Remarks on the Occasion of the Memorial Celebration

By Katherine Burton Jones
Ocotber 1st, 2011
Photo - St Augustin Record

First of all let me thank Sandra Parks Kennedy for finding a place on the program for me when she was not sure I would be able to make it today.
Stetson Kennedy was my stepfather for many years.   I have had almost forty years to prepare for today but no one is ever really prepared.  I will be brief.  Stetson’s life inspired me but it took living in Boston to allow me to have some objectivity on his career.

While there were many times that he stood up for the causes that he championed I remember being honored by him when he called to invite me to be a member of his new Foundation’s Advisory Council.  In his typical, direct way he asked me “if my values were still correct and true” without saying to my causes.  How many of you can raise your hands today to say “Yes” my values are correct and true.  [Thank you all for raising your hands.]  Stetson went on to tell me about the Foundation and the other members of the Advisory Council.  I was doubly honored then to have my name placed with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Professor Cornell West.

With my miles of objectivity in hand I began to see more of the meaning of Stetson’s place in the fight for Civil Rights.  I had been using a more Southern lens and a lens on my parent.  Sadly it took this perspective and being re-schooled in the work of the abolitionists and 20th century freedom fighters through my work at Boston’s Museum of African American History to see Stetson as a man not bounded by the usual, a man for the nation and the world.

I could now see that he was more like William Lloyd Garrison, the 19th century abolitionist who also used the pen instead of the sword.  Fortunately Stetson was now subjected to the physical tortures that Garrison experienced but he was always under threats from the Klan.  He spoke out for Civil Rights during a difference time when slavery had long been ended by law but while Jim Crow still ruled and hate crimes prevailed.  His books, public speaking, and continued championing of Human Rights helps us all “keep our values correct and true.” 

Today, Dr. Peggy Bulger has given us a bright picture of Stetson’s work as a folklorist.  I will add that when it comes to his work in recording the folklore and folklife of the state of Florida he cannot be compared to anyone else.  Stetson stands alone as one of the pioneers in recording a Florida that we no longer have. 

Dr. Bulger also wondered if someone would step up for this century to take Stetson’s place.  I hope so but that someone will be different.  I hope she or he will have the fire and passion for Stetson’s causes that he brought and never let flag.