MRS. JANICE SPEARMAN AND REV. DR. T. ANTHONY SPEARMAN
WIFE & SON OF THE LATE
REV. T. ANTHONY SPEARMAN
SPEAK ON 4TH ANNIVERSARY
OF HIS DEATH (PART TWO)
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
[ Editor’s Note - In Part Two of our exclusive feature commemorating the fourth anniversary of Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman's death on July 19th, 2022, Mrs. Janice Spearman and her youngest son, Anthony, recall how Rev. Spearman faced considerable hatred and opposition even before he took over leadership of the state NAACP, how he was a man “who spoke the truth” regardless of who had to hear it, and how his family struggled after his death with losing him.]
One of Rev. Spearman’s greatest challenges before his death was from within the NC NAACP, the organization that he led, and eventually the national headquarters of the civil rights organization. Even before he was elected as NC NAACP president in 2017, and had served as third vice president for six years under then President Rev. William J. Barber, Rev. Spearman found himself under fire for even wanting leadership.
“There are some of us who are in here tonight, who did their best to divide us, and cause a whole lot of hatred to permeate the NC NAACP,” Rev. Spearman admonished after his election at the Raleigh Convention of October 2017. “And I’m here to tell you all that I will not stand for that on my watch! You know who you are, and I want you to know that I know who you are too!"
But apparently, much of that internal animosity toward Pres. Spearman continued so much so he had to file a lawsuit against certain members both in the state conference of NAACP branches, and against members of the National NAACP board including Pres/CEO Derrick Johnson and Board Chair Leon W. Russell, especially after he lost re-election in 2021 for another term, and just before he was found deceased.
Janice Spearman says the alleged hatred and animosity towards her late husband isn’t something she’s ready to deal with yet.
“In due time, GOD will speak to all of that, she told The Peacemaker. “That is not something I would like to speak to.”
Her son Anthony, agreed with his mother that in time, GOD will reveal the what’s and why’s of the virulent opposition his father faced in life as NC NAACP president, and after his death.
“He spoke the truth, whether it was to his family, or to a church, or to any congregation or any audience that he talked to,” Anthony Spearman said. “He spoke the truth. A lot of people don’t like when people speak the truth, you know. A lot of people didn’t like [Dr.] Martin Luther King, Jr. when he spoke the truth. They didn’t like Malcolm X, he spoke the truth.”
“[And] they didn’t like Jesus Christ, He spoke the truth!,” Anthony’s mother chimed in.
Anthony fondly recalls his father as being “very intentional with his love,” never having a phone conversation with family without ending it with “I love you” and not getting off the phone until it was said back to him. And Rev. Spearman could be “like a big kid” sometimes, as when he was planning to go back to Detroit in 2022 to surprise his wife for her birthday when she had to return to oversee hospice care for her mother.
“Watching him plan it, and implementing that plan, it was like a big kid making him happy, jovial and excited to excite my Mom with a surprise,” Anthony said.
“A lot of people saw a powerful speaker, a man of GOD and a person who fought for others, [but] on our side we saw a father, a husband, we saw a provider, somebody who could give you comfort, kind of help you and give you advice on a family level. So to me, it was sometime eye-opening, in a good way, when I would see my Dad in front of hundreds of thousands of people giving a speech. That was, like, wait a minute, he sits in the back of the den, quiet, reading a book all day, but then he with his raspy voice, would still get people excited and going based on his word,” Anthony maintained.
“So, he had two sides to him, but they were one side in the fact, because the love he showed for people, he showed it to his family as well, he just showed it in a different way, but it was still love.”
The special man of GOD who loved his family and those whose rights he always fought for was ordained a deacon in the NY Conference of the A.M.E. Zion Church in 1995. While studying at the University of Detroit (where he met his wife in 1969), Rev. Spearman became a proud member of Omega Psi Phi, Inc.. Afterwards, he was rarely seen not proudly wearing his purple Omega baseball cap.
After relocating to North Carolina to attend Hood Theological Seminary in 1995, he eventually pastored two churches here before being called to minister at St. Phillip A.M.E. Zion Church in Greensboro. Rev. Spearman and his wife then became members of Trinity A.M.E. Zion Church in Greensboro. Later, he would be elected president of the N.C. Council of Churches, and a member of the Guilford County Board of Elections, among many other groups.
In 2017, Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman was elected the fifth president of the NC NAACP Conference of Branches. Spearman lost a controversial re-election bid in 2021.
At the 2018 NC NAACP Convention, Rev. Dr Spearman told delegates, friends and participants “We live in a world that is rigged to distract us, hence it is our mission to stay focused on what truly matters; ie, the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons, and the eliminating of race-based discrimination. Together let us stay the course and build power.”
“Forward together!”
When asked what message they had for those who followed Rev. Spearman, and still love and respect him four years after his untimely demise, Janice Spearman and her son didn’t hesitate.
