ATLANTA — Civil rights legend Joe Beasley died this week at age 88 and is being mourned in Atlanta and around the world.
Channel 2’s Lori Wilson spoke with two of his longtime friends about his impact in the community and beyond.
“He took the church to the streets,” said Rev. Timothy MacDonald, pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church for 41 years. MacDonald also served as president of Concerned Black Clergy 40 years ago, one of the organizations that Beasley was involved in.
Longtime pastors Rev. William Flippin and MacDonald took time Thursday to remember Beasley, their friend.
“I had a lot of fun with Joe Beasley. We were in a lot of battles together. I saw him as a dependable warrior,” MacDonald said.
Beasley was a warrior who worked closely with Rev. Cameron Alexander at Antioch Baptist Church and at one point as the political action chair for the Concerned Black Clergy.
“There would not be a new flag in the state of Georgia if it were not for Joe Beasley, who kept showing up,” MacDonald said.
Beasley worked tirelessly as an advocate for disenfranchised people, whether it was moving to change a Georgia state flag that incorporated the Confederate flag, working for equity in education or advocating for the homeless or health care.
“He did the work. He was always mentoring young activists like myself,” former NAACP president Gerald Griggs said.
Born to sharecroppers in Inman, Georgia, Beasley served in the Air Force for 20 years, then as the regional director for Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push coalition.
“Joe Beasley was a tall, lean gentleman and spoke softly. You almost could ignore him until he got up, and you could hear in his voice the compassion that he had for the least, the last, the lost,” said Flippin, pastor of Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church for 35 years.
“MARTA would hate to see him coming, but he went to almost every MARTA meeting, making sure we had the same things on the south side that they had on the north side ... and it wasn’t just in Atlanta,” MacDonald said.
Beasley was part of Ambassador Andrew Young’s delegation that went to South Africa to engage voters when Nelson Mandela was elected in the 1990’s.
“He was a world champion for human rights. ... It was South Africa. It was Haiti. It was Brazil,” MacDonald said.
“We loved Joe Beasley, we respected Joe Beasley, we honored Joe Beasley and we listened to Joe Beasley. He got us involved in a lot of good trouble in the Civil Rights Movement,” MacDonald added.
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