Grassroots Spotlight: Civil Rights Activist Clarence Henderson

Clarence Henderson is a FreedomWorks activist who participated in the Woolworth Sit-In in Greensboro, N.C. in 1960 and is a United States Army Veteran and retired entrepreneur. I was pleased to be able to sit down with him and talk about his experiences and views on empowerment.

What was the first political cause you rallied for?

Two years ago, I volunteered with the GOP in Greensboro. I was involved in the Woolworth Lunch Counter Sit-In. On February 1, 1960, Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan) was in a group of three black men who sat at the Woolworth lunch counter and asked to be served. On February 2, Ezell came to find me in the library of A&T University. He told me what had happened the day before and asked me to participate. I agreed to sit with them at the lunch counter.

What was the issue that was important to you?

I chose to participate in the Woolworth Lunch Counter Sit-In because of things that I had experienced all my life. Even as a child growing up, I knew there were people that treated me differently. I had seen the bathrooms labeled White and Colored. I had seen the water coolers labeled White and Colored, even though the water that came out of the two fountains looked the same. When in Woolworth’s with my mother, we had ordered our lunch at the end of the lunch counter, since we were not allowed to sit at the counter. When I was eight or nine years old, I was riding my bicycle down a sidewalk. There was a white guy walking toward me. I moved all the way over to the far side of the sidewalk. The guy moved over to where I had moved and knocked me off my bicycle. It was like I was an invisible man.

How did you get involved with FreedomWorks/Empower?

The very name FreedomWorks is what I stand for myself – without freedom, what do you have? I was very impressed with Deneen Borelli, having seen her before. Deneen called and asked me to participate as a panelist in an Empower Event. [Clarence has served as a panelist at four Empower Events in North Carolina: Durham, Jacksonville, Roper, and Ahoskie.] The Durham event was moderated by Deneen Borelli.

With a bloated administrative state, a crippling federal deficit, and crushing student loan debt, what is your advice to a large percentage of millennials who are underemployed or unemployed completely?

The mind is very creative and the best hand that you can find is the one at the end of your own arm. Get together, start businesses, learn about entrepreneurship – which is the key to America. Become an apprentice, even if it is unpaid. Learn. If one of your goals is to be rich, find someone who is rich and learn from them. Do not become programmed. Always think for yourself. On subjects that matter to you, be able to substantiate or repudiate whether fact or fiction. Know the history of your country.

What is the most important issue facing the country today?

JOBS! When people make money, they will spend money and that is what drives the economy! If you let the free society do what it does, you have the free market!

How can we solve it?

By eliminating a lot of regulations such as tax codes. A lot of tax codes make no sense other than to make money. I would eliminate both the IRS and the EPA. The bottom line is that we need plain old common sense. What is the old adage: common sense is not so common?