Thank You John Knight! By: Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 24, 2014 My close friend John F. Knight, Jr., retired from Alabama State University this week after 38 years of outstanding service to the University. John’s career at the ASU began when my dad, the late Dr. Levi Watkins, hired John as a young staffer in 1976 in the office of University Relations. Dad recognized and appreciated John’s leadership skills, work ethic, talent level, courage, vision, and dedication to excellence when John was a young ASU student body president in the late 1960s. My dad worked tirelessly as president for 20 years to lift and advance ASU. One of the best decisions he ever made was his hiring John. Dad literally struck gold for ASU when he brought John on board. When Montgomerys white power structure wanted to merge ASU into Auburn University in 1981, my father selected John and four other brave civil rights activists to file the landmark Knight v. Alabama case. This lawsuit sought to block the merger of ASU into Auburn and to secure long-denied equitable funding and new academic programs for ASU. John was chosen as the lead plaintiff because he was a decorated war Vietnam War hero and he was also the most prepared of the five Knight plaintiffs to endure the massive retaliatory measures from the state’s governor(s) and its two major white universities – Auburn and The University of Alabama. The very existence of ASU was riding on John’s shoulders. My dad did not think the entrenched forces of racial segregation and hatred could break John during the anticipated decades-long fight to save ASU. I was one of the Knight v. Alabama attorneys. My dad did not believe in asking John and the other four plaintiffs to go to the front line of a dangerous legal battle without sending his own son to protect them. The battle for ASU’s survival was long, ugly, controversial, and hard fought. The threats to John and his family were vicious and never-ending. Like the valor he exhibited in Vietnam, John never flinched under fire, nor did he retreat from the field of battle. Johns many acts of bravery during this war have earned him the respect and admiration of the two trial judges who presided over the 25-year long case – former federal Judge U.W. Clemon and, more recently, sitting U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy. Thirty-three years after he put his life on the line for ASU, the University is the Number One historically black institution of higher education in America. Like, Auburn and Alabama, ASU is a Level Six doctoral degree granting institution. ASUs academic course offerings, facilities, centers of excellence, and applied research centers are widely recognized in the national academic community and they are frequently lauded as outstanding in terms of quality. ASU’s enrollment has grown tremendously and is now diversified. ASU’s faculty and staff mirror America itself. The University has an annual economic impact in the Montgomery area of $1 billion. Finally, ASU has a new state-of-the-arts football stadium that is the envy of other mid-major universities in America. All of these incredible achievements were secured against great odds and in the face of massive resistance to change. None was heralded by the state of Alabama. No Alabama governor has ever led the charge for equitable funding for ASU. Absent a court order, the state of Alabama has always treated ASU unfairly. At the conclusion of the Knight case, John and his co-plaintiffs delivered $300 million in new funding, facilities, and programs to ASU. This money was court-ordered compensation for Alabamas discriminatory actions in historically denying ASU equitable institutional funding. Because of this racial discrimination, the funding dollars that should have gone to ASU were redirected to Auburn and Alabama. John stopped this unfair practice. John Knight literally saved ASU. No single individual, living or dead, has contributed more to ASU’s very existence and transformational growth than John. Prior to the Knight case, no black man or woman in America had ever delivered $300 million in court-ordered funding to a historically black university. The Knight plaintiffs did. In most cultures, this remarkable feat alone would make John and his fellow plaintiffs heroes. In Alabama, this unprecedented achievement made John Knight a villain. Once Alabama became a Tea Party Republican state, the vilification of John came out of the closet. It has been unrelenting since ASU’s new stadium opened in 2012. No historically black university was ever supposed to have this type of $62 million on-campus facility, especially in Alabama. Sadly, the political and institutional forces that opposed ASU’s growth during the Knight case have now been joined in this vilification process by a small number of misguided individuals in the black community. We have always had them among us. As expected, these critics are programmed to discredit the achievements of proven civil rights warriors like John. Martin Luther King, Jr. had the same kind of critics during his tenure in Alabama. These detractors will never celebrate or appreciate John, nor will they ever recognize his invaluable contributions to ASU. John has weathered all of the storms of resistance to positive change. ASU is a greater institution today because of his courage and conviction. What will become of ASU tomorrow and who will protect the University in the future are matters for others to decide. Johns tour of duty is over. The new Administration and some of the ASU trustees controlled by Governor Robert Bentley may not have the character or courage to properly thank John for his bravery and distinguished service to the University, but I will do so today. On behalf of the Watkins family, the ASU family, and me, I thank John Knight from the bottom of my heart for a job well done. John, you are truly an American hero.
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 16:54:57 +0000
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