Wilson Livingood
Overview
 
Wilson "Bill" Livingood (born 1936), a 33-year veteran of the United States Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...

, was elected Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives
Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms is an officer of the House with law enforcement, protocol, and administrative responsibilities. The Sergeant at Arms is elected at the beginning of each Congress by the membership of the chamber...

 on January 4, 1995, for the 104th Congress, and subsequently re-elected through the current Congress.

From Philadelphia, he grew up in Texas and Michigan, attending Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

 while working as a police officer, and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...

. He joined the Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...

 in 1962, and was assigned to then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson's security detail.
Quotations

I am fifty-two years of age. I am a bishop in the Anglican Church, and a few people might be constrained to say that I was reasonably responsible. In the land of my birth I cannot vote, whereas a young person of eighteen can vote. And why? Because he or she possesses that wonderful biological attribute — a white skin.

Guardian Weekly [London] (8 April 1984)

Be nice to the whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.

As quoted in New York Times|New York Times (19 October 1984)

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

As quoted in The Christian Science Monitor|The Christian Science Monitor (20 December 1984)

For goodness sake, will they hear, will white people hear what we are trying to say? Please, all we are asking you to do is to recognize that we are humans, too.

As quoted in The New York Times (3 January 1985)

When a pile of cups is tottering on the edge of the table and you warn that they will crash to the ground, in South Africa you are blamed when that happens.

As quoted in The New York Times (3 January 1985)

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

Today (NBC program)|Today, NBC TV (9 January 1985)

Those who invest in South Africa should not think they are doing us a favor; they are here for what they get out of our cheap and abundant labor, and they should know that they are buttressing one of the most vicious systems.

Quoted by L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley (politician)|Tom Bradley in letter to the editor Los Angeles Times (13 May 1985)

A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons.

Address at his enthronement as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town (7 September 1986)

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.

Address at his enthronement as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town (7 September 1986)

God has such a deep reverence for our freedom that he'd rather let us freely go to Hell than be compelled to go to Heaven.

Beyers Naudé memorial lecture (15 August 2003)

 
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