Reaching Out to God at the 11th Hour

One Man’s Ambivalent Retreat from His Racist Past
Helen O’Neill
Associated Press
April 4, 2009

Call it human nature. But why do people wait until it’s almost too late to change?

Elwin Hope Wilson is a 72-year-old man near the end of his life, suffering from the complications of diabetes and a very guilty conscience. Mr. Wilson was a Klu Klux Klansman for much of his life and performed many despicable acts against Black people in South Carolina. He is now seeking forgiveness by reaching out to Black men his age and apologizing in Black churches. He owed a special apology to Congressman John Lewis of Atlanta, who was a civil rights leader during the Freedom Rides 48 years ago, and brutally beaten by Mr. Wilson at a bus station in 1961.

A group of nine Friendship Junior College students, who became known as the Friendship Nine, took the brave stand of ordering food from a "Whites only" lunch counter in Rock Hill, SC on January 31, 1961. They were arrested and took the “jail, no bail” stand that landed them in prison for a month doing hard labor in a chain gang. This policy was subsequently taken up by other Freedom Riders throughout the south. Mr. Wilson never knew the name of the man he had beaten until he read a story about Congressman Lewis’ return to Rock Hill, SC in 2008 for a public apology from the York County Council and presentation of a plaque to the Friendship Nine. That lunch counter now has the names of the nine protesters engraved on its stools, a proud yet sad reminder of their bravery on that fateful day.

Apparently Mr. Wilson was a drinker and just plain old mean to everybody, but he especially hated Blacks (at least he wasn't a hypocrite). He was an embarrassment to his family. His conscience began to tug at him several years ago, most poignantly when he saw the ghost of a Black man in his rocking chair that caused Mr. Wilson to beat his fists in the air. Mr. Wilson is unable to explain his hatred of Blacks or how it originated, and why it ended. His change of heart appeared to be sudden and surprised his family, but it appeared to increase as his health declined. He began to apologize to family members whom he had embarrassed and people he had threatened or harassed. He felt a great burden lifting from his heart.

Some of the Friendship Nine accepted Mr. Wilson’s apologies, while others questioned his motives and declined a meeting. He also receives threats from the KKK for betraying them. But many, Blacks and Whites included, consider Mr. Wilson a hero and have been healed by his actions. Now he is a celebrity, with many demands on his time and his health to appear at churches to speak and tell his story. By his own admission, he is still a curmudgeon but he now understands the impact of his behavior.

I don’t much care about Mr. Wilson’s current state of health. And I don't much care if he goes to heaven or hell. I truly wonder what his attitude would have been if his health hadn’t failed and he was guaranteed another 20 years of quality life. But I do hope that his remorse is heartfelt and that his apologies have helped to heal some hearts that have been victimized by him. I hope that there is closure for some whom he has scarred. People change when they are ready. I suppose that growth and insight can come at any age, and I believe that it does, but I just wish people would get their religion a little earlier in life when it has more meaning. But I am also changing and forgiving him as I write this blog. Better late than never.