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Pope John XXIII Award

On April 23, 2001 Larry Long received the Pope John XXIII Award from Viterbo University for his work in forgotten communities around the world. Some of the previous recipients include Archbishop John R. Roach, Sister Thea Bowman, Bart Starr, Billy Mills, Charles Kuralt, Sheila Garrity and Thomas Rand.

The Inscription on the Award reads:

A well-ordered human society requires that its members recognize and observe their mutual rights and duties. . . When the relations of human society are expressed in terms of rights and duties, men and women become conscious of spiritual values, understand the meaning and significance of truth, justice, charity and freedom, and become more deeply aware that they belong to this world of values. Moreover, when moved by such concerns, they are brought to a better knowledge of the true God who is personal and transcendent, and thus they make the ties that bind them to God the solid foundation and supreme criterion of their lives: both that life which they live interiorly in the depths of their own souls and of that in which they are united to others in society.

Transcript of Larry Long's Acceptance Speech

There's so many people to give thanks to tonight. So many people who've given support through the years. My family, extended family, and friends.

I especially want to acknowledge some of my immediate family who are here tonight: my father-in-law, Milton; mother-in-law, Ruth; my son, Jacob; my daughter, Lura Rose; my wife, Jacqueline; my dear sister, Linda and my father, Dewey.

My mother couldn't be here tonight because she had back surgery recently, but she's here in spirit.

My biological father passed away when I was thirteen years old. His best friend, Jack Mason, who we hadn't seen since father's death came to the benefit concert last night for the Place of Grace. This reunion occurred because of this Pope John XXIII Award's ceremony and my family is forever thankful.

When my biological father passed away my mother had to move from being a house wife to working outside of the home. If it wasn't for the help of government programs like Social Security it would have been very difficult for us to have made it. I am so thankful for those programs today.

I'm also so thankful for the generosity of all those good neighbors with whom my father worked who showered our home with food and comfort so we I often say to people, "I was born a southern Baptist, raised in the arms of a Jewish community, adopted by Franciscans, and rediscovered God in a Dakota sweat lodge."

Mark Twain wrote, "Travel destroys prejudice." It has certainly been true in my life.

Tonight I'm wearing what I call my Mrs. Rosa Parks suit. You won't often see me in a suit. It's my only suit. I bought this suit special for when I performed last December 1st with thirty school children for Mrs. Rosa Parks for the 45th Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Around my shoulders tonight I'm also wearing a beautiful African scarf. I want to tell you about this scarf.

The students I performed with for Mrs. Parks came from some very proud but low-income Alabama rural communities near where Mrs. Parks grew up. The only matching clothes the students had were black pants & skirts with white shirts and blouses. The teachers were concerned that the children might all look like penguins or pilgrims on stage. I told the teachers I would look for some scarves for them to wear. I went searching throughout Minneapolis and found an African craft store. Sure enough they had hand woven African scarves with colorful fabric but they cost thirty dollars a piece! I told the owner who was from Ethiopia what I needed the scarves for. She got very excited about contributing to a celebration to honor Mrs. Rosa Parks, but said the least she could sell them for was fifteen dollars per scarf. I told her I didn't have $450 to spend. She then smiled and said, "I'll borrow them to you, if you're able to bring them back after the celebration." I told her, "Thank-you but I sincerely wish to buy them, because I want these children to have a special gift to bring home afterwards so they'll have something to remember Mrs. Rosa Parks by." "In that case." she said, "I will give you the scarves!" This in a nutshell has been what life as a troubadour has been about; a string of miracles. People showing up at just the right time to do the right thing.

Last year I worked in South Africa outside of Durban in a Zulu community through a grant from the United States State Department. During that time my new found Zulu friends took me down the back streets of Durban into a large Zulu celebration. Hundreds were in attendance. As soon as we walked in they ushered us to the front and seated my friends & I. I was the only non-African in the room. They made space for me at their table.

