Last week, we lost his right hand man, Colonel Stone Johnson.
Rev. Shuttlesworth was the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church here in Birmingham, in a community called Collegeville.
In the mid 50s, (before Dr. King joined The Movement), blacks used to gather at Bethel Baptist to organize and plot strategies to fight segregation.
Once the Klan found out about it, they started bombing Rev. Shuttlesworth's home.
When that didn't intimidate or stop Rev. Shuttlesworth, they started bombing Bethel (the church).
In 1956, the klan, who based their racial hatred on Christian beliefs, bombed Bethel Baptist....... on CHRISTMAS EVE!
*detour*
The next time a Republican (or anyone else) try to tell you that Islam is a religion that advocates terrorism, please let them know that the greatest terrorists to ever walk the face of the earth were Christians, the KKK.
And before you start sending me hate mail, I'm a Christian too.....but the truth is the truth.
*back to the blog*
After that incident, the rest, as they say.....is history.
See for yourself:
I had the honor and privilege of having a few conversations with the Colonel and I can tell you, he was the sharpest and most alert ninety something year old man you'll ever meet.
And he still looked like someone you didn't want to mess with.
I remember one day, I saw him at Mr. Percy Hornbuckle's (another Civil Rights Icon) barbershop and some young guy was leaning on the Colonel's Lincoln Towncar.
Let's just say, the Colonel said something to the young man and the young man stopped leaning on his Towncar! lol
The Colonel, just like the man he served as a bodyguard to, has left the city of Birmingham with a spirit and boldness that I pray I'm able to carry on and pass down to my son's generation.
R.I.P. Colonel Johnson!
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