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He led Abyssinian Baptist Church and helped revitalize his assemblage by gathering housing, immoderate of which helium reserved for existing residents.
Oct. 28, 2022Updated 5:05 p.m. ET
The Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, the Harlem preacher whose endowment for oratory and governmental savvy was a unit for societal and radical justice, and who raised $1 cardinal to remake America’s astir storied and influential Black neighborhoods, died connected Friday astatine his Harlem home. He was 73.
His lad Calvin O. Butts IV said the origin was pancreatic cancer.
In Mr. Butts’s 3 decades arsenic pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, his enactment reflected the melodramatic changes successful however Americans confronted the nation’s past of racism. In New York, helium challenged the achromatic powerfulness operation and turned promises into action, creating educational, commercialized and homeownership opportunities for Harlem residents.
He took inspiration from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. successful the 1960s and by the dawn of the 21st period was a spouse of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg successful attempting to make lasting alteration successful Harlem and beyond.
Hired by the religion erstwhile helium was a 22-year-old seminarian, Mr. Butts helped present connected the soaring sermons of its recently minted pastor, Samuel Proctor, and his contiguous predecessor, the irreverent and flamboyant 11-term congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
Transforming his relation into a bully pulpit, the urbane Mr. Butts besides helped revive Harlem with lodging — mitigating gentrification by reserving a information for existing residents — a supermarket and different commercialized development, and a precocious school.
“Reverend Butts took the thought of gathering the kingdom of God literally,” Mr. Bloomberg said successful a connection aft his death.
Mr. Butts besides persuaded immoderate grounds labels and vigor stations to cull convulsive and misogynistic rap lyrics, whitewashed Harlem billboards that advertised liquor and cigarettes, and played authorities transactionally to wrest the astir resources for his assemblage from whichever enactment was successful powerfulness successful Washington, Albany and City Hall.
“Reverend Butts worked much efficaciously than immoderate different person astatine the intersection of power, authorities and religion successful New York,” Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation and erstwhile main operating serviceman of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, said successful an interview. “He understood the relation of religion successful our lives, particularly successful the Black community.
“But helium besides understood powerfulness and however to wield it and however to request powerfulness from those who often sought to hoard it. And truthful helium was a pragmatist, helium was a realist, but helium was besides a dreamer.”
The nonprofit Abyssinian Development Corporation became a exemplary for different faith-based improvement companies that invested successful their communities, some successful New York City and nationally.
Sheena Wright, Mayor Eric Adams’s lawman for strategical initiatives and the corporation’s erstwhile president, described Mr. Butts arsenic a civilian rights person whose “impact from creating acquisition institutions, commercialized development, homeownership, affordable lodging and providing societal services for those successful request volition beryllium felt for generations.”
The corp was established successful 1989, the aforesaid twelvemonth that Mr. Butts became Abyssinian’s pastor, prompting him to modulate the rhetoric helium had been capable to workout much freely arsenic the church’s 2nd successful command.
In that earlier period, helium accused immoderate Black elected officials of being excessively accommodating to the achromatic powerfulness operation and Mayor Edward I. Koch of outright racism. He adjacent threatened to tally against those officials erstwhile they sought re-election — but helium ne'er did, though helium had dreamed since helium was successful 3rd people of someday becoming politician of New York himself.
When much militant Black leaders balked astatine cooperating with investigators successful the racially motivated sidesplitting of a Black antheral chased by a achromatic pack onto a road successful Howard Beach, Queens, successful 1986, Mr. Butts intervened to broker Gov. Mario M. Cuomo’s assignment of a peculiar prosecutor.
But the adjacent twelvemonth helium deftly distanced himself from the accusations of Tawana Brawley, a Black teen who said that 4 achromatic men had kidnapped and raped her, a assertion that was ne'er proven.
“While we did not ever agree, we ever came backmost together,” the Rev. Al Sharpton, who had defended Ms. Brawley, said successful a statement.
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In 1986, a 3rd of the musicians of the New York Philharmonic, galore of them Jewish, boycotted an yearly performance astatine Mr. Butts’s religion due to the fact that helium refused to repudiate the Black Muslim person Louis Farrakhan, who had called Judaism a “gutter religion.”
Mr. Butts told The New York Times past that helium disagreed with Mr. Farrakhan’s remarks connected Judaism, though helium supported immoderate of his economical and societal positions. But helium insisted that helium had been asked to flatly denounce Mr. Farrakhan.
“All I’m saying to the Jewish assemblage is, don’t dictate to me,” Mr. Butts said. “I recognize your anger. I’m not a fool. I don’t hatred Jewish people. In fact, I rather respect what the Jewish radical person done. But delight don’t marque maine a lad and archer maine what to do.”
During his 33 years arsenic pastor, Mr. Butts weighed his words and chose his battles cautiously successful reconciling sometimes discordant constituencies: achromatic civic leaders who had anointed him a progressive, liable Black sentiment maker; his ain socially blimpish congregants; and different Black New Yorkers who were fed up with perceived mistreatment by the constabulary and with economical inequality. He was near jockeying for relevance among them with full-fledged militants similar Mr. Sharpton.
Mr. Butts was instrumental successful enlisting the Democratic Michigan congressman John Conyers Jr. to convene hearings connected constabulary brutality successful New York successful 1983, hearings that nudged the Koch medication to name Benjamin Ward aboriginal that twelvemonth arsenic the city’s archetypal Black constabulary commissioner.
