Ambassador Andrew Young speaks at The University of Toledo

A crowd of over 500 people braved the rainy weather Thursday night to hear Ambassador Andrew Young speak in Savage Arena for the tenth anniversary of the Edward Shapiro Lecture Series, presented by the College of Arts and Letters. Young is a Civil Rights icon, former UN Ambassador and former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

Young was introduced at the event by Jon D. Richardson, attorney-at-law and chair of the Edward Shapiro Lecture Series committee.

“Edward Shapiro left two criteria that had to be met. The speaker had to be someone of public note, and he or she had to have something important to say. Well, we certainly covered that territory tonight,” Richardson said. “Ed would be extremely proud.”

Among the attendees was second-year English major Alyssa Schad, who decided to attend because she wanted to be educated on different issues going on in the world.

“I thought Andrew Young would provide an interesting perspective on current problems because of his experience as a UN Ambassador and Civil Rights icon, and I was right,” Schad said.

Young first spoke about his childhood, saying that by the age of four, he knew he would never be able to win an argument if he got angry. He said he had the perfect upbringing for being in a position to better the lives of individuals today.

“My father explained to me that white supremacy was sickness, and you don’t get angry with sick people. If you give into the sickness, get angry and frustrated, you can catch it. It is contagious. So it’s very important not to get emotional.”

After speaking briefly about his upbringing, Young went on to discuss current issues in society and what they stem from. Contrary to what those in attendance expected him to speak about, Young said the issues in this country are not racial; they are economic.

“I expected Young to focus on race issues, but he spoke mostly about economic issues and how they affect racial issues, which I understand because obsession with money causes a lot of problems in the world,” Schad said.

Young said that someone in a system of capitalism who does not actually have access to capital is a slave. According to Young, that’s the problem with our community.

To further explain his point, Young brought up the 2015 South Carolina shooting, in which a white man took the lives of nine black churchgoers.

“We call that race problem, and we think that taking down the confederate flag will make it better. Come on, what’s with that?” Young said. “There was no race involved in Connecticut where they shot up the school. There was no race involved in Virginia Tech… Those were all white people. We are trying to make a race problem out of a mental health problem.”

Young suggested that the problem is not the confederate flag; the problem is not even guns, but rather that the issues lie in not having proper mental health care, which is often due to economic issues.

“It’s people who have not adjusted, people who have not become a part of the main stream of politics and economics of the 21^st century, and I guarantee you that almost everyone in those 19 hate groups in South Carolina has less than 500 credit score,” Young said.

Young continued to explain that we as a country cannot solve our economic problems talking about race; we have to start talking about the money.

To emphasize his argument, Young quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who, Young pointed out, was killed as soon as he started talking about poverty, saying, “No one can truly be free until they overcome the love of wealth and the fear of death.”

Young also expressed the importance of voting during his speech.

“If you are in a democracy and you do not use your right to vote, you volunteer to slavery,” Young said.

The Edward Shapiro Lecture Series is possible thanks to the Shapiro Endowment left by Professor Edward Shapiro, who retired in 1989. The endowment allows the university to bring world-renowned speakers to the school and community.