Minister Robert Campbell - On needs of the community (clip)
Interviewed by Adwoa Asare on April 1, 2011
Adwoa Asare: Could you just tell us a little bit about who you are and what you’re involved in with the community?
Minister Robert Campbell: Yes. I’m Minister Robert Campbell. I was ordained at Faith Tabernacle in the ’80s. I am the president of the Roger-Eubanks Neighborhood Association, co-chair of the Coalition in Environmental Racism. I got involved basically ’cause of my spiritual upbringing. I got more involved in the community after the ’70s; my bishop, Bishop Ila McMillan, told us one day during one of her teachings, she said, “We must realize that we are here in the comfort zone. How do we get out of that comfort zone and find out what is our need in our community?” And we knew at the time that it was an issue with the landfill, we knew that was an issue with water, and she instilled in us the…the motivation. We had the desire, but the motivation to go into the community and really actually start doing more…we had saw that–and we had dealt with–the issues within the community. There was a lot of homeless people in the community, there was a lot of young men and women that really didn’t have anywhere to stay. And we began to look at all those issues and see that all those issues was confronting us within just this community. The Rogers-Eubanks [] community. And so we tried to figure out how could we help. And as we began to knock on doors, our question was: “How can we help?” And asking that question, there was a lot of things that some of us was not prepared to do. But we learned, as we went on, that that question had a lot of implications. When you ask someone, “how can I help you?,” or “what is it I can help you with?,” there’s a lot of answers. And we being so naïve, thought maybe, you know, somebody might say “Well I need prayer,” not knowing somebody would say “Well, you know, I really need my bathroom cleaned.” That’s a test. Well we was able to accomplish that. And from there, you know, we began to hear what they was, most of the residents was saying.
