REMEMBERING an extraordinary man
Eric Krystall was by all accounts an ordinary man who was privileged to be in the right places at the right times to help make a lot of good things happen. Or, at least, that’s how Eric may have said it.
To the rest of us, he was an extraordinary man who led a deliberate and dedicated life of service, fighting on the front lines against racism and inequality and who constantly searched for creative ways to improve the lives of disadvantaged people.
He stood up for what was just and right when it was inconvenient or even dangerous to do so.
He produced anti-apartheid theatre events and participated in activism in South Africa and abroad that resulted in getting his passport revoked – unable to return home.
He marched to city hall with Lucius Amerson, to help him register as the first African American in the American South to run for (and ultimately win) Sherriff in Macon County Alabama – as angry men in cars lined the streets audibly clicking the cocking handles of their shotguns squarely aimed at Eric and the small entourage.
Eric marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the historic walk from Selma to Montgomery, AL and appeared at the only white member of the dais at one of Malcolm X’s famous lectures.
Eric was the elected student advisor who drew up a list of demands with his students at the Tuskegee Institute when the students decided to lock the trustees of the university in the meeting hall to be heard. One of the hostages was none other than polio vaccine inventor Jonas Salk’s wife.
Eric introduced puppetry to Kenya in 1994 and produced puppet shows where characters would perform re-enactments of the “surgical” procedure of female genital mutilation – so men in upcountry communities in Kenya could see in full view, for the first time, what they were actually doing to their daughters.
In Rotary we knew Eric as a quiet, rational and soft-spoken bearded gentlemen. Who knew that the beard itself was controversial in the academic circles Eric traveled in the late ’50s and ’60s?
While his biography includes hundreds of pages of recorded events and accomplishments that occurred in Eric’s storied life – as Rotarians we remember his gracious and kind demeanor, his giving and forgiving nature, and his persistent will to serve others.
We will remember Eric as a mentor, advisor, and generous friend; an example of what a life of service can accomplish. The world needs more Erics.
To our beloved Past President of the Rotary Club of Nairobi of District 9212, Eric Krystall: Rest In Peace Eric’s Biography “Swimming Through Life” is available on Amazon Kindle
Article by Rtn. Darren Collins – Rotary Club of De Soto (Rotary Club of Nairobi Partner)
