Spong applauds removal of Confederate flags from St. Paul's
Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2015 3:23 pm
By K. BURNELL EVANS Richmond Times-Dispatch
That the leadership of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church elected recently to remove Confederate images from its walls delights John Shelby Spong, who oversaw the church during a watershed moment in state and local history.
The move took courage, his daughter said Sunday, as did Spong’s decision in the 1970s to support a federal judge’s decision to order and then expand a school busing program aimed at eliminating racial disparities in education ...
She recalled protests at the state Capitol grounds adjacent to the church building fronting East Grace Street over busing, as well as death threats after her father’s condemnation of a Richmond city councilman’s criticism of the program and then-Gov. Linwood Holton. Spong was rector of St. Paul’s from 1969 to 1976.
“It was a courageous move, a bold move,” she said of her father’s remarks. “Our family had to have police protection” ...
http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/article_8ffbb046-081d-51e8-b7b1-187e42d81246.html