As president of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, helium funneled immoderate $1 cardinal into residential and commercialized projects successful Harlem. Shaun Donovan, the Bloomberg administration’s lodging commissioner, said the corp was “instrumental to the continuing revitalization of the surrounding community.”
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Mr. Butts besides helped make the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change, a nationalist intermediate and precocious schoolhouse successful Harlem.
From 1999 to 2020, helium was the president of the State University of New York College of Old Westbury connected Long Island. During his tenure, the assemblage gained further accreditation, established its archetypal postgraduate programs and expanded its campus.
Mr. Butts was besides the president of the Council of Churches of the City of New York from 1998 to 2008; the president of the Harlem Y.M.C.A.; the president of Africare NYC, which sought to amended beingness successful agrarian Africa; and a subordinate of the National Black Leadership Commission connected AIDS.
Calvin Otis Butts III was calved connected July 19, 1949, successful Bridgeport, Conn. His father, Calvin O. Butts II, was a butcher and navigator astatine the Black Angus edifice successful Manhattan. His mother, Eloise (Edwards) Butts, worked arsenic a supervisor for the New York City payment department.
Calvin learned to work successful a one-room schoolhouse successful Georgia erstwhile helium made summertime visits to his grandparents there. He was raised until helium was 8 successful the Lillian Wald Houses, a public-housing task connected Houston Street connected the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
When the household moved to a backstage location successful Queens, helium attended a mostly Black simple school. But erstwhile the Board of Education instituted an unfastened enrollment policy, helium was capable to instrumentality a autobus from Corona to Forest Hills and be the integrated Russell Sage Junior High School.
He graduated from the predominantly achromatic Flushing High School, wherever helium was elected president of the elder class, successful 1967.
He was admitted to Trinity College successful Hartford, but helium couldn’t spend the tuition. Instead helium attended the historically Black Morehouse College successful Atlanta connected a partial scholarship.
He was watching the occidental movie “Shane” with different students successful April 1968 erstwhile helium learned that Dr. King had been assassinated. He said aboriginal that helium was 1 of respective radical who made Molotov cocktails, burned respective stores, firebombed a religion and “terrorized cars with whites successful them.”
“We were connected a bully roll,” helium recalled successful an interrogation with the probe and acquisition instauration the HistoryMakers successful 2005. “I looked down astatine 1 of these Molotov cocktails, and I looked up astatine this halftrack motortruck and this feline with this large shotgun and his precise reddish neck. And each of a abrupt I understood that unit was not the way.”
After majoring successful doctrine and minoring successful religion, helium graduated successful 1972. He primitively planned to prosecute a vocation successful concern science oregon to thatch doctrine to undergraduates, but a recruiter lured him to Union Theological Seminary successful Manhattan.
He earned a maestro of divinity grade determination successful 1975 and a doc of ministry successful religion and nationalist argumentation from Drew University successful Madison, N.J. As a pastor, helium mostly preached against what helium considered the misdeed — termination included — alternatively than the sinner.
He was 13 erstwhile helium archetypal attended Abyssinian; a relative had taken him to perceive Mr. Powell preach. Shortly aft Mr. Powell died, a dean suggested that his successor, Dr. Proctor, needed an adjunct and noted that Mr. Butts, who was joined and had a babe son, needed a job.
In summation to his lad Calvin, Mr. Butts is survived by his wife, Patricia Reed Butts, the laminitis and president emeritus of the Abyssinian Baptist Church Health Ministry; different son, Alexander; a daughter, Patricia Jean Butts; and six grandchildren.
One week aft Mr. Butts was hired, helium was invited onto the pulpit by Dr. Proctor. That was 1972, helium said not agelong ago, and “I’ve been determination ever since.”
He plunged into politics, adjacent circulating nominating petitions for a run for schoolhouse board, but the church’s elders persuaded him against it.
“Why? Because they said, the kinder ones, ‘You’re a young antheral and we emotion you. We privation to spot your ministry turn and develop,’” Mr. Butts said. He past recalled them saying, referring to Mr. Powell, “We’ve already seen 1 young antheral destroyed by politics.”
He served arsenic younker minister, adjunct curate and enforcement curate earlier being named pastor.
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While Mr. Butts was overmuch little mercurial than Mr. Powell, helium was not to beryllium taken for granted. In 1992, helium endorsed the autarkic campaigner Ross Perot for president. In 1995, the aforesaid twelvemonth helium invited firm executives and the Republican politician and politician to Harlem to rise wealth for his improvement corporation, helium hosted Fidel Castro astatine his church.
In 2009, helium was said to person promised to endorse the metropolis comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., for politician but ended up backing the incumbent, Mr. Bloomberg, aft Mr. Bloomberg donated $1 cardinal to the improvement corporation.
“There is country for the uncompromising, belligerent, nasty, guerrilla activist,” helium told The Times in 1995. “But you alteration erstwhile you are liable for an institution. I got folks I got to pay. I got families.”
“My benignant was precise confrontational, precise in-your-face,” Mr. Butts explained successful a 2008 interrogation with Julian Bond, the civilian rights person and erstwhile Georgia legislator, for the University of Virginia.
“At once, carnal altercation was not intolerable for me,” helium continued. “My benignant has, arsenic I’ve matured and grown older and understood much astir beingness and radical and traveled, it has go much negotiable.”
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