(television clicking) (static buzzing) - We can't make it if
we don't work together. And I want folk
to understand this, that we live in a free country. And I've been free twice. One, just by being born
'cause I'm a human being. But, when I met Jesus,
he freed me indeed. (audience clapping) - There were a lot
of people at that time, knew about King
but in their town was little small-minded people. They didn't want
to recognize King. - Every city has a
street name, an avenue, named after Dr. King
. We don't have that yet. (audience clapping) But, it's coming
though, isn't it? (audience clapping) - Every little county
now, like in Carolina, Midway, Brunswick, they
to their own parade now. But these counties,
they were afraid. And that was one thing
about Reverend Mitchell, he was not afraid. And that's how you know
he was a God sent man. He wasn't afraid of anything. - The most memorable story
I have of Reverend Mitchell is when we were invited
to the White House to witness the signing of
the
Affordable Health Care Act. There were about five people
in the state of Georgia that was invited
to the White House by President Obama and
it was an exciting time. There were a number of
very important people from across this nation. I remember, Al Sharpton,
noticed Benny on the second row and walked up to Benny and said, "What are you doing here?" "And what are you
doing so close?" "This is only for
the important folks." And Reverend Mitchell responded, "I am who I am." He knew his place
and the
president knew his place. This president knew
what he meant to Georgia because of being
instrumental in not only getting the president
elected but talking positive about what the
Affordable Health Care Act meant for Georgia and meant
for this whole country. - The 11th District was
a political nightmare for the good ol'
boys in Georgia. And the reason is because
of the media markets and campaigning and what
it was able to allow a political
personality to build. - On Tuesday, I'm gonna
vot
e for Susan Weiner and this is how it's done. - Not only did Reverend Mitchell unite the community
whether it was Republican, Democrat, black,
white, male, female, it didn't matter to him. - Democrat, Republican,
once you get to at certain level they're
all the same anyway. But, increasingly,
that's what the people were beginning to
understand and they were demanding real representation. - Reverend Mitchell,
he was empowering African-Americans
and people in general who felt that their rights
had
been trampled on or had not received equal
treatment under the law. - Elected officials
are quote, not leaders, they are elected leaders. Leaders are not
elected to positions. If you read your bible
leaders of the people emerge. Elected officials are
elected to articulate the people's wishes. And if there's any
elected official in here that don't do
what the folks said, you're time is limited. (audience clapping) - We got 50 people
elected in that area just because we went
in with a vengeance.
- He was not one who didn't
mind bucking the system. It wasn't about color
it was about the content of somebody's character and
what they intended to do. So, in that respect,
he truly followed Martin Luther King's teachings. - I'm Reverend Benny R.
Mitchell Jr. I'm pastor of the Connor's
Temple Baptist Church. I'm president of
Con-Ed Incorporated. - Con-Ed is Reverend
Mitchell's baby. He had a vision, he had a dream, that he wanted a facility
that was available to this community. He wanted to ha
ve a
place for people to come. He wanted a place where
Connor's Temple members could come, but any other
member, any other person in the community
could come and be able to find things that
they need to help them. - He had a passion and a
love for all of God's people. And it showed throughout
his community service, what he did in his
church, what he did outside of his church,
and it was awe inspiring. - Con-Ed will be
a resource center to every family that's
in Chatham County who chooses to take
advantage of what we offer. We will be able to offer it, whatever you need,
voluntarily free. This center, hopefully,
will be able to offer these preliminary
things to the family. - Let's give him applause
while he's alive. Would you stand
and greet the keeper of the dream in
Savannah, Georgia. The chairman of the
Martin Luther King Association Observance
Day committee. My fraternity brother,
Reverend Bennie R. Mitchell. (inspiring music) - Get that humming
out this mic now. Don't mess me up. I
ain't wrote the check yet. (crowd cheering) Look at the tenth verse,
see how Jesus organized. Before he went to do
what he was gonna do. Jesus said make
the men sit down. And the point here is
you can't do anything without organization. And the same light,
we as a people, we just think that
we can just take over, just help the organization,
by helping you lead. You can't go ahead of the
leader, the leader needs you and you need the leader. No, no, you got to organize. - I was born and reared in
Edgefield, South Carolina. I went to school, W.E. Parker
High School and elementary. Benedict College in Columbia
in 1966 through '70. And I went to Atlanta in 1971
to attend graduate school at the Morehouse
School of Religion, where we really felt at home. Where blacks were really
in political leadership and somewhat control. And plus, we had
Dr. King's father. I worked with him while
being a student there. So, we came in
contact with a whole lot of the guys that
we, and preachers, that we rea
d about and
that we had heard about and that we had heard preach. That really preached
a social gospel. - As the saying goes,
everybody has a history. I knew of him because
we were in the same Union Third Division were
the churches come together for education wise
and what have you. But, this particular
Sunday I went to Lee Perrin's Service Station
in McCormick, South Carolina and he just walked
over to me and said, "You're going to be my wife." And I looked at him
as if he was crazy. We dated a
nd the love between
us just began to grow. And I do feel within myself
