wfn.org | Activist tapes TV show

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3002 notes).

Note 3002 by UMNS on June 10, 1996 at 15:50 Eastern (6570 characters).

SEARCH: Lawson, civil-rights, United Methodists, media, conference

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CONTACT:  Linda Green                             288(10-71){3002}
          Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470            June 10, 1996

Civil-rights activist James Lawson
preaches, broadcasts during visit

by Nancye M. Willis*
     

     NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- The Rev. James Lawson, black
pastor and civil-rights activist, took a few hours out of a busy
schedule as worship leader of the United Methodist Tennessee
Annual Conference when it met here.
     But he didn't visit Nashville landmarks such as the
Parthenon, the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Hard Rock Cafe. 
Instead, he was at United Methodist Communications' (UMCom) TV
studios, doing a couple of 30-minute shows, both produced by
UMCom.
     Between his other obligations, he found time to broadcast
"Lawson Live," his regular, weekly call-in show normally
originating from Los Angeles, and to tape an edition of "Faces on
Faith," which features noted guests' candid responses to questions
of faith.
     Lawson, pastor of Los Angeles' predominantly black Holman
United Methodist Church, gained national attention recently as
theoretical and practical defender of James Earl Ray, convicted
slayer of Martin Luther King Jr.  As a pastor in Memphis in 1968,
Lawson had invited King there, where he met his death, to lead a
march of embattled sanitation workers.
     Lawson is no stranger to Nashville, with ties dating back to
the '60s civil-rights movement.  He made national news in 1960,
when, as a Vanderbilt University divinity student, he was expelled
for his role in sit-in demonstrations directed at ending racial
segregation of downtown Nashville lunch counters.
     Still widely recognized for his teachings about nonviolence
and pacifism, Lawson evidences his convictions weekly on "Lawson
Live," which normally originates from Los Angeles.  The program
features studio guests and call-in viewers in discussions on
social and human-rights issues that affect minority communities.
     He took advantage of being in Nashville for the conference to
invite his old friend, John Seigenthaler, trustee of The Freedom
Forum and chairman of its First Amendment Center, based at
Vanderbilt, to be his guest on the June 7 "Lawson Live." 
     Seigenthaler, like Lawson, has a history with the civil-
rights movement.  At about the same time divinity-student Lawson
was leading nonviolent demonstrations, Seigenthaler, who is white,
was serving as the Kennedy administration's chief negotiator with
the governor of Alabama, an assignment that resulted in his
hospitalization after an attack by a white mob.  
     The question posed to set the tone of the telecast examined
whether or not democratic values are undermined by the media. 
Seigenthaler, with 45 years' experience in print journalism, cites
a "penchant for tabloid journalism" that has invaded mainstream
media, which "now finds itself influenced by those forces."
     And why do we need a free press?  Because, said Seigenthaler,
"people have to be able to make decisions based on information."
     His comment spurred Lawson to point out a "growing illiteracy
in the United States about itself" fed by newscasters' emphasis on
crime.  A recent study of half-hour evening news broadcasts, he
added, shows that "crime got 12 minutes; sports, seven; weather,
five," meaning that "very little of anything substantial
(educational issues, government actions, political summaries)
could be reported on." 
     The Tennessee Conference met June 6-9 at Tennessee State
University (TSU) here, a historically black institution whose '60s
students joined Lawson in nonviolent demonstrations.  Today's TSU
students continue to press for racial equality and civil rights.
     The move of the annual conference's session to TSU's Gentry
Center marks a change welcomed by many as reflecting the
multiracial and multicultural nature of the church.  Past sessions
had met in Brentwood, an affluent, predominantly white Nashville
suburb.
     The 1996 legislative sessions were the first to meet over a
weekend, lessening lay delegates' need to miss work.  Another
first included devoting one day of the meeting for delegates to
minister among the poor and marginalized, visiting nursing homes,
prisons and jails, day-care centers, soup kitchens, and homeless
hostels.
     Referring to nonviolence as a "creative soul force," Lawson
pointed out to the "Faces of Faith" audience that the practice is
"a way of life fully enmeshed in the life of Jesus ... an attitude
of hospitality to all of life."
     His attitude, he told Peggy West, is influenced by the fact
that "I've had a romance with Jesus for over 50 years ... (He) is
my mentor, model, teacher, friend, brother ... but ultimately the
Word embodied in human form."
     Lawson cited his "moral certainty that James Earl Ray did not
assassinate Martin Luther King," adding that "Ray was nothing more
than a pawn. ... The fact that he's poor has kept him in
(prison)."
     The edition of "Faces on Faith," produced cooperatively by
UMCom and Trinity Church (Episcopal) in New York, on which Lawson
will appear will air at a date that as yet is undetermined.
     "Lawson Live" airs on the F&V Channel Fridays at 11:30 p.m.
(ET) and on several cable stations.  "Faces on Faith" airs on F&V
Sundays at 5 p.m. and Mondays at 11:30 a.m. (ET).
     The F&V Channel, which reaches 30 million households in
nearly 1,500 cable systems nationwide, is owned jointly by
subsidiaries of the National Interfaith Cable Coalition Inc.
(NICC) and of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI).  NICC is a
consortium of 64 Protestant, Jewish, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
faith groups and evangelical traditions, including the United
Methodist Church.
     Further information on "Lawson Live" and "Faces on Faith" is
available from F&V, 74 Trinity Place, Suite 1810, New York, NY
10006; telephone (212) 602-9622, or from Public Media Marketing,
UMCom, P.O. Box 320, Nashville, TN 37203-0230; telephone (800)
476-7766.
                               # # #

     * Willis is marketing information specialist for United
Methodist Communications' Public Media Marketing unit.  She writes
and edits the monthly marketing newsletter, Transmitter.

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