After thanking her sister for sending “Thank you’s” to those who communicated with the family during their time of grief, including one of Rev. Spearman’s mentees who now takes her on vacations with their family every year, Janice Spearman added, “Even…those people [who had ill feeling towards him] I’m sure got a testimonial or something that he had done for them, when they were in need they called him, even though, you know, they didn’t care for him. He didn’t put that against them because if he could do something for them, he would.”
“I want to thank each and everyone, even the ones that didn’t care for him, that helped to make him a better man. They didn’t realize that, but it did. And not only that, but it helps to make me a better person because he helped me to see the good in people that I consider bad. He helped me to see the other side.”
“And now, you know, I’m finding myself looking for the good, rather than looking for the bad. Sometimes I’ll lash out, but then I’ll come up with that reason why they’re doing what they’re doing.”
“So, I just want to thank everybody that showed him love, people who answered when he called, people that still carry him in their heart, I’m sure.”
Anthony Spearman makes it clear that his father is remembered [by his family] all of the time, not just on his birthday or wedding anniversary, because he lives in their hearts. He suggests his father’s followers keep him alive “by living some of his works he started and was committed to.”
The day Rev. Spearman died, Anthony recalls his mother was with her mother in a hospice in Detroit, going over a draft of his grandmother’s funeral program. At one point, his grandmother said, “I want Ted (Rev. Spearman) to lead me in (to Heaven). As soon as she said that, the phone rang from North Carolina with the shocking news.
“Ted” was found deceased in their Greensboro home.
Thirty days later to the day, August 19th, 2022, Anthony’s grandmother died.
“So we look at it and say, well he led her into Heaven,” Anthony says looking back. “So for us, it has been a very difficult road to navigate because …my Dad did a lot for people, and when it came to his ending, I still wish that more people had helped my mother in a better way. Much of what my mother went through having to bury her husband, and the way that it happened,…much of what she went through, as a son, I just went straight into protection mode, just mentally and everything because, she couldn’t handle it. My grandmother was on her deathbed, and my Dad had passed away, and everything kinda fell on me…even [though] I’m the youngest, but probably the most responsible - pretty much everybody comes to me. That fell on my shoulders, and I think people should know that…that you have to take your time to grieve. And for me, I didn’t get a chance to grieve for a whole year. I didn’t, because I had to help bury my Dad, like financially, I had to do a lot, and I know there was a lot of stuff put out there that there was all of this help and this and that and the other, and there was some help, but it was not enough to help my mother.”
“As her son,” Anthony continued,” I had to step up and fix it. That’s what my dad would have done. I appreciate the help that we did get, but at the end of the day, my Daddy was not about a lot of show. He had a very large funeral. If he had planned it, he wouldn’t have approved it. I just know he wouldn’t of. He would have wanted something a lot more subdued, a lot more mild.”
Anthony, apparently needing to unload his deepest feelings since the death of his father, continued, “So when everything transpired, people just have to understand that we were being hit with a lot of different things at one time. And it was very difficult to navigate that, and not only was it difficult to navigate, it was very hurtful to navigate. And I don’t think people understand that. From a mental health standpoint, my Dad was very big on mental health, and making sure that you had your relaxing moments, and he was very diligent with making sure that he meditated and prayed and worked out to keep his brain even keeled.”
“All of that that he did, ironically when he passed away, was not something that we were able to do, because we were just being hammered with everything. I think people have to really learn to take time and grieve for themselves because I didn’t realize that until a year later, and this might sound crazy, but I didn’t realize until a year later that my Dad was really gone. I mean truly gone! And, of course, I’m a doctor, so I know what death is. But a year later, because I was so preoccupied with dealing with the aftermath of his death, and then the aftermath of my grandmother’s death, and moving my mother from North Carolina to Detroit, like, it was a lot. And I don’t think a lot of folks understood that, and a lot of the support that I think that my Mom needed, it was not there."
"So, if my Dad looked back at it, he would probably be a little bothered by some of those things, but I think at the end of the day, what he would be proud of is the fact that we did move forward with dignity. We did move forward with grace. We didn’t get in the dirt with a lot of people. And we moved forward with a humble heart, which was how he was."
"There has been a lot of forgiveness, and I don’t mean “outright pain let me call you and forgive you,” but I mean a lot of prayers to say ‘Hey, you know what Lord, take this off my heart, I forgive them, I forgive this person, I forgive that person. It was difficult, and a lot of people don’t know that side of things.”
As if to end his deeply personal testimony, Anthony concluded, “My father lived on through us, and the way we humbly handled things after his death, the forgiveness for the things a lot of people just don’t know about, and I’m talking about a lot of stuff that happened behind the scenes directly to us that if we told you, you would be shocked, you would be shocked at who, you’d be shocked at what, and it took a lot to just forgive and move forward.”
“So, I think he would be proud of that, and I think that signifies our celebration [of] him, that’s how we celebrate him, by just living his life.”
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DR. LEROY UPPERMAN
