Does any older members here remember this? The ORG having 2 congs for whites and blacks, I think they said it was for the protection for the black JW's?
Segregation in the Kingdumb Hall
by Wordly Andre 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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reneeisorym
I wasn't alive but I remember stories. And I do remember when it was sooo hard for the two groups to mix when they were combined.
Apparently the white brothers could wear different colored shirts and the black brothers couldn't (white only) and when they mixed, they had a hard time deciding what was right. (It may have been the other way around -- black brothers may have been the ones wearing the colored shirts)
Anyway -- Then there was something to do with one of the races could wear mustaches and the other couldn't.
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R.F.
I remember some of the older Dubs telling me about this. I believe they said it was the law that forced them to do this in certain areas.
R.F.
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Wordly Andre
Yeah My dad was a dark Hispanic, I remember he was treated badly when I was a kid by the white elders who thought that my mom was white, they always gave my dad a hard time and looked down on him. I wonder what do the blacks think about that now? How could you be involved in a religion who separated you based on the color of your skin???
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Dragonlady76
I never heard of segregation in the kingdumb hall, I saw interracial couples, I remember that the dubs always touted how they did not believe in racism.
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Wordly Andre
Dragonlady, I think it goes back to the 1960's and before, but yes, there was segregation, although now they don't like to talk about it, but racism has been a problem, maybe not so much anymore, but going back to when I was a kid even I saw what my dad went through, I just couldn't understand why he put up with it.
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Mum
In 1969 I moved to a congregation that was newly integrated. Being white, I don't know what the black brothers and sisters had to say when we weren't around, but I do remember hearing negative comments from the white brothers and sisters about the black brothers and sisters. For example, "Brother Blank had to be put in his place about black power." (not a direct quotation, but the essence of what was said. This is the really stupid one: "I was for the colored until I saw that so many of them have a chip on their shoulder." Obviously, there were cultural barriers to understanding and ignorance to make understanding difficult.
However, everybody did learn to get along as well as any other group of JW's, and most of the infighting among the elders had nothing to do with race. Most of the gossip in the congregation likewise had nothing to do with race. Most people learned and adapted as well as most of the rest of society.
Regards,
SandraC
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Dragonlady76
Dragonlady, I think it goes back to the 1960's and before, but yes, there was segregation, although now they don't like to talk about it, but racism has been a problem, maybe not so much anymore, but going back to when I was a kid even I saw what my dad went through, I just couldn't understand why he put up with it.
More lies exposed about the Loving WTB, they lie about segregation and racism, I was always told that JW's have always lived in racial harmony.
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Wordly Andre
Hey Dragonlady if you think thats weird let me tell you about the 1914 generation.....
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WTWizard
So much for the racial harmony I was taught when I went in during the late 1980s. They were always telling me how the Witlesses were in total harmony among the races, and how we needed to rout out any traces of racism we might still be harboring when we came in.
Of course, any organization that can take back the blood ban and try to make people forget that, or that can purge the 1975 flubup from the people's memory, or twist around the oral sex ban from 1969-78, or the ban on organ transplants from 1967-80, or the ban on vaccinations back in the mid 1940s, or that can vacillate on college from no to it's OK to no, or cut the requirements to pioneer and then virtually take away all free time for the misery, or pride itself on quality literature and then go to wimpy paperback and microfiche calendars, or reverse itself on alternative civil service after jailing people on that issue and then purging memory of it, or so many other issues... should be as capable of hiding a past where racism was commonplace.
Then, part of it might be that it was the law in many towns and states. Blacks had to use separate entrances, sit in segregated areas on buses, and use designated facilities. However, one would think that the Kingdumb Hells would be lax in enforcing those rules, and that everyone would understand that it was Caeser's rule and then be able to mingle in the congregation. But, from what I heard about Rutherford's comments of blacks being inferior, this in fact might not have actually happened.