This Oklahoman preacher and NAACP leader, who died 12 years ago today, was a visionary known for his genuinely Christlike approach to civil rights. In the 1970's, Watts developed a now-famous love/hate relationship with Johnny Lee Clary, a Grand Dragon of the KKK, responding to the organization's threats and Clary's hatred with kindness and benevolence; Clary subsequently renounced the KKK and the two men became close friends. Watts was close with Martin Luther King, and met with two different presidents as a representative of his efforts in the areas of civil rights and humanitarian aid.
To me, Wade Watts is a prime example of the kind of human being that SHOULD cover our “Christian” nation; the Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells of the world could take a lesson or two from someone that truly embodied the teachings of Jesus in his everyday life. Not much of a shocker that Wade was a lifetime democrat, and resented the alignment of political conservatism with Christianity. We'd be all too lucky, in our chaotic nation of Tea Partying, to come upon someone with the values of Watts again; we'd need him now more than ever. Rest in peace, Reverend Watts.
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