it was a divine intervention that we came together. After marriage, we went to
T.C. in Atlanta, Georgia. After he graduated from
T.C., he got his degree, I got mine and then we
went from place to place looking for employment. We went to North
Carolina, South Carolina. So finally, we got a
letter from Savannah and when we got
here, the very first time, it was like this is home. (organ music) - I met the Reverend
Bennie R. Mitc
hell in 1974 when he first arrived here
in Savannah, Chatham County. - At that time he
was a tall slender guy and he came to Savannah in
side-burns and a big afro. And I was so inspired
by what he had to say. - When I was about 13 years old, I saw him preaching
from behind the pulpit at Connor's Temple. The church was
packed and there he was preaching his usual
sermon of social justice and economic justice. - The messages that he
delivered, it captured a young teenage boys ear in that he incorpo
rated in his message real life situations
that we had to face after Sunday morning. - [Bennie] So we see King
Belcher as he honors his guests, having a ball,
having a good time. Until he really lost
control, he just already, he was already an idol worshiper but his wine made
him lose all respect for the only true God
and the things of God. Note if you please, which
brings me to this point, we as church folk, labor,
Civil Rights groups, women, poor, black within
these last 35 years of limited fre
edom,
we've become drunk. So drunk with positions
and titles with no power. Materialism until
we've become selfish and low-down, apathetic
and blind and deaf until we've lost a
sense of community. And in many cases we've
lost and we are losing our families, our children
are telling us what to do. No more yes sirs and no
ma'ams, please and thank yous, no sense of struggle, they
have no sense of struggle and the pain that we
have gone through with. As a nation of people
it seem nobody cares for an
ybody any more. We've become so drunk for
power, drunk for money until we advertise ourselves
during election time with capital letters,
I am for sale. Some folk will do anything
now for recognition, even if means lying and
degrading and cheating that which is holy
just to get their way. But, I tell you tonight because
the bible is still true. Galatians 6:7 says, "Be not
deceived; God is not mocked;" "for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap." For the hand is
writing on the wall. - T
he first time I met
Reverend Mitchell, he came over to my office. I was then pastoring
St. John Baptist Church and he said I came
over just to sorta look over your shoulders to see you know, what you're doing. You seem to have
had some success and I'm the new pastor
at Connor's Temple. - I knew about Dr.
Mitchell from the country. And he and I had lived
about 50 miles apart and I knew about
him through singing. - The people came
county wide to witness at Connor's Temple
this eloquent speaker who
could also sing. - And Reverend was
a dynamite singer. And he has some music out there. Hymns and anthems
and spirituals, a man with a pitch. (gospel music) ♪ There's a bright side ♪ ♪ Somewhere ♪ ♪ There's a bright side ♪ ♪ Somewhere ♪ - We had one heck of a singer. And I heard Reverend Mitchell
sing for the first time and I was thoroughly
impressed at that kind of vocals, harmony could
come out of this man that was so hard-spoken
when it came to calling problems for what
they were in this com
munity. To be so genuine
when it came to music. (gospel music) ♪ Something ♪ ♪ Happened ♪ ♪ And I ♪ ♪ And now, and now I know ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Eee ♪ ♪ The dream ♪ - We then called him
the singing preacher and at that time everyone wanted to come hear the
singing preacher. - He loved the song Wonderful. And he would sing
that and sometimes we would be together in churches and he'd start it off
and I would take over. Nobody could do it like Bennie. ♪ Wonderful ♪ ♪ God is so wonderful ♪ -
And I loved his
singing so much. God, he could sing,
it stirred my soul when he sang. ♪ If you never tried God ♪ ♪ Try the Lord one day ♪ ♪ See when my father ♪ ♪ Come down and make a way ♪ ♪ And Oh, I came
here to praise God ♪ ♪ 'Cause he is so wonderful ♪ - The BRM Choir
was the brain child of Reverend Bennie R.
Mitchell Jr. - He noticed that there
were a lot of children sitting in the congregation
not participating. He called a meeting with the
children and their parents on a second Sunday in
September. From that meeting, the BRM
Junior Choir was organized. - His focus was to get
the young people involved. Which consisted of children from ages four through
high school graduation. I was at that
organizational meeting and I am still with that choir in the capacity of second
in command advisor. The head advisor is
Ms. Beatrice Wire-Mack. - I can remember growing
up watching my two brothers sing in the choir and
then later on my sister. I can remember about 130 young
people sing in the
choir. I think my brothers were a
part of the first generation of the BRM choirs
and to my knowledge there were like three
or four generations of us who came
through that choir. - Reverend Mitchell,
when he went to go preach at certain places, he took
his congregation with him. Primarily, he wanted
to expose the kids to something that they
didn't normally see. So, I went to Washington, D.C. I went to New York City. - Atlanta, Columbus, Macon,
sometimes in Florida, an occasional trip
to South Car
olina. So, that was actually
my first opportunity to travel through the
BRM Choir beyond my hometown here in Savannah. - But we were
always like a family. Rehearsals were all day. We ate, we traveled, we
played, we fought, we loved. - Meeting other young
people just like myself, other young boys and young girls who were also fired up and
passionate about God and Christ, but also were
singing and lending their voices to help
build his kingdom. So, very very grateful for that and I owe all that
to
Reverend Mitchell. - Well, I'll never
forget the fondest memory of singing solo, leading
songs in the choir. (choir singing) - I think the uniqueness
about the BRM Choir was in Reverend
