In it, DazedAndConfused brought out some of the Watchtowers earlier history regaring "race" issues. It is long, but well worth the reading! You will see how their views have changed through the years. But, better than that, you will see them (the Governing Body) for what they really are "hypocrites!" Check it out:
...The negro race is supposed to be descended from Ham, whose special degradation is mentioned in Gen. 9:22, 25.
[Emphasis Added]
*** The Watchtower of April 15, 1900 p. 122 ***
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There are probably as many as a hundred colored brethren on the Watch Tower lists, some of them very clear in the truth, and very earnest in its service, financially and otherwise. We have received letters from several of these, who had intended engaging in the volunteer work, expressing surprise that in the call for volunteers in the March 1st issue we restricted the inquiry to white Protestant churches. They rightly realized that we have not the slightest of race prejudice , and that we love the colored brethren with just the same warmth of heart that we love the white, and they queried therefore why such a distinction should be made in the call. The reason is that so far as we are able to judge, colored people have less education than whites - many of them quite insufficient to permit them to profit by such reading as we have to give forth. Our conclusion therefore is based upon the supposition that reading matter distributed to a colored congregation would more than half of it be utterly wasted , and a very small percentage indeed likely to yield good results.
[Emphasis Added]
*** The Watchtower Reprints 1900 October 1 p.2706 ***
*** Zion's Watch Tower 1900 October 1 p. 296-297 ***
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CAN RESTITUTION CHANGE THE ETHIOPIAN'S SKIN?
The following, from the New York World, is the third we have seen reported. These suggest and illustrate the process of restitution soon due. The item reads:
"From Black to White He Slowly Turned"
Parkersburg, W. Va., Sept. 8. It has fallen to the lot of the Rev. William H. Draper, pastor of the Logan Memorial church, of Washington Conference, A.M.E. church, of this town, to give a living affirmative answer to the famous Biblical question, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" Though once as black as charcoal, the Rev. Mr. Draper is now white. His people say that his color was changed in answer to prayer . Many years ago Draper was employed by a fair-skinned man, and he was often heard to remark that if he could only be white like his employer, he would be happy . While in the white man's service Draper `experienced' religion.
From that day forward he prayed constantly and fervently that he might become white. Thirty years ago his prayer began to be answered. He first experienced a prickling sensation on his face, and upon close investigation found a number of small white spots scarcely larger than the point of a pin. He became alarmed, thinking he had some peculiar disease but he did not suffer and aside from the prickling sensation felt nothing unusual. Gradually the white spots became larger and extended themselves, until now, after the change has been in progress for over thirty years, Draper has not a single dark spot on his body.
[Emphasis Added]
*** Zion's Watch Tower 1902 July 15 p.215-216 ***
*** The Watchtower Reprints 1902 July 15 p.3043 ***
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The Negro Not A Beast
While it is true that the white race exhibits some qualities of superiority over any other, we are to remember that there are wide differences in the same Caucasian (Semitic and Aryan) family; and also we should remember that some of the qualities which have given this branch of the human family its preeminence in the world are not such as can be pointed to as in all respects admirable....The secret of the greater intelligence and aptitude of the Caucasian undoubtedly in great measure is to be attributed to the commingling of blood amongst its various branches; and this was evidently forced in large measure by circumstances under divine control.
