At 85, civil rights legend Lowery still refuses to quit

Errin Haines

ATLANTA — The Rev. Joseph Lowery was looking forward to retiring from the civil rights movement, trading marches and speeches for life as a grandfather and golfer.

He’s had a hard time sticking to that plan.

“People call and drive and push as much as they ever did,” Lowery said. “In fact, some more, because they think I have more time.”

That the civil rights icon, who turned 85 last Friday, is still in demand is a testament to his life’s work — and his health. After surviving prostate cancer and Jim Crow, not much about him suggests his age.

He is animated, though he mutters about his arthritis. He can still deliver a message, but his voice is gravelly and hushed after throat surgery. His eyes still burn with a passion for fighting injustice.

And Lowery is still capable of making headlines. In February, his criticism of the war in Iraq and poverty in the U.S. during Coretta Scott King’s funeral as President Bush looked on raised eyebrows and sparked a standing ovation.

He quit his job in 1998 as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference — the organization he co-founded in 1957 with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and other ministers — and left the pulpit in 1992 after a 40-year career as a United Methodist preacher. For the dean of the civil rights movement, retirement exists in name only.

He and Evelyn Gibson Lowery, his wife of 55 years, remain as committed to the cause of social justice as they were when they were a young Alabama couple risking their lives to gain the right to vote and see an end to segregation.

The movement of their youth may be over, but Lowery says his work on earth is not yet done.

“Many of my colleagues have gone, and the Lord has let me stay here,” said the Huntsville, Ala., native. “And I figure that I know he didn’t let me stay here ‘cause I been so good, nor so wise. So it must be because he wants me to continue to preach his word and witness for truth and justice.”

The Rev. James Orange, who first worked alongside Lowery in the SCLC in Alabama during the 1960s and has continued to work with him in Atlanta, said Lowery’s reputation still commands respect.

“When he calls, folks respond,” Orange said. “His involvement makes a lot of folks get involved.”

Though he says he enjoys the respect of his colleagues, there are some who may question his relevance.

“The powers-that-be have decided that this is a post-civil rights era,” Lowery said.

“If people think you’ve already won all your rights, they’re not going to be very enthusiastic nor participatory in your civil rights activities. It’s hard out here for an advocate,” he quipped.

Apathy and a changing definition of his mission have made his role more difficult, but no less important with war, poverty and racism still around, Lowery said.

He continues to be outspoken on voting issues, including the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1964. He is a staunch opponent of Georgia’s efforts to require voters to show government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot, which he condemns as a racist tactic meant to disenfranchise black voters.

Lowery said he hopes to use his voice to empower youth through the Joseph Lowery Institute for Justice and Human Rights and through a lecture series in Atlanta schools. This year’s lecture, held last week, featured comedian Bill Cosby, who urged students to learn from Lowery’s courage and leadership.

“This is a bad dude,” Cosby told the students, pointing at Lowery. “He didn’t carry a gun, but he walked up to the gun. You weren’t there, but he was doing it for you.”

(Associated Press)