my work here is a continuation of the reform that he first advocated along with Dr. King and the other civil rights leaders of the 1950s and ‘60s in Montgomery. We have come a long way since the days of Martin Luther King’s and Rev. Graetz’s heroic deeds, but we still have farther to go.
P.S. Grit Count = 6 regular grits, 2 cheese grits.
posted by Ariel Glasner @ 12:50 PM
1 Comments:
At 2:29 PM,
Anonymous said…
In the early 1970's I happened into a new student at Westerville high, his name was Bobby Graetz and we struck up a wonderful friendship that will remain with me for the rest of my life. I was introduced to his parents, Jeanie and Robert Graetz and remember stories about their life in Montgomery and their participation in the early civil rights movement. Never did the Graetz's brag about how deeply involved they were nor did they selfishly pride themselves on their accomplishments. As such, I did not realize how important their contribution was and at that age, I did not have the insight to ask. What I know about the Graetz' is something I learned as I grew older, and the more I learn, the more I want to thank them for their heroism and for allowing me to share a part of their life.
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