Closer to home in the United States we have new neighbors from Mexico, Somalia, Southeast Asia and from all around the world with special gifts to share with us - and like the Zulu community - we need to make a place at our tables for them. We need to seat them up front beside us. Today my family & friends visited the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration who've been praying continuously for 123 years non stop - they are praying at this very moment I speak for world peace and peace within the hearts of this fine community. If you ask them for specific prayers they will bring your concerns to their table. Following our visit with these incredible women we went to the Place of Grace house on Hood Street where food was being brought in; where people were preparing food; and neighbors were gathering in fellowship. All making a place at their table for others.

As a child I couldn't do what I'm doing now - to stand before a crowd and speak - I had an extreme stutter but my Grandfather would say, "Moses stammered and look what he brought to the people." For it's through truly listening to the stories of others that we are healed.

My mother, Roberta, raised my two sisters and I with the belief that each of us are put on this earth for a divine purpose. Each of us are born with a very unique gift. And when we are called upon, it is our duty to act upon that gift. And when the dream is larger than the dreamer, dreams do come true.

In the Jewish tradition it's called the mitzvah. The mitzvah was explained to me to be when one's body is so tired it just can't take it no more but when someone cries out for help your spirit rises up and helps out one more time.

I heard a Rabbi speak about visiting a friend who was disabled and each time after visiting him he felt better than when he came. The Rabbi said, "Many people thought that it was I who was doing the mitzvah, when in fact it was he who was doing the mitzvah for me."

In the Christian faith, Jesus Christ said, "Sell your goods and give to the poor." But like the Mitzvah it's those less fortunate who truly help us to become fully human.

A dear friend of mine, a veteran of Vietnam and Wounded Knee, told me that in his Lakota tradition art is purposeful, beautiful, and long lasting.

For like Chief Seattle St. Francis spoke:
Praise to you brother sun
You give us day, you lend us light.
Praise to you brother fire,
You keep us warm through the night.
Praise to you sister moon.
Praise to you brother wind.
Sister water sweet and pure.
Praise to you my dear friend.

For nearly twenty years I've worked with schools and communities bringing elders into the classroom to share their wisdom with young people. In exchange the children turn oral history into oral literature through creating songs and recitations which honor these elders which at community wide celebration. For when the generations come together community is restored.

In closing I want to share a story from an elder I recently met in Loachapoka, Alabama by the name of Frank Evans. At the age of 16 Mr. Evans started to play baseball with the late great Satchel Paige in the Negro Baseball league for over twenty years. Frank said in those days of Jim Crow Satchel would hold church in the bus they rode in. And underneath their seats they each kept a case of sardines to eat when they were refused food eat in those segregated cafes. Frank now attributes his old age to the oil he consumed from those cases of sardines.

Frank also told the children about driving down the wrong two lane road after a ball game straight into a Ku Klux Klan rally. Some of the Klansmen wanted to lynch him, but one of the Klansmen said, "Aren't you Frank Evans who plays ball with Satchel Paige." Frank said, "Yes, I am." And they let him go.

Frank talked about marching with Martin Luther King in Kentucky when a man threw a brick and hit Martin in the head. Martin called out, "Someone please bring that brick to me, for it's a brick of justice." Martin then asked everyone to gather round and place their hands on that brick. Martin then prayed, "Lord, drive those demons out with your mercy and your love." And when he got done praying the man who threw that brick dropped to his knees asking for forgiveness.

For this is the power of love. For this is the power of nonviolence. And in that spirit I receive this award on behalf of all those good people who've been gracious enough through the years to share the complexities of their life stories with the generations to come so they too might have a rock of faith to stand on. So they too might have a place at the table. As they say down south, "God is good." And people respond, "All the time." "God is good!" "All the time."

Ho Mitakuye Oyasin! To all my relations, to all those who came before, to all those yet come, and to all those who are with us now. My relations are very happy today and I thank you so much for this Pope John XXIII award.

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