Mitchell's own unique way, we had initial choir
voices but he was trying to help us
find our own voice, not only within Christ
but also within the world as leaders and as people
who wanted to make an impact and have a ministry
within the world. - Our text this morning is
taken from the New Testament, Book of Heb
rews the 12th
Chapter and the second verse. - Being much much
older than he is, he was a young man with
an old man's style. - See, before some of us
get the glory of beauty land something may be
standing in our way. It could be commitment,
it could be a neighbor. Can I get a witness? - All across this country when
folk would call him to preach and I knew this first-hand
because I was his musician. I was his traveling musician. Folk would listen to the content of what Reverend
Mitchell had to say
. The fact of the matter,
he was always relevant with his preaching
and I think that's what made his preaching
powerful, being relevant. - You don't choose the
cross, the cross chooses you. But, you choose your battles. You bought the car
'cause you like the car. (audience clapping) You got the woman because
you like the woman. You got the man
because you like the man. Can I get a witness? But a cross, you don't
choose it yourself. The cross chooses you. So then what is a cross? A cross is volun
tary
responsibility. Something that
you don't have to do, but it's something on the inside that compels you to do it. - Bennie Mitchell was a
supremely talented preacher and singer and all these gifts. Many people have these gifts, they become entertainers. Bennie became an emancipator. And that's a great
difference between being an entertainer, keep them
happy in their predicament, he sought to
change our situation. And so, I cherish our
relationship and his memory. - So, by being here
maybe a
year or two, I observed that every
ethnic group had their own kind of celebration
and festivities. So, the only thing then
that I saw was lacking because there was
no Black history, African-American
history being taught and there wasn't any
encouragement to do so. - He and a number of ministers
went before city council and they wanted
to have an official Martin Luther King Day
in the city of Savannah. - This is something
that had to be. This was an American,
he was a Georgian, Noble Peace Prize
winner,
so he had all the attributes that was needed and
deserved a holiday because he gave his life and
really set the world free. (audience clapping) - Let me give you
a good example, I took a poll in our church
yesterday of 150 students. Young people in
our church ranging from the age of five to 17. Out of those 150
students, I had half, three-quarters of my
children did not have anything mentioned
in the school system that month about
Martin Luther King Jr. Not nothin'. - We could have had a
Martin
Luther King Observance Day without it getting political. But, when you start
talking about having it recognized by
government that's when the politics got in to it. But, it's not really a
political celebration as such, although much of what
Dr. King represented was political as well as social. - What we wanted to
do was to make sure that the school honored
the holiday, also. Although you got the
city, but every entity has it's own structure
or rules to go by. So, we wanted the school
to
recognize that day. So, now that's the only
way we could get them to recognize it was to
hit 'em where it hurt. - I don't know if
it still is but ADA, average daily
attendance, school systems get so much money
for each child each day. Which meant that if the
parents did not allow their children to come to school that meant X number of dollars
the system would not get. So, that's a tool that we used. We tried getting the
parents to not allow their children to
come to school. We were boycotting
th
e school system. - What I'm saying, don't
wait on white teachers to do what you can do
in your own classroom. (audience clapping) You gotta act responsible. If you do not
protect what's yours, ain't nobody else gonna do it. If you don't support this day, nobody else will
support this day. (audience clapping) - It was historic. It was something
that the children should have been exposed
to because they were not getting these types
of things in school. They need to know their history. They need to
know why
we were observing MLK. They need to know who
Martin Luther King was. - The point is that we got
it to be a holiday here before the national accepted
it as a national holiday. So, we got Dr. King's holiday
actually on his birthday, which was January 15th. We must not forget, that this
is not a holiday for rest, nor for commercializing. As sister Dorothy Cotton said, "We don't need no white
sales going on on this day." Dr. King shed his blood for us, so that we can live as equal. We don'
t need
any drunken parties. We don't need
any frivolous play. This is a day for
study, struggle, prayer and preparation
of the victory to come. - Prior to 1972, there was
no continuous celebration or remembrance of the works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
in Savannah. So, in January,
January 15, 1972, the EOA decided to sponsor
a program in memorence. - Which it was not
established as a big thing. It was only done at
the EOA and it was held at the EOA center. But, Reverend Mitchell
made it nation
wide. It was always
televised, it got on radio, and so he really
made it a big thing. - This Observance
Day Association of the Martin Luther King Jr.
Celebration of Chatham County, it was for the whole county. So, everybody had or fit
in to make the holiday what it is. Some of the key people
helped with the organization. Ben Gay who is now deceased,
who was the president of the Savannah Emancipation
Association, he and that group, the Interdenominational
Ministerial Alliance, Savannah Baptist Mi
nisters
Union and the Evangelicals, we had all of those
particular ministerial groups plus we had some
fraternity groups. But, when you talk about
just hard-nosed people, you talk about Ben Gay,
you talk about J.B. Bates, you talk about William K.
