{"id":1269,"date":"2019-10-22T22:21:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T22:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:52:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:52:02","slug":"sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sylvester Williams lowers his voice and leans across the booth in the dimly lit basement of Triangle Caf\u00e9. \u201cI\u2019ve had a prophet tell me…\u201d \u2013 he pauses \u2013\u00a0 \u201c\u2018Sylvester, you\u2019re going to be the mayor of Durham.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a hopeful prophecy for Williams, who has already run for mayor three times and lost decisively every time. In 2017, he received less than 2% of the vote. And this year, he faces Mayor Steve Schewel, who is expected to win by a large margin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why run again? Williams says that as a black man who has spent his entire life in Durham, he understands the plight of the city\u2019s disenfranchised. The black community remains \u201cthe face of poverty\u201d in Durham and continues to suffer despite the city\u2019s newfound prosperity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNothing has really changed…the poverty rate hasn\u2019t really changed, the homelessness, affordable housing. Those issues are still at the forefront of life here in the city of Durham.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Progressive voters would certainly rally behind this call for greater socioeconomic and racial equality. But many of his beliefs would give them pause.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams, a former financial analyst and current pastor at The Assembly at Durham Christian Center, represents an anomaly in the liberal city of Durham. As a born-again Christian, he remains faithful to a strict interpretation of scripture that rejects many progressive social mores.<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams, 64, has come under fire for his staunch opposition to gay marriage, abortion and the teaching of evolution. He has described homosexuality as a path of deviance, argued it is incompatible with Christianity, and linked same-sex marriage to Durham\u2019s crime and gang violence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams insists that he\u2019s not homophobic. He doesn\u2019t hate people in same-sex relationships. They just need \u201csaving.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know that there are some that try to present this false narrative about me\u2026 \u2018He\u2019s full of hate, he\u2019s homophobic.\u2019 No. There\u2019s nothing hateful that I\u2019ve said, no hateful quotes that I\u2019ve made about anyone, ’cause I realize I\u2019m a son of sin saved by grace too. Had my mistakes, had my issues. I wasn\u2019t always with the Lord Jesus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams lived a life of \u201crebellion\u201d prior to turning to Christ. He grew up as the son of a preacher in East Durham but did not devote his life to the \u201cLord Jesus\u201d until his early 20s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, Williams has preached living and learning Christ\u2019s word \u2013 at least his interpretation of that word. He believes the education system has failed its students by neglecting to include biblical teachings. \u201cPretty much as I went through the school system, I didn\u2019t hear anything about Christ or God\u2026they brainwashed a whole generation of people believing that there\u2019s no truth to the Christian faith.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He describes the Bible as a matter of \u201cfact\u201d rather than \u201cfaith,\u201d and doesn\u2019t want students to learn about evolution. \u201cThere was no science behind it,\u201d he says. \u201cEvolution teaches you one race evolved more than the other race.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s just as fervent when it comes to discussing the issue of abortion. Williams says he would support the Trump administration if the president were to come \u201cat us saying he supports ending abortions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While Schewel has a Wikipedia page and a robust website outlining his stances on the issues, Williams primarily runs his campaign through his personal Facebook page.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Williams says that he\u2019s in touch with Durham. \u201cI believe that my message has resonated…a lot of the candidates are just there for PR, they\u2019re not really invested in the community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo by Cameron Beach – The 9th Street Journal<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sylvester Williams lowers his voice and leans across the booth in the dimly lit basement of Triangle Caf\u00e9. \u201cI\u2019ve had a prophet tell me…\u201d \u2013…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[100,136],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-government","tag-durham-2019-city-election","tag-elections","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nSylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor - 9th Street Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor - 9th Street Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sylvester Williams lowers his voice and leans across the booth in the dimly lit basement of Triangle Caf\u00e9. \u201cI\u2019ve had a prophet tell me…\u201d \u2013…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"9th Street Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-22T22:21:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-27T15:52:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1330\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Margo Gray\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Margo Gray\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margo Gray\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/915eb670c76ba64d4177f332f818a5e6\"},\"headline\":\"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-22T22:21:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-27T15:52:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/\"},\"wordCount\":615,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Durham 2019 City Election\",\"Elections\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Local government\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/\",\"name\":\"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor - 9th Street Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-22T22:21:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-27T15:52:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":1330},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/\",\"name\":\"9th Street Journal\",\"description\":\"We cover Durham (and North Carolina politics)\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"9th Street Journal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg\",\"width\":869,\"height\":104,\"caption\":\"9th Street Journal\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/915eb670c76ba64d4177f332f818a5e6\",\"name\":\"Margo Gray\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb1e659322f57b4c1d45004a4f201a41?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb1e659322f57b4c1d45004a4f201a41?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Margo Gray\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/author\/margo-gray\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor - 9th Street Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor - 9th Street Journal","og_description":"Sylvester Williams lowers his voice and leans across the booth in the dimly lit basement of Triangle Caf\u00e9. \u201cI\u2019ve had a prophet tell me…\u201d \u2013…","og_url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/","og_site_name":"9th Street Journal","article_published_time":"2019-10-22T22:21:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-27T15:52:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":1330,"url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Margo Gray","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Margo Gray","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/"},"author":{"name":"Margo Gray","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/915eb670c76ba64d4177f332f818a5e6"},"headline":"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor","datePublished":"2019-10-22T22:21:45+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-27T15:52:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/"},"wordCount":615,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg","keywords":["Durham 2019 City Election","Elections"],"articleSection":["Local government"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/","name":"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor - 9th Street Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-22T22:21:45+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-27T15:52:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/Sylvester.jpg","width":1200,"height":1330},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/10\/22\/sylvester-williams-a-prophets-pick-for-mayor\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sylvester Williams: A prophet\u2019s pick for mayor"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/","name":"9th Street Journal","description":"We cover Durham (and North Carolina politics)","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization","name":"9th Street Journal","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg","width":869,"height":104,"caption":"9th Street Journal"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/915eb670c76ba64d4177f332f818a5e6","name":"Margo Gray","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb1e659322f57b4c1d45004a4f201a41?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb1e659322f57b4c1d45004a4f201a41?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Margo Gray"},"url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/author\/margo-gray\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}