The Elders Project – Raymond Gamble

(1/3)"As a teenager, I was ruthless. MLK wasn't that visible at that time - he came on slowly. But when he did come on, I didn't like MLK, because MLK wouldn't fight.”

Raymond said growing up in North Carolina in the 1950s meant standing up for his rights was a necessity of daily life. One Sunday, the KKK burned a cross in the middle of the high school football field.

“My grandfather was a minister – he was preaching. We stole his shotgun. Jenning's father was a preacher - we stole his pistol. Thomas Strafford's mother was an usher - we stole his grandfather's shotgun. So we got all of these guys whose parents are in church worshiping the Lord, and we're going and stealing their weapons to go back to straighten out what we felt the law was leading us to do our way.” Fearing the KKK might return to the field, the boys decided to play basketball nearby. “We have four guys – two on this end, two on this other end – they all was packing. And therefore we felt safe in playing the guys basketball because we had security watching out for us and we could get to our guns before the Klan got to us.”

“I do believe at that time and this time that MLK was right, but I believe that the establishment had to be driven to him in order to respect him. The way we were doing was wrong. The way MLK was doing was right. But we didn't want to wait till the change come. It's on the books, let's do it now. And that was our attitude.”

– Raymond Gamble, Washington, D.C. (75)

Видео The Elders Project – Raymond Gamble канала Julia Reihs