Miller, Carl Faison, who is dead,
all those guys are going on to be with the Lord,
older preachers. And then we had
the business side. We had Benny
Polote, we had Joe Bell. We had Bob James
and the present mayor, Brother Otis Johnson was
a good worker
with us. Who also spoke
as an activist when we went to do things. And Roy Jackson
was very instrumental in helping us to
get things done. And we appreciate
the black women, Coalition of Black
Women who came in, who were teachers
who wanted to help. They were behind the scenes
because the were afraid of their jobs, but they made
sure that we got organized. Some of the speakers we've
had, we've had all the greats. And we wanted to
expose this community of the people that I
had been exposed to, bec
ause these were the
people that were making things happen and making
our world and our country a better place to
live for all people. Some of the speakers we
had, we had Wyatt T. Walker, who served as
secretary for SCLC. We had Fred Shuttlesworth, which is one of
the three founders. Dr. Joseph Lowery, we've
had Dr. David Abernathy. We've had representative
Tyrone Brooks. We even had Jesse Jackson. Ben Hooks was the national
president of the NAACP. Then we had Dorothy Cotton,
one of the first wom
en that were in the
movement, who was a part of that inner
circle of Dr. King. Now, y'all gonna love this. (crowd cheering) (crowd clapping) - Reverend Mitchell
had me paint Dr. King for the Civic Center. I think that there was
a big us celebratory, you know, big festive day. Like there was like 8 or 9
thousand people in Civic Center, like, it was like a
rockstar show for that day. It was filled, I was very happy to be a part of history. I knew we were making history, to have a big
celebration b
efore D.C., before New York, before L.A., little ol' Savannah
was number one. It felt real good. - This is our leader. (crowd cheering) Let's follow his premises,
because if we don't stand ain't nobody gonna
give us nothin'. We must stick together. (crowd cheering) - I believe that at
that point in time, Reverend Mitchell's
fearlessness, his outspokenness and
his willing to step up to the plate certainly
was very important in developing that
observance day. - You've been working on
this parade p
retty steady. What do you think Bennie? - I think it's great Lindy,
not only with the interest, but if you noticed it just went
by the sheriff's department and we got all the
law enforcement. - Everything started
with that police car, the 1953 police car and
the three police officers, the first black officers there. - So that shows the
participation is growing and the reason why it's
growing so is because if we did not have this
day, the sensitivity would not be there
for the community. - I don'
t really think
that Reverend Mitchell ever got the proper
credit that he deserves for the Martin Luther
King Observance Day that's going on right now
in the City of Savannah. I remember years ago when
he and a number of others tried to get this Martin Luther
King Observance Day started. So, they wanted to
have a big breakfast, so they invited a lot of people and I was the person
that they asked to be the Master of Ceremonies. And, I remember talking
to the Reverend Mitchell and Diane Harvey John
son later about how it was
difficult to get people to come to that the
first time we had that. - My friends, if Dr. King
were here today I believe he would say to you, that's budgets can reflect justice and mercy
and redemption. That the way we decide
to spend our money is a reflection on
the nation's soul. That what we do in the
priorities of our spending, how we educate our children,
how we prepare jobs not of redundancy
but of jobs with future is a testimony to
economic justice. (audience cla
pping) - One of the original
goals of the outset was to foster better
relations between the races. We are still living in
a segregated society. And, we wanted to reach out
to the business community because many of the
people who were sitting around the table
were business people. And we felt that
economic priority, economic development in the
African-American community was key to moving the
total community forward. - When Reverend
Mitchell became involved in a political
scene in Savannah, he wan
ted to bring about change. There was an organization
that I was involved with, the Political Advisory Council, and we may not have always
agreed on who to endorse or what candidates,
but what he did, he raised the hard
questions about what was a candidate
going to do for Savannah, particularly, for the
African-American community. And he was very
adamant in his beliefs and what he wanted
to see to affect change in this community. - Particularly when people
are running for office. He would make su
re
that these politicians, to include myself, remained true to what we said
we were going to do and that was to include
improve the social condition of those that were impoverished, of those that were
unemployed and underemployed, for those that
were incarcerated, those who were poor in
spirit and poor economically and I appreciated him for that. - It was very politically
dicey in those days because the white
politicians had to try to keep the white
community happy and also understand
that the b
lack community had, not at that point, the
power to elect their own but could make the
difference between who was elected and
who wasn't elected. - Prior to the '84
campaign, there was a search and quest for us to
break the old pattern and go in a new direction
to involve people. We'd been locked
out of the process, people had the right to vote
but no motivation to vote. Bennie Mitchell and
Benny Polote were two of the people calling
in South Georgia for a time, for a
new day is upon us and so p
art of the
Run, Jesse, Run cry came out of Bennie
Mitchell's church. Many ministers are well meaning, but not well doing, 'cause
well doing requires action. And anybody willing to
march down the streets, call people to act and take
the risk for Reverend Mitchell. - We've had people
out on the weekend, all this weekend, we have
people out early this morning trying to get folk out to vote and we're encouraging those
who need a ride to the polls. And I'm saying on tomorrow,
this is the anniversary
of Voting Rights Act, the
leadership of Savannah and also those
citizens of Savannah have a chance now to
prove that we have vision because we have the opportunity to elect a man like Andy Young who cares about the now
as well as the future. And Andy has a
great track record. And if we care about our
children being educated, if we care about having
money in our pocket to spend and food and clothes
for our children and shoes on their feet
and for businesses to grow, how can a good business
man or
even a good citizen, even a good educator,
could vote for anybody else other than Andy Young. And we want to say Andy,
we're working for ya. - Thank you. - And the Lord is able. (audience clapping) - I have to say from
a political standpoint there are go to people in
the city or in the state, wherever, and he was certainly
one of those go to people, somewhat of a gate keeper,
a political broker, in a very positive sense
who had a lot of influence. And so, if you're running
for office in Chatham
County there's certain
people that you go see. Bennie Mitchell would be on
the extreme short list of that. - I had been told to stay
away from Bennie Mitchell because he was independent. He was unpredictable. He was someone that you
couldn't really count on if you were a good
ol' boy Democrat who was counting on black people to put you in a
position of power. Well, Bennie Mitchell
didn't go along with that. I extended myself to meet him. He endorsed my
campaign and when I won it was fantastic.
