The Salt and Light Conference brought together prominent civil rights leaders who shared their insights on freedom, faith, and the responsibilities that come with them. Dr. Paul Brintley, Alveda King, Clarence Henderson, and Raven Harrison engaged in a thought-provoking discussion, emphasizing the importance of these values in shaping the future and preserving freedom for future generations.
Dr. Paul Brintley, Alveda King, Clarence Henderson, and Raven Harrison Discuss Freedom and Faith
During the conference, Dr. Paul Brintley facilitated a dynamic conversation among civil rights icons, Alveda King and Clarence Henderson, along with the inspiring Raven Harrison. The discussion centered around the concept of freedom, its significance, and the responsibilities that accompany it.
Highlights from their conversation revealed the deep connection between freedom and faith. Alveda King, in her powerful testimony, shared how her faith guided her to forgive those who caused immense pain to her family. Clarence Henderson emphasized the importance of being raised in a two-parent household, which taught him the values of hard work, integrity, and personal responsibility.
A heartwarming moment occurred when Alveda King celebrated Raven Harrison's birthday by delivering a rendition of "Happy Birthday." The bond between these civil rights leaders was evident, demonstrating the unity that comes from a shared dedication to the cause of freedom.
Transcript
- Dr. Paul Brintley: Wow it's not too often that you can get two civil rights icons in the same building we yeah go ahead we are fortunate this afternoon to kick it off after Bob gave his talk and gave us all that great information about saving babies we not only want to save babies but there's a future ahead of us and we want to do something in this future and I'm gonna talk about it today I was talking about being salty so they made a shirt I'm salty and so today we're gonna talk about how we can be salty anybody salty out there.
- You salty all right we're gonna talk about how to be salty in this current environment and not only that but from a perspective that you may not be familiar with so you saw Alveda King she's here she has a book (King Rules: Ten Truths for You, Your Family, and Our Nation to Prosper) and you can get it online so please be sure to do that we ran out today we sold out which is a great thing but you could get her a book Clarence also has a book (Sacred Tree of Love) I was fortunate to write Clarence's biography and we're gonna talk about that a little bit today and then Raven too has a book (Raven's Mantle). Raven now I don't a lot of people from around here may not know who you are a lot of people know Alveda King and her uncle Dr. Martin Luther King and then Clarence Henderson from North Carolina Greensboro with the Woolworth sit in but who are you
- Raven Harrison: yeah no pressure at all with that one thank you Dr. Brintley I am essentially really proof of God's testament that he doesn't call the qualified he qualifies who he calls and I am the daughter of two retired United States Air Force Lieutenant colonels I am give it up come on our military those are the true freedom fighters my I'm also married to a retired C-17 pilot and the claim to fame Dr. Brintley is basically just being an achiever I was an author I'm a mother as a business owner and my life changed when in March of 2017 we received a phone call that my eight-year-old daughter then eight-year-old daughter was being expelled from elementary school for voting for President Trump in a mock election we knew nothing about and that my friends is when the conservative warrior was born
- Dr. Paul Brintley: to many of you that don't know Raven is named the conservative warrior and she's going to be talking to us a little bit today so I just want to talk a little bit so Miss King God bless you so I'm so honored to sit here beside you her middle name is Celeste and she is heavenly if you ever hang out with her but tell us what was it like to know Martin Luther King
- Alveda King: well Dr. Paul and Dr. Clarence and I will get into that and I did meet your beautiful children Raven it takes a lot of strength and courage so keep praying for our children truth has to be taught in every generation decade and on every platform so I learned at the feet of following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ my dad Reverend AD King the brother Martin Luther King Jr. and Daddy King and the men and women of my family so did I know Martin Luther King Jr. of course I did I baby sad children even because I'm the oldest of our generation and so having been born into what is the King family legacy much of what you hear from me now and though and I'll say quickly I wandered away from truth people know I actually had abortions and I miss carriage and repented and became born again but I remember thank you thank you the days of the training and Dr. Henderson is gonna tell you about all of that how to be Christ like not still fierce so growing up as a niece of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. following after Jesus Christ being sought in life a light for faith and freedom with hope and love is what has brought me to you today
- Dr. Paul Brintley: awesome thank you so much for being here aren't we glad she's here so to know Martin Luther King to baby sit his children I'm sure there's all kind of stories we might get into some of that tonight but Clarence Henderson he's our very own legend in North Carolina so if you don't know Clarence's story you may know that there was an era of Jim Crow and there was segregation here in the South and one day Clarence was approached by some of his classmates at North Carolina A&T and they were asked to go sit at a lunch counter at a Woolworth's anybody seen this photo before in your your school books so Clarence is the last gentleman on the left with a hoodie what has changed in your life since that day other than your hair
- Clarence Henderson: You took my story line. My hair grows on the inside now, not on the outside.
