Clarke held the title (successfully defending it twice, against Downes and Ray Stevens) until 18 August 1949 when he was defeated by Ray Stevens at Wanganui, also on points in 15 rounds. On, he became New Zealand Professional Light heavyweight Champion when he defeated Tommy Downes, on points, in 15 rounds, at the Dunedin Town Hall, before a crowd of 2000. Boxing careerĬlarke was New Zealand Amateur Light heavyweight champion in 19. The school boxing championships were held annually, usually at the Municipal Hall, Newmarket. Those moments are gone, but I’m reminded of a line I read years ago in an autobiographical essay by my favorite author, James Baldwin.Clarke was born in Auckland and was educated at St Peter's College, where he was a foundation pupil and where the sport of boxing was encouraged by the Christian Brothers so that the boys could defend themselves against bullying. He did that for me during every quick encounter we shared at Antioch, and that’s how I will remember him. None of us are, but he came close in the way he cared about and encouraged others. None of us has the power to change others, but we can resolve to be better, to do better, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Start with a hard, honest talk with yourself and go from there. If you’re reading this and you feel hopeless to do anything, don’t. In order for black lives to really matter, black violence has to matter to us, too. But so does the black-on-black crime that’s plaguing our community. It’s a huge problem that still needs our attention. Black men accounted for 40 percent of the 60 unarmed deaths, even though they make up just 6 percent of the U.S. We’ve been hearing a lot over the past few years about police shootings of unarmed black men. I would imagine countless others that we don't know about, that didn't have the same stature in the community to warrant a news story died over the weekend, too. NFL star Will Smith, just 34, was shot during a confrontation after the vehicle he was traveling in was rear-ended in New Orleans. This time, I hope we’ll finally heed it.īarney wasn't the only African-American male fatally shot Saturday. Many of us share her sentiment, but the truth is that call should have sounded a long, long time ago. Muhammad, executive director of Atlanta Victim Assistance, said she hoped Barney’s death is a clarion call to do something about the violence in our community. “He will be missed.”īarney was also an active member of the Atlanta community, serving as president of his homeowners association, board chair of the Atlanta Victim Assistance and a slew of other organizations.īrenda J. “He possessed many talents, but he was best known for his writing, speaking and flair for dressing,” Cooke said. He was a regular, for instance, at Clark Atlanta University’s “Jazz Under the Stars,” an annual scholarship fundraiser. She considered him a friend and fellow jazz-lover. That’s how I got the chance to work with him.īetty Jo Cooke, another newsletter staff member, knew Simms long before I joined Antioch 16 years ago. He was an active member of Antioch’s trustee board and an adviser to the church’s newsletter staff. He was such an important presence at Antioch for so long, it’s hard to imagine our church family without him on that front pew. I can still see him doing the electric slide. Despite his serious exterior, he knew how to have fun. He certainly didn’t look the part, and when I remember him dancing at one of our last Christmas parties, he didn’t move like it either. Writing is such a subjective craft I found his compliments reaffirming. Truth is he was already quite the writer, which made me appreciate our quick conversations between services all the more. An avid reader, Barney almost always offered a critique of my latest column, and on this Sunday he was curious about how I found such diverse subjects to write about.Īnd always he reminded me that he had once aspired to be a writer, too. We laughed and the conversation quickly switched to my work at the AJC, as it often did. I’d sent only the pastor a slice of poundcake, Barney informed me. Barney stopped me and with a big smile on his face informed me that I’d “created a morale problem” in the pastor’s office. Sunday morning, we learned that police had recovered Barney’s car but not his killer and all I could think about was that we’d just talked a week ago in this very place.
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