So, Bennie Mitchell was the
kind of independent thinking black man that I think
every black man should be. - 2 billion 135 million
dollars proposed for the next 24 months. Minorities will get
less than one percent. Where is this coming
from, Reverend? Well, let's see. City of Savannah will spend
on goods and services alone more than 50 million dollars. Chatham County will spend
over 30 million dollars. Savannah Housing
Authority will spend over 15 million dollars. Somebody gettin' it. (audience
laughing) But it ain't coming
nowhere near us. By investing in a
minority business, that minority is
gonna hire minority, most likely hire more minority. Why? Because he gonna
have folk look like him. Who gonna buy, they gonna buy, because they have
the money to buy, but they can't buy if
they don't have the money and that's the same
thing it is with food. - We know that in
other communities, their dollar turns over
within their community because they do
business with one another. Unfortunately,
we
do not have that trait in the African-American
community. - So many times we're
left out of the picture. And Reverend Mitchell
was always at the helm of urging the Chamber
of Commerce, the SEDA, Savannah Economic
Development Authority, the Savannah Business
Bureau, everybody, to support African-Americans
and their participation, so that we might enjoy
our piece of the pie. - We want something
else besides labor. Our children got to be educated. (audience cheering) (audience clapping) Hutchin
son Island got a
project, 600 million dollars, bought property that
was owned by black folk for nothin' and makin' a mint. (audience clapping) We're not getting any of it. Women are not gettin' no
contracts of this money. Blacks are not getting any. Somebody gettin' it. - Rev, with out a doubt,
was a beacon of hope and he was a guardian of
light for black businesses. He understood that
there were power in having economic strength. And he understood the
weakness of this community. He understood w
hat it
meant for African-Americans to own their own business. He was one of those who
were never contented about us not doing
business with each other. - Reverend Mitchell
was an advocate for social change
in the first order. Certainly, if there was
a Martin Luther King of Savannah, our
Reverend Mitchell would be considered the
Reverend Dr. King of Savannah. He was everywhere. He co-signed on
everybody's issues. If it was injustice to one, he
felt it was injustice to all. - The water fountains
h
ave been integrated. The lunch counters
are integrated. Can I get a witness? But, the new frontier now
is to integrate the money. If we integrate the
money, our crime will go away almost
instantaneously. And I'm here to
tell ya, there will be a new Renaissance in Savannah. And right now, y'all
don't applaud that, we need money. Our people need businesses. Jamaicans are 60% self-employed. We're the only still minority
group that is still poorer than any other minority
group in this town. And it's
all because the
economics are not shared fairly. We will never do better if
we don't find candidates who will have the
courage or take a page out of the late Maynard
Jackson's manual, where Maynard
integrated the money. - I became a candidate
for mayor in 1986. Actually, as a result
of Reverend Mitchell, because Reverend
Mitchell stated publicly that he was going
to run for mayor unless he got a candidate to
run that he could support, that he was absolutely
satisfied with. So, a group of us wen
t to
a meeting to discuss that and before we left
that meeting I became the candidate for mayor
for the City of Savannah, being the first
African-American to actually run and qualify for mayor. And of course, the
success of that campaign was not winning it that year, but it was certainly
laying the ground work for later candidates
to come along and become the first
African-American Mayor for the City of Savannah. And had we not planted
that seed at that time then perhaps it would
not have happen
ed. Reverend Mitchell is
a part of that history and I think will
always be remembered for that particular history. - It is said, Reverend
Mitchell single-handedly elected a mayor
because he spoke out when people were traditionally
voting for party. He said that on this
case we necessarily don't have to vote for a
person just for a party. But, vote for what they
are gonna do for you as a community and do for
you as a neighborhood. And a young lady became
mayor mostly because of what Reverend Mitc
hell
meant to the community and how he spoke out
against voting for a cause instead of for a party. - The Susan Weiner
era years Savannah was very controversial
because Susan was a Republican
and at that time we had a Democratic mayor
who had been serving 20 plus years, John Rousakis,
and it was time for a change. A week before the election,
we were strategizing on, when I said we, I would always
be in the room listening, and Reverend Mitchell and
those were strategizing, how can we show people
how to split their vote? - I'm going to split
my vote and I'm to vote for Susan Weiner and
this is how it's done. Once inside I'll pull
Susan Weiner's lever 1B then I have the option to
vote Democrat or Republican, for my vote to register, I
must push the red lever four. Now that I've shown you
how to split your vote, I hope that you'll decide
to split your vote, too. And vote for Susan
Weiner, for change. - [Announcer] Paid for
by the Susan Weiner election committee. - From a political point
of
view he supported my opponent Susan
Weiner for mayor. He supported her
against John Rousakis and was successful
in getting her elected. But, most importantly
what he did was organize the ministers that made them
a voice of this community. And anyone who knows
him and supported him would say to that,
he was an organizer. And he was not afraid
to speak his mind. So, you respect
that and go forward, but he was a great
man in this community and I admire him although
we had our differences of opinio
n, I still
admire him and respect him for the things he did
in this community. - GABEO is the
Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials. And it is a large organization
of elected officials all across this
state and every year we always met at
the Con-Ed building and Connor's Temple
Church because Reverend Mitchell meant so much
to the political structure, not only of Savannah,
but of this entire state. He was so involved in
GABEO because he knew that it meant a change
in this community and
he was the first person
talking about a change. You know, and he was
the first person talking about moving people to
the polls for a purpose to change their lives. - Georgia Association of
Black Elected Officials, GABEO, he was
in the middle of that. So, if you're
looking for a leader that's a frame of reference,
you don't just look for a Baptist or a
Methodist or a Cleric, you look for
whoever will stand up and fight the right fight. And so, people across
these denominational lines gravitated t
o
where the light was. When it's real dark, you
gravitate to the light. And he possessed the light. - See, I'm not here just
for us to have a parade or to have a service
and don't mean anything. We want a presence felt. Because that's the only way
we can bring about change. Folk have to know
that you're alive. (audience clapping) And we're gonna need
that mayor's support and we're gonna
need your support. Every city has a
street name or avenue, named after Dr. King. We don't have that yet, but i
t's coming though isn't it? (audience cheering) (audience clapping) - The story started out
with pastor Mitchell. He felt that a street
should be named in honor of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. And we went to
the city government to ask for West Broad. And they first said yes and then they turned it into a number. The street has to
be a number street. - The city manager
at that time said well, it's cheaper to get
a number street. See, we wanted a
street not just to be in the black community
