Laconia Therrio remembers many things from his time at Harding College, where he enrolled as a freshman in 1972 and would later be elected by the student body as Student Association (SA) president in 1975.<\/p>\n
He remembers the anthem for the men\u2019s social club of which he was a part. TNT gave him some of his fondest memories \u2014 memories of positive influence, brotherhood and a strong competitive spirit against Chi Sigma Alpha in Spring Sing.<\/p>\n
He also remembers babysitting for a handful of his professors and finding a chance to play pool against them, too. Joe Pryor was a physics professor, and while Laconia thought his pool-playing talents were strong, he rarely stood a chance against Pryor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t play pool very much, and I was a fairly good pool player, but Dr. Pryor was a physics instructor, and he\u2019d kick our butts,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cYou could literally almost see him looking at the angles and lines on the pool table. When we saw him do that once, we knew we were sunk. That\u2019s one of my most indelible memories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boys in blue, Spring Sing, devotionals around the lily pool, relationships with professors \u2014 he recounts them all fondly. But he also recounts a strong naivete that marked his Harding years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, in 1972, I had a tremendously idealistic view of Christianity \u2014 that if you had the word Christian associated with you, you were not going to be affected by how the world is,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cI think over time, I gathered that was tremendously naive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, in 1972, I had a tremendously idealistic view of Christianity”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When Laconia was elected to serve as SA president during his senior year, he was the first African American student to be elected to the office. Laconia coasted to victory with 1,072 votes over his opponent\u2019s 257, wide margins for a race that came only 12 years after Harding College had admitted African American students for the first time.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\nIt had also been just seven years since the assassination of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and six years since the integration of schools in his hometown of Gretna, Louisiana. The Civil Rights Movement was still fresh in America\u2019s collective mind.<\/p>\n
Laconia admits that looking back, the historical significance of his race for the SA\u2019s top position and his time at Harding was not fully realized.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly wasn\u2019t aware of that history at the time,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cI imagine, had I been aware of that history, it may have been a little overwhelming. I think I was pretty naive. I ran on the basis that I knew people, and I think, to some extent, people knew me.\u201d<\/p>\n
But his naivete found solace in kindness \u2014 in the people he knew and the people that knew him \u2014 even when the evils of society surfaced.<\/p>\n
Laconia is candid about not-so- fond memories at Harding, memories that would be balanced by kindness and memories that are \u201ca big part of [his] story since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
He remembers that students asked him to quit the race when they found out his campaign had put up signs just an hour before the official campaign start time. He did not, obviously, quit the race, and he said he did not think much about it at the time, but looking back now, there might have been some racial undertones in their condemnation of his campaign.<\/p>\n
Even more so, he remembers when a group of students told him that despite the color of his skin, he was OK, addressing him with a strong racial slur. Laconia said that, too, played into another level of naivete.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack then, I remember what I did was I gulped, like this was inconsistent with what I see Christianity being,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cI would say for a number of years when I got in touch with that, I allowed myself to feel the hurt and the pain and the anger. And then one day, I just woke up and I remembered the kindnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
“And then one day, I just woke up and I remembered the kindnesses.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
He remembered the kindnesses of Chancellor David Burks and his wife Leah. He remembered former professor Bill White and his wife Neva, and he remembered Dan Cooper, a student who visited his home congregation during his senior year of high school and invited him to attend Harding.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\u201cThey embraced me as a human being,\u201d Laconia said.<\/p>\n
Burks said it was uncanny the number of students that Laconia knew when he was on campus, seemingly knowing every single student. Burks remembers Laconia\u2019s kind-heartedness and strong spiritual devotion, a desire to \u201cdo what\u2019s right in God\u2019s eyes,\u201d which left an impact on campus even years after he graduated.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got along with people regardless of where they were from or their income level or their background,\u201d Burks said. \u201cHe treated everyone on campus as equal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe treated everyone on campus as equal.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Even though Laconia saw each of his fellow students as equal, he was also well aware that, just as good and bad exists in the world, good and bad also exists at Harding.<\/p>\n
