BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

AUGUST Read Through the Bible Old Testament / New Testament Wed 1 Neh. 1-3 / 2 Cor. 4 Thu 2 Neh. 4-6 / 2 Cor. 5 Fri 3 Neh. 7 / 2 Cor. 6 Sat 4 Neh. 8-9 Sun 5 Ps. 90-92; Prov. 19:18-29 Mon 6 Neh. 10-11 / 2 Cor. 7 Tue 7 Neh. 12-13 / 2 Cor. 8 Wed 8 Est. 1-2 / 2 Cor. 9 Thu 9 Est. 3-5 / 2 Cor. 10 Fri 10 Est. 6-8 / 2 Cor. 11 Sat 11 Est. 9-10 Sun 12 Ps. 93-96; Prov. 20:1-15 Mon 13 Job 1-2 / 2 Cor. 12 Tue 14 Job 3-5 / 2 Cor. 13 Wed 15 Job 6-8 / Gal. 1 Thu 16 Job 9-11 / Gal. 2 Fri 17 Job 12-15 / Gal. 3 Sat 18 Job 16-19 Sun 19 Ps. 97-101; Prov. 20:16-30 Mon 20 Job 20-23 / Gal. 4 Tue 21 Job 24-29 / Gal. 5 Wed 22 Job 30-32 / Gal. 6 Thu 23 Job 33-36 / Eph. 1 Fri 24 Job 37-39 / Eph. 2 Sat 25 Job 40-42 Sun 26 Ps. 102-103; Prov. 21:1-15 Mon 27 Eccl. 1-4 / Eph. 3 Tue 28 Eccl. 5-8 / Eph. 4 Wed 29 Eccl. 9-12 / Eph. 5 Thu 30 Songs 1-4 / Eph. 6 Fri 31 Songs 5-8 / Phil. 1 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * article from p. 15 continues * * * * Although racism had been alive and well in Marked Tree, Barry hadn’t experienced it. A Native American, his grandmother didn’t own a Bible or go to church, but she believed in God and had strong opinions about the way a boy should be raised. Since African-American children lived just the other side of the tracks, they were Barry’s closest friends and playmates. His grandmother encouraged those friendships. While racism had not been allowed in their home back then, the nation seethed with unrest over it. Barry had long rejected belief in God. As far as he was concerned, Christians were no more than weak people who couldn’t make it through life without a crutch. Still, God or no God, some things were just wrong. Racism was one of those things. A Powder Keg Without warning, the front door to the bar swung open. A man stood in the doorway holding a revolver. “Don’t anybody leave!” he shouted. “We had no idea what was happening,” Barry recalls. “I looked out the window and saw a swarm of policemen with guns and rifles surrounding my car. Their staging area was right across the street, and they were using my car for cover. I had visions of my Lincoln being riddled with bullet holes.” As soon as the bar’s customers were free to leave, Barry got in his car and high-tailed it to Arkansas, barely escaping the citywide lockdown. It was some time later before Barry learned what had happened. The Lorraine Motel was behind the bar, across the street. And the activity centered on civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had come to Memphis in support of a sanitation workers’ strike. Dr. King, who was staying at the motel, had just been shot and killed. “We learned a man who was later identified as James Earl Ray had taken a position in the bathroom above the bar,” Barry explained. “At around 6 o’clock that evening, while we had been drinking and having a good time, Dr. King had stepped out onto the balcony of his motel room. James Earl Ray assassinated him with a single shot. “When they surrounded us, the police thought the assassin might still be in the building, but he was gone,” Barry recalled. “In the aftermath, the FBI interviewed everyone in the bar at least twice,” Barry said. Subsequently, Ray was captured and arrested. While race riots broke out in 62 cities across the nation following King’s assassination, Memphis became a powder keg. It was enough to cause Barry to decide to move back to Arkansas. “The country was being torn apart by racism, and my life was a mess,” he said. In truth, Barry’s life was no different from what it had been before he left Arkansas years earlier. “I lived with my grandmother until I was 13,” he recalled. “When she couldn’t take care of me any longer, I was sent to live with my mother, stepfather and two half siblings. It was a challenge adapting to a family. I needed a male influence, but that didn’t mean I liked it. They were Baptists and took me to church. I liked the social part, but the spiritual part didn’t take with me. I finally graduated from high school, but I had no idea what to do with my life.” Majoring in the Wrong Thing Through the War Orphans Act, which exempted him from military service because he was the sole surviving son, Barry received educational assistance to attend the University of Arkansas. Although he declared engineering as his major, Barry admits his true major was in fraternity life. His grades tanked, and he changed majors so many times he ran out of money and had to return home. The drinking and partying continued. And even after his stepfather, himself a former alcoholic, kicked him out, Barry still refused to change his lifestyle. For a while, he lived out of his car and did whatever it took to survive. Attempting to get his life back on track, Barry enrolled at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. Still living in Marked Tree, he drove back and forth to classes. But the partying continued, and Barry was constantly getting into trouble. Toward the end of the spring semester, he was called into the dean’s office at the school. “You have 193 credit hours but no degree,” the dean told him. Then, he gave Barry two choices: “If you take some additional courses this summer,” the dean said, “you can graduate. Or, you can refuse to take the courses and just leave. Either way, you won’t be coming back here in the fall.” 16 : BVOV

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