or in th
e ghetto. And we look for support
from our top officials to help us get that street. Don't have us marching
up and down the street to city hall to
beg for a street. (audience cheering) (audience clapping) Give us the street
because it's right to have a street or
avenue named after King. (audience clapping) All you got to do is just
do justice and love mercy. 37th street is a good street. When you come off the interstate you can see Martin Luther
King Drive Boulevard. (audience cheering) (audienc
e clapping) We want that boulevard. I said, we want the boulevard. We want the boulevard. ♪ Ahh, yes. ♪ (audience clapping) Commissioner Dorothy
Pelote walked those streets and collected
signatures to make sure that we could get 37th street. Which was a way that they
would always wear ya down to try to discourage you from
doing what you were doing. That's the way
the city operated. They just wanted to
see how many times they could make you come back. They would try to embarrass
you and all that
kind of stuff. And, it was just a job to do it, but we did it. So, when we got the signatures,
they couldn't say anything. But then, the business
people on 37th Street got to complaining about
Martin Luther King Jr.'s name. So, what it did end up,
it ended up with mayor having a meeting with me. And I asked Roy Jackson
to come and go with me. - Today is a day of pride
as we honor the memory of the great American,
Dr. Martin Luther King. Today is also a day of sorrow
as the city still mourns the
tragic death of our
alderman Robbie Robinson. And today is sadly
a day of shame, as we still have in this
country those that still hate. Unfortunately, some of
them will always be there. This however, must
never never deter us as we strive to
fulfill the dream of one nation under
God with liberty, equality and justice for all. I am proud to have been a
mayor of the city council to reclaim a Martin
Luther King holiday in the City of Savannah. The first city outside
of Atlanta to do so. And before
the state or
the federal government. (audience clapping) I am proud to have been the
mayor of the city council who named this arena the
Martin Luther King Arena. (audience clapping) And I will be proud to be
the mayor of the city council who at the first
meeting in February, in celebration of
Black History month, I will join a consensus
of city council to name West
Broad Street in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. Thank you very much. - We were doing
an MLK celebration. I had a discussion with
t
hen mayor, John Rousakis about the naming
of MLK Boulevard. The mayor had the
audacity, of course, to meet with some
other folks and develop some other strategy. We put him on the
program that year for the mayor to
talk about the things that he was going to do. And in his comments,
he decided to espouse the strategy that he had
developed with the other group. So, Reverend Mitchell and
I huddled very quickly and he said that's not
what we talked about. What should we do about that? I said listen,
I said when you
get up to make your comments, you make this congregation,
you make this group of folks, and it was about 5000
folks in the civic center, I said you make them
aware of the discussion and the commitment that
he made in that meeting. And you make it in a fashion
that he won't forget it. And that he won't ever
get up and cross you like that again. - [Bennie] Now, the mayor
almost threw something in my cog wheel when
he was talkin' about we're gonna get
West Broad Street. But, the ma
yor
didn't tell me that when I talked with him. He told me to call
him, which I did, and I don't talk to any
politician by myself. I had brother Roy
Jackson with me. And he told me that
whatever the committee would recommend after we
met, he would support it. Evidently, he did not. We didn't ask for
West Broad Street. (audience clapping) We asked for 37th Street. (audience cheering) (audience clapping) And I hate to come
up here and look like I'm beatin' on our mayor. I love our mayor. (audience
laughing) But if John just would do
right, he'd have a good friend. (audience cheering) (audience clapping) After 200 years, faces
and names have changed, but when it comes to
the minority community getting and receiving their
fair share of economics those same old racists
promising attitudes are the same. Our white brothers
attitudes have not changed here in Savannah. Their tactics then were
to divide and conquer. Same old thing is true today. (audience clapping) They take one of
us and hype u
s up, tell us lies and we believe it. Promise us things,
promises ain't never put no food on the table. Telling them that
they are the leaders of the black community,
and they get up there so glad to be with 'em. And when I'm
talkin' about with 'em, I'm talkin' about I
see the leadership. Until they trade away our rights for 30 pieces of silver. - Bennie was quite outspoken,
and he was a real activist. And I think he locked horns
with the city manager, who at that time
was Don Mendonza, and so t
hey names West
Broad Street MLK Boulevard. In my memory,
they put the first sign, the big large MLK Boulevard sign right in front of Reverend
Mitchell's church. I guess sort of a get
atcha type of thing. - When Dr. Mitchell stood
up in the civic center and he called Rousakis out, we were afraid for his life. Fact of the matter,
there were threats on his life because he stood up and he went against the machine. - He had been attacked by blacks and he had been
attacked by whites. Now, the whites
a
ttacked him because he was a strong
proud tall black man and he wasn't having any of it. Blacks attacked him
because you know, there's something
about standing up and when you're used to have
walkin' with your back bent, you get afraid of
people who stand up. And so, he was attacked
because he showed he was a role model for
a different way of being, a necessary way of being. - There were
plenty of phone calls that were threatening
phone calls. Threatening to bomb the house. Threatening to get
us
in the streets. And there were several
times that the policemen had to stay outside
of the house. - I remember this one time,
I picked up the telephone and they shouted that there
was a bomb in the house and they repeated
it more than twice. So, the only thing
I could do was to say shut-up and hang up. And right after
that, I told my Mom. Police came out to the house
and they searched around and also in the garage,
'cause it had been up all day. That was, I guess,
when I found out that you know
, I was a bit different. - There were times that
I even sat in the window during the course of the night, trying to see if someone
was going to drive up in the driveway
and throw something or just come and
maybe leave something at the door in the
middle of the night. - Maybe in the
fourth grade, I was doing my work, we
had a substitute teacher and of course I have this name because my name
is Bennie the Third, she was calling the
role and she says Bennie Mitchell, and
she looks at the paper, and
looks up and
she, it's almost like she took a mental
note of who I was and as we were quietly
doing whatever it is, assignment that she had us do, she came over and paid attention to the children one by one. When it came to me she says, we gonna kill your nigger Daddy. I was like wow, like that
was the first blatant threat. And I went home and I
told my Mom and my Dad. Their faces were like
we knew it was going on, but we didn't know
it was gonna get to our children like that. - I do remember
o
ne physical threat. We got home one day and
the lower half of the house was where the den, the
kitchen, the playroom and the office were,
and we walked in and someone had
shot up the window. And that basically
scared all of us. After that gun incident,
we never wanted to go on the lower half of the house. - They were upsetting times. And of course, you
do what you need to do because you had three
children in the house and you were trying
to protect them. - Good afternoon, Dr.
