Pastor talks about Memphis roots in defending Franklin eulogy
The pastor whose eulogy of Aretha Franklin caused a stir spoke of his Memphis roots in later defending his controversial remarks about African-American issues.
Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, caught flak from many quarters for, among other things, suggesting during his 50-minute eulogy Aug. 31 in Detroit that single mothers cannot raise sons alone.
Williams — who is the brother of Memphis’ World Overcomers Church Senior Pastor Alton R. Williams — also drew heat for seemingly taking a swipe at the Black Lives Matter movement, causing entertainer Stevie Wonder to yell “Black Lives Matter” after Williams said, “No, black lives do not matter” during his remarks.
Williams tried to clarify his remarks and explain his connection to Franklin in response to the backlash — a backlash that included a statement from Franklin’s family that called Williams’ eulogy “offensive and distasteful.”
“There’s a commonality that exists between myself and Aretha,” Williams said during a Sept. 2 news conference aired by Atlanta television station WSB. “It goes back to our heritage.
“My father and uncle and C.L. Franklin were all from Mississippi. When they came to Memphis, they came for the purpose of pastoring. In that day, it was quite a thing for them to get from Mississippi to Memphis. Memphis, in preacher talk, was a kind of Jerusalem. Once you became a pastor in Memphis, it was a greatness about you as a preacher and a bearer of the gospel.”
C.L. Franklin was Aretha Franklin’s father. He served as pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis from 1942 to 1944. Williams also did the eulogy for C.L. Franklin’s funeral in 1984.
Williams said a bond formed with Aretha Franklin through those early shared years of their families on Lucy Avenue in South Memphis. Efforts are now afoot to restore and preserve the Franklin birthplace at 406 Lucy. Franklin’s family moved to Detroit when she was 2 years old.
Because of the ties that formed in those early years, Williams said Franklin personally asked him to perform her eulogy, which the family denied in its statement. According to the family, Franklin would not have asked “because dying is a topic that she never discussed with anyone.”
The family asked Williams to eulogize, according to the statement, because he had done so for Franklin’s father and other family members.
As for the remarks that caused controversy, Williams stood by them and said it was more a matter of people not understanding what he was trying to say.
“I like to think there’s no pushback about what I said,” Williams said. “It could be they did not understand what I was saying.”
On specific topics:
SINGLE-PARENT HOUSEHOLDS:
Williams said he did not mean that black women aren’t able to raise their children but was talking about the struggle they face in doing so without a male influence in many cases.
“As precious, beautiful and proud as (women) are, they cannot teach a boy how to be a man,” Williams said. “One of the ills we have in the African-American community is that too many of our homes are headed by women without a man in the house.”
He said many women have raised successful sons alone, citing Rev. Jesse Jackson, but said “women need help.”
“When we as a race sit back and get mad because a police officer kills one of us, and we don’t say anything when 100 of us are killed by us, something is wrong with that.
“I’m not saying that black lives do not matter in terms of the worth of a black life, but what I’m saying, in essence, is that it does not matter, ought not matter, should not matter, cannot matter until black people respect black lives. Only then will black lives matter. That’s what I said, and that’s what I meant.”
BLACK LIVES MATTER: SELF HELP VS. ASSISTANCE:
“We’re at a juncture where nobody can do anything for us but us. And until we reach down inside ourselves and touch our souls and decide that this is enough, it’s time to turn around … until that happens, it doesn’t make any difference how much money the government would give or whatever the case is. To me, this is not about dollars. It has to be about a calling of the inner man to do what is right.”
Asked if he thought the eulogy was an appropriate venue for his statements, Williams said he thought it was proper since he had the stage. And he said he thought he honored Aretha Franklin.
He said he wasn’t surprised by the controversy, however.
During his years of preaching, Williams said he has had “one surprise after another, to the point that I’m numb to surprises by now. I’m not surprised; -- I just wish somebody would understand my heart .... I meant nobody any harm and yet, I meant the truth.”