The recent passing of Rev. HK Matthews marks the end of an era for Florida’s civil rights movement. In a touching tribute on the “(We Don’t) Color On the Dog” podcast, Dr. Michael Butler—author of two books about Matthews—reflected on the legacy of a man who never stopped fighting for justice.
- “We lost a truth teller,” Butler said. “We lost a truth teller in an age where truth is debated.”
Matthews had an unwavering commitment to calling out injustice, regardless of how uncomfortable it made others.
- “One of the legacies of losing Rev. Matthews, at least here, is that we lost one of the people who was very willing to hold up a mirror to society and point out the flaws that he saw with the hope that it could be improved,” Butler shared.
Even in his sharpest critiques, Matthews maintained hope for progress, always pointing out “how far we’ve come and the promise that we can realize as Americans.”
The Movement Didn’t End in the 1960s
Matthews understood that the civil rights struggle, especially in Escambia County, Florida, continued long after landmark legislation passed. He embodied “so much of the blowback against the legislative victories of the sixties.”
“Rev. Matthews brought to light that the civil rights movement didn’t end with what happened in Selma. It didn’t end with the Civil Rights Act. That racism persisted and it persisted in different ways,” said Butler.
“And Rev. Matthews was on the front lines of that first wave of people that said, ‘Wait a minute, the way that the police treat us is racist. The presence of these Confederate icons in schools is racist.’”…