Randolph Knighten Jr. (MATS’18)

TIME MAGAZINE NAMED HIM the dean of black preachers in 1980. In 2000, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton. The Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor was a prominent leader in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. along with other African American clergy people to found the Progressive National Baptist Convention.

I know of Rev. Taylor because I grew up in the shadows of his alma mater, Leland College. Leland College was forced to close in 1960. Throughout its history, it educated hundreds of Black students with its main objective of training educators and ministers who would leave its halls to impact the world. My grandfather Major King Jr. lived his entire life in the shadows of this great institution, but on Tuesday, August 4, 2020, at 10:47 a.m., he died from complications related to COVID-19. As the eldest of a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, I cannot help but wonder if he would still be with us today if the impact of COVID-19 had not been downplayed by leaders of our country. M

y grandfather (shown here in his high school baseball uniform) had been a part of my life from the beginning. Our family lived just around the corner from my grandparents in the Leland College community of Baker, Louisiana. I always knew him to be a hard-working man who loved and cared for his family. I can vividly remember my grandfather coming home in his work truck and, after getting cleaned up, he would then relax on the couch by reading the newspaper. My grandfather would read the newspaper every single day, which helped him develop an awareness of current issues in our community and throughout the world.

As an adult, I can remember driving my grandfather to buy catfish or a newspaper, but more than anything, I remember being my grandfather’s barber. Yes, that’s right, while I lived in Louisiana I was my grandfather’s barber. I have never been a professional barber but my father taught me how to cut hair as a young person, and I would share the skill with family members and friends whenever I could. Not only would I cut my grandfather’s hair, he also recruited me to be the barber for a few of his friends throughout the community. As a family we have always tried our best to make sure everyone was cared for.

Prayer was another way we showed our care for each other, but in the summer of 2020 prayer took on a different meaning. We began to gather daily for prayer via Zoom when we received my grandfather’s prognosis. We prayed each day for his survival. We prayed for him as he fought the virus in a hospital bed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, alone. All of his life he had never been alone; he had always been surrounded by friends and family members.

He did not have that option in the last weeks of his life.

Our family and all of the Leland College community of Baker, Louisiana, will miss Major “Sonny” King Jr. The grief we are experiencing from the loss of this great man continues to be very painful. From this day forward may we refuse to allow others to downplay the seriousness of COVID-19, or any sickness for that matter. Just as Dr. Taylor and Dr. King stood up against the oppression of Black people during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s, may we stand with all who are experiencing the kind of health, wealth, and other systemic disparities that have been revealed in this age of COVID-19.

– Randolph Knighten Jr. (MATS’18) Director of Outreach Ministries, Saint John’s United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas Remembering*2020