Tha Artivist Writes:
Martin Luther King Jr., center, leading a civil rights march in Alabama in 1965, with James Bevel at far right. (William Lovelace - Getty Images)
This is truly sad indeed...Noted American Civil Rights Icon Rev. James Bevel is facing up to 15 years in prison for molesting his daughter(s)...The same man who helped desegregate Birmingham, Alabama through Project C by making Dr. King use kids whom famously and righteously went to jail for the cause is now going to jail for the infamous and devious act of harming his own kids!!!
Rev. Bevel is an interesting study in contrast indeed...A truly brilliant man who was considered an exceptional and charismatic orator and activist organizer by many inside and outside The Movement...A man whose gifts were put to good use and effect by helping America exorcise some of its racist demons has, for the moment, lost the fight with his own demons...
Before we be too quick to judge this man who is among the youngest of 17 kids from Itta Bena, Ms and who was sexually abused himself (he was having sex with grown women by the time he was 11), let us understand him and his family and how his unhealthy relationships with women,starting with his mother *(not too be too Freudian) grew out of control and ended up tragically destroying and swallowing the innocence of his own seeds...
Let's separate Rev. James Bevel the Man from Rev. James Bevel the Icon...Let us not stain the communal and spiritual achievement of a movement with the personal failings of a man...The Greater The Hero, The Greater The Flaws...Let us remember, not forget or learn that some of the greatest and most revered heroes and sheroes of the Bible were some of the most flawed individuals to ever walked the earth...
Many families, past and present, have suffered under the iconic baggage of some of its members...Picasso was a great artist and genius, but he wasn't such a great father or husband and neither was Miles Davis, Albert Einstein, Charlie Parker or Benjamin Franklin...The list is long and diverse as a Miles Davis Discography, but the point is this, in order to be great or exceptional in the empirical sense you must sacrifice or dare say neglect other parts of your life especially when it comes to intimate relationships with loved ones...Another point is don't negate mutually positive human accomplishments of an individual by giving more emphasis over that individual's human errors and failings...
We all live in glass houses...And to many of us it is perception not reality that counts...
Bevel leaving the courthouse after hearing his daughter's testimony accusing him of sexual abuse. (Copyright Rebecca Drobis 2007)
"What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
-Mark 8:36
The fact that his daughter and former namesake described him as "objective", "scientific" and "emotionally detached" illustrates well how Rev. Bevel was a man who didn't let many people know what he truly thought and felt; people who thought they were close weren't close to him at all or as close as they thought they were...
The Whole Bevel Family are in my prayers and thoughts...
Please read the great article from the Washington Post by Les Carpenter that came out Sunday May 25, 2008 which by the way inspired my blog post:
A Father's Shadow:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052001482.html?referrer=emailarticle
Author Les Carpenter Respond To Readers' Questions:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/22/DI2008052202148.html?sid=ST2008052202216
Martin Luther King Jr., center, leading a civil rights march in Alabama in 1965, with James Bevel at far right. (William Lovelace - Getty Images)
This is truly sad indeed...Noted American Civil Rights Icon Rev. James Bevel is facing up to 15 years in prison for molesting his daughter(s)...The same man who helped desegregate Birmingham, Alabama through Project C by making Dr. King use kids whom famously and righteously went to jail for the cause is now going to jail for the infamous and devious act of harming his own kids!!!
Rev. Bevel is an interesting study in contrast indeed...A truly brilliant man who was considered an exceptional and charismatic orator and activist organizer by many inside and outside The Movement...A man whose gifts were put to good use and effect by helping America exorcise some of its racist demons has, for the moment, lost the fight with his own demons...
Before we be too quick to judge this man who is among the youngest of 17 kids from Itta Bena, Ms and who was sexually abused himself (he was having sex with grown women by the time he was 11), let us understand him and his family and how his unhealthy relationships with women,starting with his mother *(not too be too Freudian) grew out of control and ended up tragically destroying and swallowing the innocence of his own seeds...
Let's separate Rev. James Bevel the Man from Rev. James Bevel the Icon...Let us not stain the communal and spiritual achievement of a movement with the personal failings of a man...The Greater The Hero, The Greater The Flaws...Let us remember, not forget or learn that some of the greatest and most revered heroes and sheroes of the Bible were some of the most flawed individuals to ever walked the earth...
Many families, past and present, have suffered under the iconic baggage of some of its members...Picasso was a great artist and genius, but he wasn't such a great father or husband and neither was Miles Davis, Albert Einstein, Charlie Parker or Benjamin Franklin...The list is long and diverse as a Miles Davis Discography, but the point is this, in order to be great or exceptional in the empirical sense you must sacrifice or dare say neglect other parts of your life especially when it comes to intimate relationships with loved ones...Another point is don't negate mutually positive human accomplishments of an individual by giving more emphasis over that individual's human errors and failings...
We all live in glass houses...And to many of us it is perception not reality that counts...
Bevel leaving the courthouse after hearing his daughter's testimony accusing him of sexual abuse. (Copyright Rebecca Drobis 2007)
"What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
-Mark 8:36
The fact that his daughter and former namesake described him as "objective", "scientific" and "emotionally detached" illustrates well how Rev. Bevel was a man who didn't let many people know what he truly thought and felt; people who thought they were close weren't close to him at all or as close as they thought they were...
The Whole Bevel Family are in my prayers and thoughts...
Please read the great article from the Washington Post by Les Carpenter that came out Sunday May 25, 2008 which by the way inspired my blog post:
A Father's Shadow:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052001482.html?referrer=emailarticle
Author Les Carpenter Respond To Readers' Questions:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/22/DI2008052202148.html?sid=ST2008052202216
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special~Eyewitness To The Crucifixion: The Last Days Of MLK:
It Was All A Dream: Tigers' Connection To 68...
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: February 18, 2007~"We Shall Overcome"-The Henry Hampton Collection (Creator of the Award Winning Eyes On The Prize Documentary) :
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/02/18/tha-artivist-presentsmaking-b
Find A Civil Rights Veteran Today!!!
http://www.crmvet.org/
Find A Civil Rights Veteran Today!!!
http://www.crmvet.org/
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