[Emphasis Added]
*** The Watchtower Reprints, July 15, 1902, p. 3043 ***
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Suppose a missionary and his wife removed to China; not only would the influence of the climate and soil be manifested upon themselves, but the same would be still more manifested in their children. Whoever will give careful attention to this matter will notice that each succeeding child born in that foreign country will have increasingly resemblance to the Chinese - the hair, the skin, the shape of the eyes, and in general all features will bear closer resemblance with each succeeding child. We can readily suppose that if so much change occurs in a few years, ten or twenty centuries under similar conditions would turn any white people into regular Chinese , even supposing there were no intermarrying.[Emphasis Added] *** Watch Tower Feb. 15, 1904 p.52-53 CAN THE ETHIOPIAN CHANGE HIS SKIN? ***
[Note: not available on 1993/1995/1999 CD-ROM] We answer, No. But all will admit that what the Ethiopian cannot do for himself God could readily do for him. The difference between the races of men and the differences between their languages have long been arguments against the solidarity of the human family. The doctrine of restitution has also raised the question. How could all men be brought to perfection and which color of skin was the original ? The answer is now provided. God can change the Ethiopian's skin in his own due time.Prof. H. A. Edwards, Supt. of Schools in Slater, Mo., has written for the public press an elaborate description of how Julius Jackson, of New Frankfurt, Mo., a negro boy of nine years, began to grow white in September, 1901, and is now fully nine-tenths white. He assures us that this is no whitish skin disease; but that the new white skin is as healthy as that of any white boy, and that the changed boy has never been sick and never has taken medicines.[Emphasis Added] *** Watchtower April 1, 1914 p.105-106 ***
[Note: not available on 1993/1995/1999 CD-ROM] Recognizing that it meant either the success or the failure of the enterprise of the [Photo] Drama as respects the whites, we have been compelled to assign the colored friends to the gallery , which, however, is just as good for seeing and hearing as any other part of The Temple. Some were offended at this arrangement.We have received numerous letters from the colored friends, some claiming that it is not right to make a difference, others indignantly and bitterly denouncing us as enemies of the colored people. Some, confident that Brother Russell had never sanctioned such a discrimination, told that they believe it would be duty to stand up for equal rights and always to help the oppressed, etc. We were obliged to explain the facts, assuring all of our loving interest in the colored people, and of our desire to do them good, and not injury . We again suggested that if a suitable place could be found in which the Drama could be presented for the benefit of the colored people alone, we would be glad to make such arrangements , or to cooperate with any others in doing so.[...] If nature favors the colored brethren and sisters in the exercise of humility it is that much to their advantage, if they are rightly exercised by it . A little while, and our humility will work out for our good. A little while, and those who have been faithful to their Covenant of Sacrifice will be granted new bodies, spiritual, beyond the veil, where color and sex distinctions will be no more. A little while, and the Millennial kingdom will be inaugurated, which will bring restitution to all mankind - restitution to the perfection of mind and body, feature and color, to the grand original standard, which God declared "very good," and which was lost for a time through sin, but which is soon to be restored by the powerful kingdom of Messiah.[Emphasis Added] *** The Golden Age, July 24, 1929, p. 702 ***
[Note: not available on 1993/1995/1999 CD-ROM] Question: Is there anything in the Bible that reveals the origin of the Negro? Answer: It is generally believed that the curse which Noah pronounced upon Canaan was the origin of the Black race . Certain it is that when Noah said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren, he pictured the future of the Colored race. They have been and are a race of servants, but now in the dawn of the twentieth century, we are all coming to see this matter of service in its true light and to find that the only real joy in life is in serving others; not bossing them. There is no servant in the world as good as a good Colored servant , and the joy that he gets from rendering faithful service is one of the purest joys there is in the world.[Emphasis Added] *** The Watchtower, Feb. 1, 1952, p. 95 ***
[Note: not available on 1993/1995/1999 CD-ROM] Really, our colored brothers have a great cause for rejoicing. Their race is meek and teachable , and from it comes a high percentage of the theocratic increase.[Emphasis Added] *** Watchtower 1973 January 15 p.37 Why Believe in God? *** In race relations, do you see genuine improvement among the nations of the world? Most people readily say 'no'; there are strong racial hatreds on every continent. But we read statements like this one concerning Jehovah's witnesses:" I am struck with their genuine high regard for the people of all races. Unlike some who pay lip service to the doctrine of racial brotherhood , the Witnesses welcome all to their society-even to places of outstanding leadership-without reference to color or feature."-G. Norman Eddy in Journal of Bible and Religion.[Emphasis Added] *** Awake! Oct. 8, 1977 p.29 *** Even up to a hundred years ago the Catholic Church held the view that blacks were cursed by God . Maxwell explains that this view "apparently survived until 1873 when Pope Pius IX attached an indulgence to a prayer for the `wretched Ethiopians in Central Africa that almighty God may at length remove the curse of Cham [Ham] from their hearts.[Emphasis Added] *** Awake! 1982 February 8 p.14-15 The Races-What Is Their Origin? *** Have the churches of Christendom always treated "everyone on the same basis"? Consider how the Catholic and Lutheran Churches supported Hitler's scheme to produce a "master race." And for centuries the Catholic Church taught that Negroes were a cursed race . John F. Maxwell states in his book Slavery and the Catholic Church that this view "apparently survived until 1873 when Pope Pius IX attached an indulgence to a prayer for the 'wretched Ethiopians in Central Africa that almighty God may at length remove the curse of Cham [Ham] from their hearts.'" (Italics ours) And even to this day some church organizations openly practice racial discrimination.Regardless of how politicians and religionists view the matter, the Bible and science indicate that all races are equal and descend from a common source. Interestingly, The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1970, Vol. 2, page 149, refers to the "scientific concept of the equality of the races" and admits the "scientific validation" of humanity's single origin. [Emphasis Added]