- Dr. Paul Brintley: okay his hair grows on the inside all right so tell us about that day you have been challenged to go out and to sit at a lunch counter that is segregated and you were not allowed to eat there so the four of us would not have been allowed to eat at that lunch counter that day what was that like what was that environment that day
- Clarence Henderson: well there are certain things that happen in your life that change your perspective I've been in Woolworth's a number of times when I was growing up as a kid and I had the two water fountains in the basement two bathrooms one sitting color one sitting white I used to look at the water coming out of water fountain and wondering what the difference was because they all look the same but on this particular day when I went to Woolworth's the whole my whole perspective changed because I did not know how I was gonna come out
- Dr. Paul Brintley: when you say you didn't know how you it's gonna come out like walk out or what are you thinking
- Clarence Henderson: no I didn't know that I didn't know I was gonna come out in a vertical position and handcuffs going to jail on a prone position going to the hospital or maybe the morgue, and you have to remember I was on the 18 years of age at that time wow 18 years
- Dr. Paul Brintley: Wow did you guys knock out any windows or turn over any police cars how did you get your message that day
- Clarence Henderson: no this was 1960 not 2020
- Dr. Paul Brintley: so Dr. King tell us about peaceful protests what's your opinion about that versus what the book I wrote about black lives matter tell me a little bit about that what do you think
- Alveda King: well what Clarence has just explained my dad has the same shot at the same Woolworth's maybe but they would go in and boycott and we were trained and taught to be nonviolent I remember when they bombed our house in 63 dad stands up on the car with a megaphone I think and he says don't riot don't my family and I are go home okay go home and pray if you have to hit somebody hit me but I'd rather you go home and pray now Clarence you know exactly what always happened when we took the nonviolent position because I marched and went to jail too I was a youth organizer you would have been my big brother but we're close and so what we were taught to do is be nonviolent so the agitators ended up being exposed because the nonviolent went home and prayed
- Dr. Paul Brintley: yes yeah alright so Raven you hearing these these icons and you're having to measure yourself up against that tell when you hear the way they protested what comes to your mind
- Raven Harrison: class and we just don't do it that way we have got to get back to the way we used to do things and that is our burden to teach to our children you know if they're turning over tables if they're burning if they're looting if they're destroying a country but we haven't taught them the pride in the country so they're not supporting it but this generation is strong this is the generation that does not have a British accent because the heart of a patriot is strong
- Dr. Paul Brintley: thank you so Clarence let's go back to that day when you were asked to leave were there any violence or any people protesting you or agitating you guys we had a great time the KKK came in we faced them down had a bomb threat we faced that down because we were there for a mission and my motto now is freedom or freedom over me and before I'd be a slave I'd be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free
- Dr. Paul Brintley: Amen
- Alveda King: oh I need to add we re-recorded that old freedom and we would go home to be with our Lord but now we also say I no longer am a slave Christ is risen from the grave Christ is Lord we are saved and we are free we want a new verse to it
- Dr. Paul Brintley: I want to I want to talk a little bit here before we close about our salvation let's talk about Jesus in our life and our biblical worldview with the conservative movement Dr. King let me start with you tell me a little bit about your testimony you already shared about some of the issues you and choices you made that you had got forgiveness for but tell us how Jesus and the conservative movement works in your life
- Alveda King: I was born into a Christian family of Baptist preachers and they were not perfect at all but if anybody was perfect we never would have needed Jesus right so I had an opportunity to hear about repentance a lot and of course even my granddaddy daddy King had a temper because we are part African part Irish and part Native American and so granddaddy would be fuss things and then say that Lord forgive me Lord forgive me and daddy and uncle and male so I grew up with Christians who were very repentant and doing their best to serve the Lord I was born into that a pro-life family my grandfather convinced my mom not to abort me for example and then I went away from God in the 60s which is when I had a divorce and two abortions of the miscarriage because my body was hurt but in 1983 and I had to be taught by my daddy Clarence when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed that was my dad's brother my granddaddy son and grandmama and I had to learn to forgive the people who killed Martin Luther King and who killed my daddy and who shot my grandmother.
