The Nick Salvatore Interview

Within the belly of the beast in this country lies the soul turnaround of African Preachers from the South. They need to be black because certain portions of blacks were enslaved and some say they still are. They have to be black because they need to have good rhythm.

They need to be from the south where Montgomery and Birmingham are seared into the minds of every kid who watched the black and white videos of (Police Cheif) hosing down innocent people. The south had the most overt Rascism and impoverishment so to come of age as a minister with the underclass you were them once and you know what it's like to walk in their shoes.

Even when your flying high in the city of Angeles you still know what it's like to be in the poor mans shoes. You know how to talk to the bumpkin or the metal worker or the illiterate boy who impregnated your daughter because you know you can't be saved  by two different saviors.

You have to be a preacher because you bleed charisma. You spend a full night partying on Saturday night, meeting with varied interest groups on Sunday morning and afternoon and then give a thunderous speech from the pulpit calling for each human being to find themselves, do it through relentless passion, fire and brimstone but also the cagey insights that keep a Rev. Cleage on your side or the adoring loyalty of Corretta Scott King.

My guest today wrote about this African American Preacher from the South. CL Franklin. Who Sang in Strange Lands like Memphis and Buffalo and Detroit. Franklin was part of the confluence of entertainment, politics religion and burgeoning soul music that led to a genuine cultural uprising. Franklin didn't have the IQ of Dr. king but he was a street scholar who didn't spend a lot of time not dealing in black and white. Ask his son who was not excited to go to Moorehouse but then received a stern choice from his dad who was a single parent who raised nearly all of his children. His first wife Barbara bailed back to Buffalo but CL stuck with it with the helps of maids, mistresses and the gumption to bring coalitions together. When tensions were at their highest CL was at his coolest.