Rev. Kenneth Lyons
In 80 years, the Rev. Kenneth Lyons has seen his share of racial injustice. But it was in 1998, when the community of Jasper was struck by one of the most horrific hate crimes seen in this country, that the pastor of Greater New Bethel Baptist Church proved to the nation that he was a leader in the stand against racism.
That was the year James Byrd Jr., whose family had been a member of Lyons’ church, was dragged to his death by three white supremacists. The horrific crime brought people f rom all over to Jasper, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers.
But Lyons joined with other religious leaders in the area to form a group that stood in solidarity against anyone with racial bias.
“The Ministers’ Alliance, we all spoke with one voice,” Lyons told The Enterprise in 2019, when asked to reflect on that difficult time. “Whenever there was a white problem, we let the white ministers face it and answer the question. Whenever there was a Black problem, we let the Black preachers answer the questions. To let them know that we were of one accord; that we weren’t against each other.
“When the Panthers came to town, the Black preachers spoke out against it. When the
Ku Klux Klan, the white ministers spoke out against it. To show harmony. To show them that Jasper was of one accord.”
And in harmony, his daughter said, was the way Lyons raised his family.
“They taught us we don’t get in violence,” Germain Jackson Eddie said of her father and his wife of 54 years, Ruby Lyons. “They were very strict and believed in that. But mostly they believed in God. None of his kids ended up in jail. All of us got college degrees. I just basically mimic what they taught us — always be kind to everyone and respect your elders. They just taught us some good family values.”
He continued to preach those values in 1998, when addressing the kind of crime he never thought he’d see again.
“All of us believed that America was moving forward, but this came and seemed to tear apart all of our dreams of equality,” Lyons said in the earlier interview. “No more hatred and division; this was a great shock to us. Especially to those of us who had been born in the 40s. And it seemed most of these things had come to pass — immigration and fair employment and equal rights. We saw a new America. No more hangings; no more killings. We would live peacefully together.
“That’s why it was such a surprise. A shock to us. And all of us felt ... we couldn’t believe it. We thought 1955 had come on us again, and here in 1998 things had changed so much toward our race. You could now buy a home anywhere you wanted to live. You could send your children to any school they wanted to go to. Things had changed so much. Then all of a sudden, we get news in Sunday school that a black man has been dragged.”
His faith never wavered. “He made sure the family stayed together,” Eddie said. “We were raised in the church. That was one thing they emphasized, not to fight in school.”
On Feb. 6, Lyons’ birthday was celebrated with a drive-by tribute and proclamation f rom the mayor of Jasper at the church which he preaches.
It is the same church he grew up in as a child.
After entering the military, he met his wife and moved to Houston, Eddie said. But when the preacher of New Bethel Baptist Church died, the members called on Lyons to lead them.
“Between us and our own children, we fill up four pews,” Eddie said with a laugh.