40 Years in America

Clowns and Yankee Stadium

Laura Taylor Hayashi

Pre-show Washington Monument emcees, Wesley Samuel and David Hose with James Anderson (playing guitar) of the Voices of Freedom

Father chose me to be a "State Pioneer" of Texas in the beginning of 1975. It was part of the re-education, or mostly just first-time education, of our movement under Mr. Sudo. We were all preparing for the upcoming Yankee Stadium rally, and the bicentennial. In Texas, I was able to bring two new members to help us when we went to New York. One was a professional comedian. One claim to fame that he had was to be perhaps the first Ronald McDonald. You can imagine our workshops! He led his 21-day workshop in a protest and boycott over the white bread, and succeeded in gaining whole-wheat bread instead. He was challenging, but I really appreciated him. The campaign wasn’t easy for anyone. It wasn’t easy for him, either. I kept praying and thinking how God could use his delightful, unique talents.

As St. Francis said, "When you make people laugh, you make God happy." When the security team needed some special brainstorming, he was interested. We knew that there were very real and specific security dangers for True Parents at this rally. The preparations for security were of special concern. Many were skeptical of such a young member, but I was able to maneuver our attendance. My spiritual son explained about the concept of Rodeo Clowns. When the cowboy is thrown off the bull during the bull-riding event, the clown both pleases the crowd and distracts the bull. This often can save the life of the cowboy.

We had the problem of organized gangs trying to attend the rally. Their plan was to try to appear okay, and then do all sorts of mayhem. Security guards in uniform could sway the crowd to the side of the young hoodlums! In light of this, the Rodeo Clown idea seemed great! How could anyone oppose a clown! The clowns would come in to a soon-to-be violent situation, and diffuse the incident as well as separate the offender from others they were with. Several members went to "clown training." It was one small help, but such a wonderful way God can use the talents anybody has, not matter how unusual they may seem to us.

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