Charles, or good mo
rning, Dr. Charles Beady here with us. Tell me about the
Piney Woods School. - Piney Woods
Country Life School is a historically
black boarding school that was founded in 1909
by an educated black man by the name of
Laurence Clifton Jones. We were invited over by
the Observance Committee for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The choir's here
and we're just happy to have the opportunity
to be here in Savannah. - The summer
before my senior year, I was informed that I
would be transferring to Piney Wood
s
Country Life School in Jackson, Mississippi. Needless to say,
that bit of information did not sit well with me. I was mad, to say the least. - I attended from 1989 to 1994. - At this time I would
like to introduce to you the valedictorian. I know the parents of
Bendette was paying attention, because that performance
must make them so proud, of their daughter Bendette,
the valedictorian, of the class of 1994,
from Savannah Georgia, to deliver the farewell. - Daddy even had
the nerve to come and
be the commencement
speaker for the class of 1990 for which I was
not graduating in. I was upset, I was mad but
like my Daddy always said, don't nobody care
about you being mad. - I always had the
pleasure of having my Dad at each graduation
I graduated from. High school, he was the speaker. Never in the audience
to cheer me on. He was on stage or giving
some type of speech, even in college
when I took a picture with Paula Wallace as I
walked across the stage he was in the background. He was in
the background
of my whole life. - Oh, hello, I'm Reverend
Bennie R. Mitchell Jr. I'm pastor at Connor's
Temple Baptist Church and also president and founder
of the Con-Ed Incorporated. First of all, we want
to thank you for coming and sharing with us in our
Harvest Day festivities, which includes the unveiling
of our historical marker of this building, the old
West Broad Street YMCA, or formally known as
McKelvey-Powell Hall, but now known as
Con-Ed Resource Center. - Con-Ed was a
concept that
was ahead of its time for Savannah. Con-Ed was an idea the
Reverend Mitchell had to bring health, wellness,
financial empowerment, economic justice,
social justice, to the people of West Savannah. But, not just West
Savannah alone, his vision was for the
community at large. - Con-Ed was Reverend
Mitchell's dream. And you go and you see
a dilapidated building and it's only a
visionary who can see something out of that. - Con-Ed will be
a resource center, to every family that's
in Chatham County
who chooses to take
advantage of what we offer. We will be able to offer
it, whatever you need, voluntarily free,
whatever you have, whatever you need in the family, this center hopefully,
will be able to offer these preliminary
things to the family. - I'm a county commissioner
and the building in which we are
seated in, Con-Ed, we got most of the
funding for this building because of Robert Mitchell. - One unique point in time, a member of congress
was able to provide $250,000, something like th
at, I can't remember
now how much it was. But, we were able to
provide money for a dream. - When I was first
elected to congress, downtown Savannah
was actually represented by Congresswoman
Cynthia McKinney. And she was able
to get some funding for Con-Ed and then
there was reapportionment and I got downtown Savannah. - The redistricting
process itself, or the districting
process, was such that, it was so racially charged when we were
drawing the district, we had to go all the way up
to the Just
ice Department to force the good ol'
boys down here in Georgia to actually draw the district so that people in rural Georgia who had never before
had the opportunity to have representation could
have that representation. - So, Bennie called
me up and said I want you to come
down and look at this. I want to tell you what
Cynthia's been doing and I want to make sure
you're on board with it. And I said well, I'm
not sure if I'm on board 'cause I don't really
know what it is, I'm not sure if it's a
proper federal expenditure. And he said I appreciate
those questions. Let's come on down
and walk through it. He did not try to sell me on it. He let it speak
for itself in terms of what he was doing there. And so, we took on the project, tried to help get funded
and actually struck out for a number of
sessions in Congress. And finally, we got
some things done and it seemed like every
time we were closing in on being helpful
something else happened and that's where he
really amazed me. Instead o
f getting
mad and saying, Kingston I knew we should
have stuck with McKinney. He said, just keep working
and we kept working until we made
some things happen. And that's what I
really liked about him, was that kind of patience. I really appreciated
him sticking with me and working through
the project together. And it was something that
was of tremendous importance, not just to him
because he wanted it, but for the entire community. And that's really
what he was after, to try to do something
that
would help children and family
for many years to come. - One of the things that
Reverend Mitchell believed in, he shared this
with me many times, he said Enoch, the
ills in this community cannot be solved, especially
the black community by the black community alone. It's gonna take the entire
community working together to address these issues. And he believed that. And that's one of the
things when we put our Con-Ed board
together, that we wanted a diverse board,
an advisory board, that could p
ull resources
in, that could bring people throughout this community,
in the political sector, in the business sector and