- That was very hard to forgive and then they taught me that there are no separate races only one human race one blood God made all people I had to learn all of that and today I watching Clarence and everything he's been through watching a mother whose daughter gets expelled from school for voting what she believed that is unbelievable so we are angry when we are mad we should repent and ask God to show us how to deal with every situation and to see every man and every woman and child where's the Martin Luther King Jr. we must learn to live together as brothers I had his sisters or pairs together and so Christ told us to love and I still have to practice it because I still lose my temper sometimes
- Dr. Paul Brintley: good thing we still got Jesus right so come on Mr. Henderson tell me about your faith and how it's impacted your conservative mindset and belief system
- Clarence Henderson: well I was blessed to be raised in the house which is so important we need to go back to this with a two parent family married my mother father married for 63 years and although they each only had a third grade education my father taught me what a man was supposed to be like I saw him work six days a week go to church on Sunday never heard him curse he didn't drink didn't smoke was very faithful to that and I can hear him praying right now and so that's what guided me all the way now and the hope for us in this country right now is with we need to look for the movement of God because he's showing us what we need to be doing right now
- Dr. Paul Brintley: thank you so much amen we do need a move of God so conservative warrior tell us about your faith
- Raven Harrison: well my faith was sorted I grew up Catholic I had two parents that I never saw my last year in high school my parents were gone 325 days I had little post-its this is before the the internet little post-its you know mail this bill go to school we love you don't turn the lights on we got the bill those kind of things but I I was more afraid of God we always had a spiritual compass but that's one thing my parents being in war zones they never missed a Sunday never missed a Sunday and it wasn't until I met someone who was on this stage Bishop Ron Archer who is a mentor of mine who taught me to how to have a relationship it's a relationship with God.
