Cecil Williams urges respect for everyone

By LARRY MITCHELL - Staff Writer

Believe in yourself and never give up, Cecil Williams, a renowned minister and social activist, told some 500 people at Chico State University Wednesday in a speech opening a year-long campus program designed to promote tolerance.

His listeners seemed to love it. Williams got three standing ovations in Harlen Adams Theater, where he spoke and answered questions.

"Some of us don't use our imagination," he said. "We've been told all along don't get too far out. Don't let your mind roam. Don't let your heart get too far out." That's not the way to build bridges, he added.

"Let some of the spontaneous stuff flow," he said. "That's where the good stuff comes from."

"If you're going to build a bridge, you've got to respect yourself and respect everybody else," he said.

Williams encountered segregated churches when he was growing up. He said he couldn't stand it. He dreamed of a church where all people would be welcome.

And in fact, he played church, making his brothers and sisters take the parts of "church members" of different races while he was "the preacher."

They'd put on funerals for dead roaches and sometimes rats, he said.

At Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco, Williams said he has a truly integrated church. There are poor people, people who are emotionally disturbed, people of all races and lots of gay, lesbian and transgender people. The Glide Foundation has 40 social service programs assisting people throughout the Bay Area. Some 3,000 free hot meals are served daily to those in need.

Among Glide's programs are AIDS testing, crisis intervention, domestic violence programs and job training.

If you're going to build bridges, you need to show "unconditional love," he said. "That means I not only care, I love people whether they're human or they don't want to own up to being human. People say, 'How come you walk around with those folks?' I say, 'Because they're folks!' "

A student asked Williams what advice he had for him, as "a young black man."

The minister thought for a minute and told the student he can expect to be told he is worthless and that he has "no meaning, no love, no hope." Then he said, "The hope is here and now. The important thing is that you have something that is critical to the world and that you give it to the world. Open it up. You're going to fail at times. You can hit it, too. Don't go down. Go up!"

"Bridges are always waiting to be built," he said. "Where are the bridge builders?"

Also at the event, a bronze bust was unveiled of the late Harlen Adams, a Chico State professor and administrator, as well as a community leader who was vitally interested in tolerance and human relations. The sculpture, by the late Gerald Lugenbeel Jr., will be placed in the theater that bears Adams' name.

Williams' Chico talk was sponsored by Associated Students Presents, with help from the Chico State College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the Building Bridges program.

Eight more public events, including lectures and music, are scheduled in September and October in the Building Bridges program. And more are planned in the spring. The public is invited. Featured speakers include naturalist and poet Diane Ackerman on Sept. 19 and Southern Poverty Law Center founder Morris Dees on March 13.

Organizers of Building Bridges say the program aims to bring together the Chico State campus, as well as reach out to other colleges and universities, K-12 schools, religious congregations and the community in general.

Organizers hope to promote tolerance and reduce violence.

The program grew out of concern about hate crimes affecting the campus and community, a 1999 Academic Senate resolution supporting tolerance and respect, and campus-wide meetings held last year on student safety and community health.

A campus group that has been meeting for more than a year put together Building Bridges. For more information on the program, call 898-4143.