Loving memories of Dr. Clarence B. Jones at Riverside Church

The birthday salute to Rev. Al Sharpton last Saturday took a little longer than I expected, so when I arrived at Riverside Church for the “In Loving Memory of Dr. Clarence B. Jones” service, it was just in time to hear the obituary by Michele Norris. Her recounting of his remarkable life and legacy was something I was quite familiar with, given the several times I interviewed him, most memorably during our appearance on C-SPAN. Even so, it was good to hear Ms. Norris note his importance to the civil rights movement. “I think all of us, in this beautiful sanctuary, today, can agree on one thing, that we will continue to fight, to make sure his legacy goes on,” she said.

To a great extent, his legacy continues through the work of his son, Clarence Jr., who shared a few personal and precious moments he had with his father. He recalled sitting by him in his office at the Amsterdam News (of which, at one time, he was part owner), “watching him hold court, with his fancy suit, silk tie, and perfectly soled shoes.” There were the things only the two of them together shared, Clarence stated, “and it was from these things we did together, the things that quietly shaped me.”

“When he chose the hospice in Cupertino, California, we quickly gathered around him,” his son remembered. “This time, the cubs came alone to honor (the lion king) … to share stories, and provide comfort to the leader. Alongside his beloved friend Bill Hill, many generous supporters, we built scaffolding for him to reach out and say farewell to those he loved, and find himself one last time in music, in movies, in moments big and small.”

Before I interviewed him for the C-SPAN recording, I read over his resume, and from his birth in Philadelphia to a stint at Juilliard where he distinguished himself on the clarinet, excelled on the cinder path as a track star, to a military vet, lawyer, and — most outstanding — a speech writer and attorney for Dr. King, I didn’t know which facet of his remarkable life to focus on. He helped me make that decision by putting the emphasis on the latest of his four books, “Behind the Dream: The Making of the Speech That Transformed a Nation.” For the first time I heard how Dr. King departed from the script during the March on Washington in 1963, which Clarence had helped compose and improvise on what he had delivered earlier in Detroit.

In his book, Clarence walked readers through that historic moment step by step, beginning with Mahalia Jackson’s words, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” More than anyone, Clarence knew of Martin’s ability to riff and improvise like a jazz musician. “During the second part of his speech,” Clarence wrote, “he was like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt, and Lionel Hampton rolled into one. Martin’s words seemed to ignite the spark Mahalia had struck.”

The musical references came easily to Clarence, as his son noted in his reflections; he was deeply rooted in Black music, especially jazz. And much of his artistic knowledge was cited by Ben Proudfoot and embellished by Raymond McGuire and Carl Dickerson. When the video of Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry appeared, viewers got another dimension of Clarence’s versatility, which both Lisa Weitzman and Dr. Shari Rogers underscored with their passionate memories, and they produced a documentary of Clarence’s life, each of them mentioning Clarence’s intimate ties between Black and Jewish culture and history, a veritable double helix. Rev. Sharpton’s comments, unlike his speech at NAN, were as brief as they were poignant in pointing out some of the powerful contributions Clarence made during the civil rights movement.

Former Ambassador Andrew Young, during his remarks, said that the memorial was not the final story of Clarence’s journey. “We are writing this story every day,” he said. He thanked Clarence for pulling him into the struggle, “and we are only in the midst of it.” Take it as far as you can, he added, “and I’ll meet you in the promised land.”

The vocal interludes by Brandie Sutton and Derrick James gave melodic resonance to the words from the various speakers, including the call to worship by Rev. Adrienne Thorne. As I took my leave from the service, I could still hear the sound of Ms. Sutton’s rendition of “Ave Maria,” and the finely tuned musical ear of Clarence would have loved that treatment.