The good and bad came in recollection that was years removed from his time at Harding, despite whether or not he understood the racial implications of the time and of his election.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ran specifically as a person running for the office,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cI didn\u2019t run to be the first black SA president.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t run to be the first black SA president.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now, 44 years removed from his office, Laconia said that Harding, and the world too, must come to terms with its own naivete and understand what history\u2019s stories mean for the past, present and future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say, to Harding specifically, to be unsparing in looking at its own history with race,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cWhen I say to own that, I don\u2019t mean to own it and say we\u2019re proud of it. I mean to own it by looking at it offering opportunities for people to discuss it and then to move forward. I do think there is a tendency for Christian-oriented people, and specifically conservatively Christian-oriented people, to speak that things are never about race.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say, to Harding specifically, to be unsparing in looking at its own history with race,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\n\n\nWhen those believers pull the \u201cthings are never about race\u201d card, Laconia said it leaves gaping holes in recognizing a nation\u2019s past wrongs, citing \u201cThe Half Has Never Been Told,\u201d a book which explores how slave labor gave way to America\u2019s becoming a superpower.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\u201cIf people who call themselves believers can participate and talk about how our own traditions participated in the issue of slavery and racism, then I think we can get somewhere,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cBut if we can\u2019t talk about that, I think we\u2019ll be talking beside each other, but we won\u2019t be talking with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if we can\u2019t talk about that, I think we\u2019ll be talking beside each other, but we won\u2019t be talking with each other.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In his own experiences, Laconia has found believers who are not afraid to have those conversations. After graduating from Harding, Laconia took to the Northeast United States where he worked in ministry and settled in Connecticut in 1985.<\/p>\n
His ministry journey, influenced by the people he met along the way and the people he met at Harding, has allowed him to have conversations about mending the past and moving into the future. Naivete, it seems, is not so much a problem anymore for Laconia.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mind and heart have opened to the view that I look for Jesus in the life of every person with whom I come into contact, whether they believe in Jesus the way I do or not,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cMy life has been transformed by that particular construct. It\u2019s taken down barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n
“My mind and heart have opened to the view that I look for Jesus in the life of every person with whom I come into contact, whether they believe in Jesus the way I do or not.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And those are not just barriers in his Christian community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have friends who are atheist. I have friends who are Muslim. I have friends who are Jewish,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cWhen I look at them as fellow creations of God who can teach me something about God that I do not know, sometimes I have tears. That is still continuing, and I hope that continues until the day I die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the fact Laconia\u2019s life and Harding have seen many changes since he was a student, he remembers his first day on campus with affection.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when I first stepped on Harding\u2019s campus, the phrase I think I have is, \u2018I was wide-eyed with wonder,\u2019\u201d Laconia said.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\nAnd looking back at his last day as a student, he remembers leaving with a \u201crich education\u201d and a strong foundation on which his faith could stand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the job of a university is to give you the capacity, not just to see, but also to be able to have the freedom to ask the questions,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cIf a university or a college does that \u2014 even if the students […] come to the conclusions that many of the faculty and administration come to, if the students get to ask the questions honestly and openly \u2014 then they have done a good job. And I think Harding has done a good job with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Laconia, a strong naivete has been vanquished by reflection and reconciliation. The way he chooses to perceive people, shaped largely by the experiences and lessons learned at Harding, has led to a greater understanding of how the world and younger generations can influence humanity, even when both good and evil exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who disagree with you \u2014 politically, religiously or whatever \u2014 they\u2019re not the enemy,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I would say. I would say that people have their beliefs for different reasons, and the challenge as a human being \u2014 indeed, the challenge as fellow created beings of God \u2014 is to get to know and understand the other person\u2019s position.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who disagree with you \u2014 politically, religiously or whatever \u2014 they\u2019re not the enemy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Laconia could have, without a doubt, made many enemies in life and certainly during his years at Harding. His naivete could have been replaced by bitterness, and his memories of good could have easily been outweighed by memories of bad.<\/p>\n
Instead, Laconia chose to remember the good \u2014 the boys in blue, Spring Sing, devotionals around the lily pool and relationships with professors. And along the way, he chose to embrace the bad \u2014 the racial slurs and prejudice \u2014 and ask the future to learn from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn life, you have good and ill, and it depends upon not only what you remember but how you choose to remember,\u201d Laconia said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t deny the darkness, but you can also choose to hold on to the light.\u201d<\/p>\n
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