I wouldn’t have known of him either but for…wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
His name was Robert S. Graetz. He was a white pastor to an all-Black congregation. He was a civil rights champion, and willingly risked physical harm to make a difference. Fair use prevents me from quoting the entire NYTimes obituary, but I will test the limits of that fair use:
As a young Lutheran minister in Alabama in the 1950s, the Rev. Robert S. Graetz Jr. would alternate his driving routes to thwart attackers. He once measured a 15-inch-deep crater left by a bomb that had targeted his home in Montgomery. And to shield his young children from fear — and the shards of glass that would follow another explosion — he would play a “game” with them in which they would crawl behind a couch when there was a suspicious sound outside.
Defying the menacing of the Ku Klux Klan, intimidation by the authorities and isolation among fellow clergymen, Mr. Graetz remained a rare, unbowed voice for desegregation among white people in Alabama, supporting the Montgomery bus boycott that transformed the nation’s budding civil rights movement…
…The boycott, first planned as a one-day event on Dec. 5, 1955, lasted more than a year, and Mr. Graetz continued to drive Black residents to and from work. Some white ministers privately endorsed the desegregation effort but dared not speak publicly for fear of being condemned by their congregations.
Not Mr. Graetz. Wearing a cross that read “Father, Forgive Them,” he appeared at the courthouse with Dr. King — captured in a photograph on the front page of The New York Times — and became so well known that The Montgomery Advertiser asked him what it was like to live as a pariah.
“I don’t know any pariahs,” he replied.
Please read the entire article or, if you don’t have a subscription, read this one in USA Today. This captures the bravery of Graetz and his family in facing down the racist threats against them:
Montgomery’s larger white community also shunned the Graetzes. As they endured vandalism and verbal harassment, Robert and Jeannie received notes suggesting that their young children could be shot while playing outside. Family members suggested sending the children out of state; they refused.
Law enforcement also targeted the minister. On Dec. 19, 1955, while picking up five passengers, Graetz was stopped by Montgomery County Sheriff Mac Sim Butler and accused of picking up passengers in a taxi zone. The sheriff ordered him to follow him to the county jail, where Graetz was placed in a deputy sheriff’s office.
A person who Graetz assumed was a deputy sheriff told him, “We like things the way they are here. We don’t want anybody trying to change them.”
Robert Graetz dedicated his life to changing the way things are. He played a key role in moving the civil rights movement forward. He made the world a better place.
So. How do I know of him? He was my son-in-law’s grandfather. I am so proud that my son-in-law and my two daughters share Robert Graetz’s commitment to justice for all. We should all aspire to emulate the courage of Robert Graetz. Can you imagine how much better this country would be for everyone if we did?