in the community sector, bringing all those
people together to work on the tough
problems that we face each and every day. - This building was
purchased in 1979. And the reason it was
purchased is because along this street at that time there was a lot of dilapidation. And there was a lot
of unwanted things. It was a community, a
street, that was dilapidated. A lot of negatives
that
were on the street, prostitution and
whatever you have. So, in an effort, the church
itself brought a vision. We went back to the
church and told the church that we need to
make a difference. And also, to have an
outward arm of the church so that we could
touch the community. If you notice, this
area is area C. So, anything that was
negative, the under employed, the unemployed, under educated, everything was in area C. So, by being a church of
God and of Jesus Christ we felt that we should
make his presence known. So, we bought the building. And, 20 years
later, here we are. - One thing he did was
he grabbed me by the ears and said look
you're gonna do this. And I said who me? And he said yeah you. And from that point we
worked hand and hand. And I clearly remember the day
we put the marker together. The marker itself
was one that I said your name has to be on it. And he was so humble he
didn't want his name on it. And at the end of
the day, I was the one that inserted his
name t
o make sure it made it on that marker. And I recall we were going
through the dedication ceremony and having the
building itself designated as a historical
building in Savannah. And in fact, it was the first
black commercial building to be recognized by the
Georgia Historical Society here in Savannah. (crowd cheering) (crowd clapping) - [Deidre] Bennie Mitchell, III, fondly remembers his Dad. - It was almost,
it was God sent, for us to enjoy every minute that he had left on this earth. - [Deidre
] So much
so that he documented the life of his father,
shooting videos of him at a young age. - I didn't know I was doing it. It's just one of
those things that you know, a young
boy admires his father and just follows him
around with a camera. He raised me to love my mother, to protect her, my sisters,
to love God number one. - [Deidre] His son filmed
his last interview, weeks before he
went into the hospital. - Reverend Dr. Bennie R.
Mitchell is known for being
a civil rights pioneer. He foug
ht hard
for the MLK holiday and for this street to be named Martin Luther King Boulevard. - His greatest achievement
here in Savannah was initiating the MLK
observance as we know it now. There were other
little memorial services, but the size that
it is now, it grew from that little acorn
there when Reverend Mitchell was a young vibrant preacher. - [Deidre] For
alderman Van Johnson, Bennie Mitchell was his
pastor and a good friend. - Huge loss to our community. Reverend Mitchell really
understoo
d the power and the social responsibility
behind a pulpit. - [Deidre] Van Johnson says, "While the community loses
another prominent man" "of Savannah, his life
and legacy will live on." The fingerprints of Reverend
Dr. Bennie R. Mitchell are all around the city. Deidre Johnson
WJCLFox28TheCoastalSource.com. - My dearest Betty,
words cannot express what I feel in my heart for you, but I hope my ways
and actions tell you really what I feel for you. In the future, which I
hope will be very soon, w
e will say good-byes lesser. Love, Bennie. (soft music) - We should hail and
support the gospel and the philosophy of Dr. King because he believed
and was willing to die for peace, love, righteousness, justice, equality
and for freedom. For we understand
that in Dr. King's words that we are interrelated. And what affects you directly,
affects me indirectly. And I cannot be
what I ought to be, until you are what
you ought to be. And you cannot be
what you ought to be, until I am what I ought to b
e. (soft music) (television clicking) ♪ When peace ♪ ♪ Like a river ♪ ♪ Attendeth my way ♪ ♪ When sorrows ♪ ♪ And sea billows roll ♪ ♪ Whatever my lot ♪ ♪ Though has taught me to say ♪ ♪ It is well ♪ ♪ It is well ♪ ♪ With my soul ♪ ♪ It is well ♪ ♪ With my soul ♪ ♪ It is well ♪ ♪ It is well ♪ ♪ With my soul ♪ ♪ My sin ♪ ♪ Oh, the bliss ♪ ♪ Of this glorious thought ♪ ♪ That my sin ♪ ♪ Not in part ♪ ♪ But the whole ♪ ♪ Is nailed to the cross ♪ ♪ And I bare it no more ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise
the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul ♪ - [Man] Reverend take 7. - One thing that I
want to be able to say is to give God,
my God, the glory for whatever he's done. And this is for
whomever is listening. When we're born into this world, we're born with a
purpose and a mission. And what I've done
here and the point of not only ministry at the
Connor's Temple Baptist Church, but found in this organization and many other things we've done to try to make our
community better and I want everybody
to feel good ab
out it whether they were on the
right side or the wrong side. I don't figure it
was neither one. Because, I was put
here to do what I did. I was sent here by
God through the people of this church to do
what has been done. If it hadn't of been me the Lord would have gotten somebody else. But, the point is, he
has to get the glory and that all of
us in this drama, just like the crucifixion,
everybody had a role to play. So, we played our
role and we persevered. Which should
encourage everybody els
e and those that
were not say with us on the same track. We hope that they got
somewhere converted on the way of what
hard work, what prayer and good preparation will do to help you do what
needs to get done.
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