Meet Rev. Dr. Barrion Staples

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Meet Rev. Dr. Barrion Staples

Understanding Cultural Competency Historical and Experiential Perspectives

Rev. Dr. Barrion J. Staples is a product of The Civil Rights Movement and participated in activities that promoted the principles of that era.

However, his most significant influences were from his father, Rev. A.Q. Staples and their cousins, the legendary Staple Singers. The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul and R&B group that was active from the 1950’s through the 1990’s. In addition, Rev. Dr. Staples received much inspiration, friendships and mentorship from Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian.

Rev. Dr. Staples recalls his discussion with his cousin “Pops”. He said, “Cuz, the Staple Singers need to find a way to reach the secular people without moving away from the gospel message and that is why we did songs like “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There.” Mavis calls the music “message music.”

Breaking Down The Walls

The patriarch of the Staple Singers, Roebuck “Pops” Staples, conveyed to him the importance of breaking down the walls that divide people. These mentors and other Civil Rights mentors, including his father, often shared their experiences while growing up in the segregated south with similar experiences in the north with Rev. Dr. Staples.

His development and understanding of race relations have been in the process since he was a youth as it related to the social issues and justice concerns that he learned from The Staple Singers and others .

Experience As a Child

Rev. Dr. Staples remembers one specific incident which occurred during naptime when he was in kindergarten. He had laid down on his plush rug his mother had purchased for him next to a little white girl, his friend. They started talking and laughing while laying on their separate rugs.

“Soon after, I felt a hand grab me by my collar and the stinging of that wooden paddle across my backside. I was scared and didn’t know what was happening. The teacher said, “Stop it, stop it! You do not talk or get close to her, she’s not your kind.” The teacher pulled me up by my collar, hit me again with that wooden paddle, grabbed my rug, and had me lay down in the coat closet, alone and away from the class for the remainder of the afternoon in that closet.”

A Mission of Change

Throughout the years Rev. Dr. staples has experienced many similar incidents which were confusing, frightening and disgraceful.

These profoundly personal experiences during childhood, The Civil Rights Movement, and other experiences of today motivates Rev. Dr. Staples to focus on a mission of change and hope. His hope and work is an effort to make this country, communities, and the world a place where all people can develop, work, play, learn, and do life together in harmony.

Rev. Dr. Staples has more than forty years experience of teaching and training in the areas of Cultural Competency, Race and Ethnic Relations, Multiculturalism, Diversity and Human Relations. This experience consistes of populations at the college/university level, as well as the K-12 educational settings.

The philosophy of Rev. Dr. Staples is echoed in the quote by the late, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.”

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