Reginald Hildebrand - UNC-NOW (clip)

Rob Stephens (RS): And was there any so… what did you think when this, when this St. Joseph’s partnership with students, the UNC-NOW group, came up?

Reginald Hildebrand: I was amazed. I was ama– ‘cause there’s nothing in my experience since the 1960s to prepare me for that. There was no, there’s no model in my mind for that working. I still find it astounding, I’m not quite sure how it works, or how it’s sustained itself over the period it has and has the quality of engagement that it appears to have to me in ways, and I’ve been around it long enough to sniff out if something was not quite right, here. And I don’t sense that at all, quite just the opposite. So…

RS: What’s next, I wanna hear what would be those things that you could sniff out?

RH: Oh, yeah. Well, I would have heard, I would have heard. Ms. Clark would have told me about what these college kids are up to and not the– that’s how they communicate. [laughs] But so in ways that we’ll probably have to pick up the next time… the way this has developed is, to me, the typical model is idealistic, sometimes overly radical, usually unaware of their arrogance. College students come to save the community and work for the community in ways that almost inevitably creates tensions even though everybody’s intentions are good.

RS: Would you put whites in that description too?

RH: Yes. Yes, yes I should– I meant that almost went without saying that- white students, and the level of Black involvement is an issue, I’m not sure how to think through that. But definitely college students, but here most usually white students and the short period of time, tension and resentment develops and people can’t figure out why this is happening, while we are working on the same things.

What I see as a model here is where people have, over time, established themselves as parts of the community. And through lots of conversations, a lot of meetings, and a lot of sort of witnessing, a lot of willingness to experience the community on the community’s terms. Worship with the community, which is you know that’s where your in a sacred space there, and if you can, if you’re there, and enter it with the respect and the sense of worship, that’s–people have a pretty good read on, you know, and you aren’t doing that – the feeling.

RS: Yeah.

RH: And I’ve never seen that happen before and so, yeah I was actually almost stunned to see that take place.

RS: Hmm.