Because: Quiet Acts of Courage: Calming the Klan Meeting in Evansville
Host: Phil Amerson
This "Because" episode of "To Be and Do" features Phil Amerson as he shares deeply personal reflections on life, faith, and ministry in the context of responding to challenging events—both locally and nationally. Drawing on memories of ICE raids in Minneapolis and historical tragedies at Kent State and Jackson State, Phil Amerson connects these large-scale events to a pivotal experience in Evansville, Indiana in the late 1980s, centered around a neighborhood’s encounter with the Ku Klux Klan. Through heartfelt storytelling, Phil explores how a faith community can respond thoughtfully and peacefully to hatred and fear.
Three Key Takeaways:
- The Power of Listening to Unexpected Voices
- One of the most impactful moments is when Stella—a neighbor not always regarded as wise—offers the suggestion that the best response to the Klan’s meeting is to attend, pray with those present, and help them reflect quietly. Contrary to more reactive ideas, her approach shifts the atmosphere from confrontation to compassion, demonstrating how powerful it can be to pause and listen to voices that might otherwise be overlooked.
- Building Relationships and Changing Hearts
- Instead of protesting loudly, Phil Amerson and his group chose to attend the Klan event, speak calmly, and even sing hymns. This approach led to genuine connections—eventually, Phil befriended one of the Klan members, who began coming to their worship services. Over time, this relationship helped shift the man’s perspective; a year later, he symbolically renounced violence and his Klan membership by placing his revolver and membership card in the offering plate. The story powerfully illustrates that empathy and presence can create openings for transformation in even the most unlikely situations.
- Faith as a Path to Living Differently
- The episode ends with a reminder that people of faith have the opportunity to live differently—by choosing love, hope, and gentle actions instead of responding to fear or hatred with anger. Phil Amerson's narrative encourages listeners to move beyond assumptions and embrace the courage to respond with quiet strength, affirming that relational ministry can lead to impactful change.
Tune in to hear how faith, listening, and relationship-building are not just concepts, but practical tools for confronting divisiveness and promoting healing. This episode is a moving story of how ordinary people can make a difference—even in the face of extraordinary challenges.
Phil Amerson [00:00:01]:
Greetings everyone, this is Phil Amersonwith an episode of Because. Just because I want to share some reflections on life and ministry, on faith, I want to tell a story. It comes because I've been thinking a lot about the events in Minneapolis, in Minnesota, and the ICE raids there. And as I've mentioned earlier, it reminded me of other experiences— Kent State in 1970 and Jackson Jackson State where African American students were murdered, but it took me closer to home as well. Evansville, Indiana. The year is about 1988 or '89. Unfortunately, in the neighborhood where we lived, which was on the Near East Side, there had been some attacks on women. And who came into the community but the Ku Klux Klan? And they were going to help organize the good white women to protect them from a rapist.
Phil Amerson [00:01:10]:
No one knew that the rapist was not white himself, or if there even was a rapist. It was just reported and the newspaper were there. And I still remember we were a part of a faith group called Patchwork Ministries. Patchwork still exists. And we sat down one evening after worship after the meal and said, what should we do? The Klan is organizing, they're going to hold a meeting at the Baptist church down the street, and how should we respond? And a lot of us had a lot of fancy education, we came up with all kinds of things we were going to do, uh, protest or whatever. And one woman who lived in the neighborhood, who let's just say some of us knew, we didn't think her elevator went all the way to the top floor. Her name was Stella. She lived with about 10 cats in her house.
Phil Amerson [00:02:02]:
But Stella, listening to all of this, finally leaned back in her chair and said, you know, the best thing we could do is just go to that church where the Klan's going to be and just help people think about it more clearly and pray with them and be quiet. And to our amazement, we realized Stella had the best idea of any of us. And so the evening came at the Baptist church where the Klan was going to host its meetings, and about 20 of us showed up. We were at the doors, but we didn't protest in a typical way. What we did was we touched people as they came in and spoke to them in a soft voice. We were inside the sanctuary and spread out and sat by people. We asked early on that a hymn be sung which sort of threw the Klan people off, but it was Stella's idea. And you know, we calmed that whole, whole situation down and found a place where people didn't come to be excited by the Klan, who tried.
Phil Amerson [00:03:13]:
I ended up being a friend of one of the Klan members. I've talked about this. In other recordings, but a guy named Will Campbell worked with the Klan. He lived down outside of Nashville. I called Will and he said to me, when I told him our situation, he said, well, what are their names? And as I've said before, I didn't understand what Will was asking me. I thought he was asking me, who are the members of our group, or who are the people who are being attacked? But no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Will wanted to know, what are the names of the Klan members? And that's when I got to know them, one in particular who began to come to our worship services on Sunday evening. I don't know that I would have ever gotten there without Will's advice and without Stella's good information.
Phil Amerson [00:04:07]:
And to make a long story short, about a year after I first met the young man who was a part of the clan. He had continued to come to worship, and one evening as we took up the offering— and it wasn't just money, people would give flowers and poetry and bread that they had baked— this young man came and dropped something in the offering plate. And quickly after the service, I took the offering back in an office and looked to see what it was. There were maybe $2.30 in the offering. But there was also something that this young man had dropped in, and it was his revolver along with his Klan membership card. Sometimes the message we share is one that is built around building a relationship and touching people gently and quietly, and praying with them, and oh yes, singing some songs of hope. God bless you, just because we have the opportunity to live differently as people of faith.
