In 1952, a few years before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s name became synonymous with the civil rights movement, Samuel Eugene Cox took part in his first demonstration against segregation in Washington, D.C.
These days, the part-time pastor of visitation at Kailua United Methodist Church, still advocates for social justice. His recent ministry efforts range from helping to open Beacon of Hope House last year, which aids women as they transition out of prison back into society, to working with the Interfaith Alliance Hawai‘i.
Cox, 80, is being honored by the Church of the Crossroads for exemplifying the principles of King, a 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner and civil rights pioneer. He will be presented with the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Peacemaker Award during a public service set for 7 p.m. Monday at the church, 1212 University Ave.
Cox’s commitment to social justice issues began to take shape when he was a teenager working at a Quaker work camp helping black families living in slums in the Washington, D.C., area.
One night, he said, one of the kids climbed over a fence to get into a whites-only swimming pool and drowned. The Quaker program and neighbors blamed widespread segregation practices for the child’s death, Cox said.
He recalled that when incensed community members wanted protest against segregation, Quaker leaders insisted that everyone first undergo training in nonviolent confrontation.
"We were told, ‘People are going to yell at you. They’re going to hate you, but look them in the eye and look for the good; there’s good in every person.’ That stayed with me," Cox said.
When Cox moved to Hawaii in 1967, he began serving as executive director of the Moiliili Community Center. During his nine-year tenure, which included a Japanese-language school, Cox organized what could have been the first after-school care program for latchkey kids, which grew to serve 500 children of all cultures, he said.
In 1976 Cox became founding director of Hale Kipa youth services, helping runaway and homeless youth who were often drug-addicted. When Cox retired in 1998, Hale Kipa was helping up to 1,500 kids a year and running 12 shelters.
Cox noted that about 15 percent of the kids were gay and had been kicked out of their homes by their parents because of their sexual orientation.
As an ordained United Methodist Church minister, Cox was among the first to perform civil unions in Hawaii. He recalled that the suicide of a young gay man who had been connected to Hale Kipa prompted his strong support for civil rights matters tied to the gay community such as same-sex marriage legislation.
"Ever since one boy — condemned even by his family pastor and teased at school — hanged himself, I’ve been an advocate for equality (for homosexuals). There’s good in every person," Cox said.
With an aim of protecting victims of abuse and sexual exploitation, Cox also founded the Hawaii Youth Services Network. He co-established the Teen Line, Peer Listener and the Gay and Lesbian Youth Support projects. In addition, in 1970 he helped to organize the Kokua Council for Senior Citizens and continues to serve as a board member.
"The best medicine at times is to encourage people to help others, and it helps yourself," Cox said.
As the son of a Pentecost minister, Cox said he questioned his faith as a youngster.
"Although my parents were loving and accepting and we often fellowshipped with black churches, I also heard some Pentecostal preachers preach hellfire and damnation, for even babies. Some also justified segregation and slavery as the mark of Cain," who was cursed for killing his brother Abel, according to the Bible.
Consequently, Cox said, "I declared myself an atheist when I was about 14 years old."
Within the next several years, Cox said, his involvement in the civil rights movement was "transformative." He continued his activism while attending Kansas State Teachers College of Pittsburgh where everything was segregated, including dormitories and restaurants nearby, he said.
Cox recalled that he and some friends, who called themselves the "Skeptics Club," decided, with support from a student organization run by the Wesley Foundation (Methodists), to protest the whites-only policy at a small cafe.
At the restaurant, "The owner’s face turned red, and he put his face next to mine" and snarled about how much he hated blacks and those who loved them, using racial epithets, Cox said. "It scared me to death. So I looked in his eyes and kept saying to myself, ‘Where is the God in him? Where is the good in him?’"
Later the group, including black students, integrated the First Methodist church in the area, opening an integrated dormitory and its own restaurant, he said. It was then that Cox "came to see God as benevolent, loving and inclusive" and felt thrilled singing "We Shall Overcome."
Cox said he feels a bit embarrassed to accept the MLK Award because "I’ve always had a community of people with me, a lot of people working with me to make (things) happen."
He has also received the 1998 lifetime achievement award from the National Youth Services Network; the 1999 Hawaii Social Worker of the Year honor; and the 2008 Living Treasures of Hawaii Award from the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii.
