Ambassador Andrew Young, the former mayor of Atlanta and Civil Rights icon, spoke to the Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 8 as part of Black History Month.
In conversation with Brookhaven City Council member John Funny, Young regaled the majority-Black audience of business leaders, elected officials, and police officers with stories from the 1950s to current day.
Young has seen and done it all. He’s traveled to 152 countries, tried to broker peace in the Middle East, taught children how to grow their own food, and negotiated for the rights of Black people to peacefully live, shop, eat, and vote.
He recalled the rising violence in Birmingham, AL, in the 1950s when homes, churches, and Jewish facilities were being bombed. Young, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and Fred Shuttlesworth called a meeting with white businessmen in 1961.
“It was a series of discussion about very specific things that were discriminatory,” said Young, adding these talks were held prior to demonstrations in Alabama.
It led to the Birmingham Manifesto, a list of demands for equal rights.
Funny recognized, “If it wasn’t for that meeting, many Black business owners like myself and Black leaders in the community wouldn’t be where we are today.” He said the men “put their lives on the line to go into these meetings and make a change.”
Young charmed the audience with stories about peacefully demonstration, building Midtown Atlanta, creating a safer city with community policing, and many travels. He even proved his knowledge of Atlanta sports.
He still knows all the words to the Negro National Anthem, something he thought younger generations had never memorized.
“My grandchildren are always talking about the stress and tension in their lives,” he said. “I never had anxiety because when I was about to flunk out, I’d get in the shower and sing.”
When asked if he’d return to the event again next year, he said he’d try his best.
“I’ll have a birthday next month, and I’ll be ninety-f—ing-two,” Young said.