Racism: Lyman Swingle Once Said to Me. . .

Pioneer Spit...oh, i mean Spirit

Years ago, when I was 19 and SHP (Single Hot Pioneer), living at home of course, waitressing at Denny's, just living la vida loca. . .

Swingle stayed in our home for a District Ass. After the weekend and as he was saying his goodbyes, he grabbed my face and shook me back and forth and with a wide grin on his face said, "You need to come to Bethel to meet some of our Bethel boys, I'm tired of these colored girls coming to Bethel and taking our boys home." He stopped and looked at someone else in the room, and added, "I don't know why they fall for these colored girls."

No one said a word about it then, but I was horrified, being raised Hoho and taught to not see the color of people and all! Later, I brought it up to my folks who said I should forget about it, and surely Swingle didn't mean it.

Anyways, is it Lyman or Lymon? One of them is an ingredient in Sprite, one isn't.

Nathan Natas

Limon - yeah, he's two fruits in one.

IP_SEC

Absolutely shocking. Welcome to the board. I officially ~~dub~~... er I mean name you PSoimS... or MeanSpirit... you choose

fjtoth

One day as I walked to work with Lyman toward the Society's factories, he didn't use the word "colored." He actually said "those niggers" when telling me about some of the publishers in his congregation that met at Factory #3. I believe that was before he got elevated to membership in the governing body. I was stunned by his remark, but I shrugged it off, knowing as I did that other Bethelites similarly had some growing up to do spiritually and morally. Additionally, I knew my place and that I would have been shot down if I dared to think it was my job to offer a word of correction. How I wish I wasn't so green behind the ears in those days and that I had realized that Christianity wasn't easy to find at world headquarters.

LDH

Swingle stayed in our home for a District Ass. After the weekend and as he was saying his goodbyes, he grabbed my face and shook me back and forth and with a wide grin on his face said, "You need to come to Bethel to meet some of our Bethel boys, I'm tired of these colored girls coming to Bethel and taking our boys home." He stopped and looked at someone else in the room, and added, "I don't know why they fall for these colored girls."
No one said a word about it then, but I was horrified, being raised Hoho and taught to not see the color of people and all! Later, I brought it up to my folks who said I should forget about it, and surely Swingle didn't mean it.

I fully believe this.

When I got disfellowshipped at 19 for "fornication" (lol now I know it's called consensual sex), one of the questions the elders couldn't WAIT to ask me, "What color was the fella?" EXACT WORDS. I shit you not. At that moment I knew they weren't interested in my 'spirituality.' I asked my father when I got home what POSSIBLE reason they needed to know this. He said some of the elders had ideas that Black Men Had a Way of Seducing Young Virgins and then perhaps, it wouldn't have been my fault, so much. Ha ha, can you imagine.

One of the elder's sons posts on this board. LOL.

Lisa

Baskin Robbins Class

mrsjones5

I believe it too.

We once had a family study that was presided over by one of the elders from the hall (who happened to be white). I don't remember how this came up but the elder told us that the soicety didn't actually condone interracial marriages but there was nothing they could do to stop them. Boy did that piss my mother off. The study was soon ended. P.S. I had a crush on his son at the time too.

SixofNine

I'm sure there are a host of sisters serenading old Master Swingle even now, singing angelically "do, de do, de do da do do... de do, de doda doooooo"

Ooops, I forgot, he went to that other place.

lovelylil

We were notified once in our congregation that a large group of pioneers was coming for a two week visit to help us cover our territory as almost NOONE went out in service in that hall.

Anyway, MANY people were commenting that the area in NJ they were coming from was reported to be an............omg, I can't even say it...............ALL BLACK AREA! Yikes!

The prejudice was shocking and my hubby was pi**ed as he is Puerto Rican but also has many black family members. Almost no one opened up their homes for these ones.

Two of these young brothers were camping in a nearby park when we had a very bad rainstorm. We did not have room to take them in but my hubby called one of the elders to see if he could ask them if we could pay for a hotel room for them to get them out of the rain. Well, he told my hubby that if worse came to worse, (his exact words), he would let them use his guest room. GUEST ROOM? Why the hell did he not offer it in the first place?

BTW: this elder did not even had any young kids at home it was just he and his wife. It was obvious racism.

Not to be too longwinded by people in the hall where always making comments about my daugters color choice in dress. They would say, "yep, she's puerto rican alright". What is that supposed to mean? I always thought she dressed the way she did because she is an artist type. Lilly

SirNose586

What a repulsive thing he said to you, Catfish. Though if I could play Devil's Advocate for a moment...maybe the guys are falling for the "colored" girls because they've got that junk in the trunk? That's hard to resist for a poor toilet-scrubber or book binder.

Ironhead

Swingle would've got lynched if he said words like that where I live. It doesn't surprise me. I punch a brother in the ribs , when nobody was around, in the toilets at the assembly hall because I heard racist comments. Some people in the dud religion don't change their nasty attitudes whatsoever. Makes my blood boil.

Racism: Lyman Swingle Once Said to Me. . .

Share this