Jehovah's Witnesses and interracial marriage

what_Truth?

*This is a bit of a riff off of Bluegrass Tom's post in the bible research forumn

In my old hall we had three interracial couples. Nobody really said anything about it. In fact I didn't even realise that they were interracial until I was about 12.

That being said I grew up in Vancouver, a place where interracial couple are very common. So now I'm wondering. Is I/R acceptance a Jehovah's Witness thing or a West Coast thing?

Yes, I know that they've made some rather embarrasing and ignorant racist writings in the past, but I wouldn't be surprised if most American Christian groups have made similar writings around the same time.

Peppermint

Never a big deal in the congregations I attended, or in the UK generally.

talesin

Same here in Nova Scotia, my brother was the best man in an interracial marriage in 68 or 69. My mom's best friend in the congo was black, many of the kids I hung out with were also ... I always thought it was a JW thing, until I read about racism in the US congos here on JWD. It was quite shocking to me.

Actually, duh! Now that I think about it, I had friends who moved here from NJ to escape the racial problems, but I always thought they meant in 'the world', not at the KH. Maybe I was wrong??

t

Buster

It was almost the norm in my hall, Franklin, MA. Both my sisters married black guys. My first wife was a dark Puerto Rican. (I'm light enough to burn in strong moonlight) There were other interracial marriages in out hall as well..

confusedjw

I am pretty sensitive to such issues and I didn't see or hear of any racial issues. I think they are beyond it and have successfully overcome racial prejudice as a whole.

franklin J

No , there was no prejudice in my congregation growing up. There were some interracial couples.

There were, however, some very segregated residential neighborhoods and I remember the interracial couples getting some odd comments from the householders.

In New York city there would not be any prejudice against an interracial couple. In fact, the City is so diverse I think it would be an ideal place for acceptence. However, some of the suburbs around the city, especially some of the more upper middle class suburbs, are still very provincial in their thinking. Old predudices die hard..

AK - Jeff

Wifey's sis married a black man.

My brother married a black sister

My cousin married her sister

My adopted daughter is mullato [half black/half white]

Two couples in the neighboring cong were mixed racial

Saw dozens of black/white marrieds at the congregations

No - I do think that they have conquered that issue -

Jeff

Valis

I'm sure most JWs would be quite embarassed out how early "new light" looked at people who were not white....

http://quotes.watchtower.ca/race.htm

But then you know what they say about corenerstones and foundations and all that..

stillajwexelder

No problem here in the midwest -but sometimes in service IR couples can get funny looks from householders -in my experience JWs are very racially tolerant which is one of their good points

exjwshell

This is an interesting topic to me...since I've wondered this myself, thinking maybe where I grew up in MN interracial jw marriages was just a "midwestern" thing. I attended two different congregations in the St. Paul area and both were very culturally diverse and many interracial marriages. I also never really noticed the whole "interracial thing" until my teenage years. It was just never an issue...ever! It's probably the one good thing about growing up jw...there was NEVER a difference between races..it's what made us all unique and interesting. I was always attracted to the darker skinned brothers...they just were never interested in me!

~Shell

Jehovah's Witnesses and interracial marriage

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