C.L. Bryant

Cleon Lewis Bryant, known as C. L. Bryant (born March 28, 1956),^[1] is an African-American Baptist minister and former radio and television host based in his native Shreveport, Louisiana.

When he formerly resided in Garland, Texas, Bryant was the president of the NAACP chapter there.^[2]

Background

C. L. Bryant is the only child of the late Lewis C. Bryant, a World War II veteran, and the former Elnola Goode (1917-2005), a native of De Soto Parish. Both of his parents were long-time employee of the Shreveport Club at 410 Travis Street. They are interred at Carver Memorial Cemetery in Shreveport.^[3]

He was one of the first black children to attend Lake Shore Junior High School in Shreveport at the beginning of school desegregation in the late 1960s. He graduated in 1974 from Fair Park High School in Shreveport, along with the Fox Sports announcer Tim Brando.^[4]

Bryant was subsequently educated at Louisiana State University in Shreveport and two defunct institutions, the historically black Bishop College in Marshall, Texas and the business school, Tampa College in Tampa, Florida. He received a master of theology degree from Shreveport Bible College and was ordained into the ministry by the late Reverend E. Edward Jones of Shreveport, a civil rights activist who was from 1986 to 2003 the president of the black National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., and pastor for fifty-seven years of the Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Shreveport. Bryant has spent nearly four decades in the ministry, including a missionary stint to the Amazon section of South America. He has also worked for twenty-five years in the field of finance. His current church affiliation is the inter-denominational Word of God Ministries in Shreveport with pastor James A. McMenis.^[5]

Career

Bryant has served in several church positions, beginning in Longview, Texas, where his struggling congregation received financial assistance from the late Shreveport philanthropist Virginia Shehee, a former member of the Louisiana State Senate.^[6] At the time of his mother's death in 2005, Bryant was pastor of the Cedar Hill Baptist Church in Grand Cane in DeSoto Parish south of Shreveport.^[3]

His C. L. Bryant Show aired from 2015 to 2017 on weekday evenings from 5:30 to 7:30 Central Time over KEEL Radio in Shreveport. KEEL said that Bryant left the station to pursue other opportunities.

Bryant is a senior fellow at FreedomWorks in Washington, D.C., and a member of the Republican Party, which he has defended against allegations of racism.^[7][8]

Often at odds with liberal leaders in the African-American community, Bryant in March 2012 criticized Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for their roles over protests stemming from the controversial shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida.^[9]

Bryant is the founder of the group, "One Nation Back to God", which has a website. In 2012, he produced and released the independent film documentary, Runaway Slave, "a movie about the race to free the Black community from the slavery of tyranny and progressive policies." ^[9][10][11] He has also penned the 2010 non-fiction book, Lead Us to Temptation, Deliver Us to Evil.^[12]

On January 19, 2016, Bryant endorsed U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas for the Republican presidential nomination.^[13] He then endorsed the eventual nominee and election winner, President Donald Trump and defended Trump against allegations raised by his critics on the radio program.

Personal life

Bryant is wed to the former Jane Carline Pruitt,^[14] and the couple has four children and eleven grandchildren. Bryant and his wife reside in Grand Cane, where they are both registered Republican voters.^[1][14]

The couple formerly resided in Tampa, Florida; Mrs. Bryant previously lived in Inglewood, California, dates unavailable.

References