- It is a understanding I'm imperfect and I continue to work at it and then just understanding the example Jesus left there wasn't an inch of his body that was not covered with blood that was not whipped that was not tortured that was not abused that was not hurting and he could have called off that torture at any time and saved himself and he did that God's never asked that of us so that's when you try to put it in perspective of these little things that irritate you what it means to follow the Savior
- Dr. Paul Brintley: oh awesome so we're gonna we're gonna close with this just give me a little bit of perspective about your political view we'll start there changing your mic miss Dr. King Clarence I want you to start with your political view
- Clarence Henderson: I am a constitutional conservative not Donald Trump is the greatest president I've had in my lifetime
- Dr. Paul Brintley: that's awesome Dr. King tell me your political viewpoint
- Alveda King: Well we are in a climate like this I was elected to office as a state legislator as a Democrat I became an independent after I was an independent I became a Republican I'm a Republican today I'm a Frederick Douglas Republic Lenny you'll have to think about that now interestingly enough even Dr. Ben Carson has a cartoon series and I portray Harriet Tubman in the cartoon series and she and Frederick Douglas were friends so you'll have to look into that but I've got to say this and it's hard to say this in front of a Republican audience we shouldn't be hating anybody we shouldn't be mocking anybody we should be so strong and joyous in our viewpoint that everybody will want to join us
- Dr. Paul Brintley: yes
- Alveda King: so so I don't hate anybody I'm not angry and Donald Trump is my friend
- Dr. Paul Brintley: thank you so much and so Raven when y ou're on a stage like this I won't call you the baby okay Raven just had a birthday this week right happy birthday the big 5-0 right
- Alveda King: happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday
- Raven Harrison: thank you
- Dr. Paul Brintley: I knew we had something in common my birthday is September 18th
- Raven Harrison: wow amen I tell people I'm not getting older I'm leveling up I'm level 50 level
- Dr. Paul Brintley: 50 all right we just got a few minutes tell us your belief system when it comes to politics and where we are today
- Raven Harrison: are you gonna get me going you want me to sit down and do this
- Dr. Paul Brintley: no stand up go ahead
- Alveda King: come on come on come on come on
- Raven Harrison: gonna get me going get the collection plate no my philosophy is simple is you know God has asked you to put on the full armor of God and it's not to sit on the sofa and shake our fingers at the television this is the time to action there are men the founding fathers paid dearly for the freedom of the 56 signers we saw them in their best signing the declaration do we know that five were captured and tortured by the British 12 had their houses plundered and burned to the ground 17 had their wives abducted and their children their daughters abducted and raped and killed they signed their death warrants for our freedom and now we have people who we're gonna let these people we're going to let this administration tell us where we can and cannot go and what we have to put in our bodies and we're going to take our direction from somebody whose arch enemy is somebody named corn pop.
- That is not that is not the America that my parents and many of the veterans in this room bled for they gave there is no greater love than a man that would lay his life down for his neighbors and every veteran in here I absolutely and law enforcement and spouses who backed them up while they were doing what most people don't want to know about thank you I see you right here sir thank you for our freedom but I want to tell people this is advanced citizenship you've got to want it bad we have to we don't even have just RINOs we have CINOs we have Christians in name only and they're taken over the political scape but that's what we the people means.
- It means we are done accepting the things we can't change and we are changing the things we can't accept that's how we're going to do it Patriots so I invite you I am going to be on that front line I was the one who said I was gonna put a breathalyzer on Pelosi's podium and I mean it we have got to hold these people to the fire we are watching don't just go out and vote take ten people with you our kids need us to get this right and so I will be on the front lines I am humbled as God's general I am honored whatever God asked of me the answer is yes so I am your humble conservative warrior.
- Alveda King: hey hey hey listen listen she is right she is so right I think we're getting ready to go but voting is wrong for business get out and vote for what you believe and take your friends and make it happen grown for business man
- Raven Harrison: and I just want to add one thing guys you know my daughter was expelled for voting for President Trump at eight years old she stood she could have changed her vote she could have buckled she held the line we can't carry the cross for him but we can sure as heck hold his arms up while he carries this load all right
- Dr. Paul Brintley: all right I think they got a video for this we've got some past but I don't think it's over with the past I think we got a warrior for the future don't you
Wrap-up
As the conversation drew to a close, the civil rights leaders emphasized the importance of taking action and standing up for freedom. They encouraged individuals to exercise their right to vote and to engage in meaningful conversations that promote unity, rather than division. It was emphasized that true progress comes from embracing a spirit of love, rather than hatred or mockery. Protecting and preserving hard-earned freedom is a responsibility we must pass onto our children.
In conclusion, the Salt and Light Conference brought together civil rights leaders who are passionate about preserving freedom and faith. Their discussion highlighted the connection between these values and the responsibility we all have to fight for a just and inclusive society. The call-to-action for individuals is to actively participate in the democratic process, to uphold these core values, and to work towards a future where freedom and equality are cherished by all.
