wfn.org | Andrew Young Tells NCCCUSA of Hosea Williams' Death

[CAROL.FOUKE@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: NCC:
Web: www.ncccusa.org; New York office: 212-870-2227
NCC11/16/2000  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANDREW YOUNG ANNOUNCES HIS FRIEND HOSEA WILLIAMS’ DEATH

	November 16, 2000, ATLANTA, Ga. – Late this afternoon, the National
Council of Churches General Assembly took time out from its agenda to hear a
poignant announcement by the NCC’s President, Andrew Young.  With
tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat, Young broke the news to the
Assembly that his long-time friend and colleague, civil rights leaders Hosea
Williams, had just died.

“I just got word that Hosea has gone on to glory,” he said, his
voice cracking.  Regaining his composure, Young continued, “It is a
moment of sadness, but it is also a moment of celebration.”

He recalled his service together with Williams and Martin Luther King, Jr.,
in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, mobilizing the civil rights
movement across the South in the 1960s.

“Even though we were all seen as rabble-rousers and were sometimes
kept at a distance by ‘respectable Christians,’ I was there as a
United Church of Christ minister, Hosea on the Presbyterian Church payroll,
others as Baptists, Methodists, Catholics,” united around the cross
“at a time of life and death,” Young noted.

Williams, who died of cancer at age 74, was prominent in the civil rights
movement long after King’s death.  For three decades, Williams was
also known for his annual holiday dinners for the poor, which fed 30,000
last year in Atlanta.

Young, the NCC’s President for 2000-2001 who presided over the General
Assembly’s Nov. 14-17 annual meeting, brought the news as the
delegates were about to adjourn for a reception in Young’s honor.  A
light supper followed, with recognition of outstanding ecumenical leaders
and programs – and an offering, spontaneously designated for
Williams’ “Feed the Hungry” program.

“Everyone saw the harsh, protest side of Hosea,” Young said at
the evening program.  “It’s his ‘Feed the Hungry’
program that lets us see his grace.”

-end-