by minimus 31 Replies latest jw friends
My experience in the Kingdom Hall was that racial discrimination and profiling was not typically practiced....that I know of. I was in a diverse city with every type of skin color and nationality imaginable.
I’m wondering if the Witnesses have changed due to the current affairs exposed by the media everyday. Are there discrimination issues in JW Land???
This probably should be best answered by a JW of color.
But then again, if one looks up at the makeup of the Governing Body, one token black person, no Asians, no Hispanics, and compare that to the demographics of the rank and file, that should speak for itself.
Hey Min - you are an old timer on this board, so I'm sure you know which topics have the longest running thread, going for 20 plus pages, the ones about race, and the majority here are folks who once were a part of the Borg where, as you say, "discrimination and profiling was not typically practiced", so either some folks were able to hide their racist views, while some were not.
I think many struggle with deeply rooted prejudices from what they learned growing up in their communities. I do believe most JWs gave it great effort to put those kind of issues behind them. At least I hope that is true.
I think each generation improves in this respect as students of diverse backgrounds come together— especially if involved in sports together. At least I hope that is also true.
Hear, hear, Londo—Shirley W and Doc. (Edit: l was writing this while you other guys were posting. I went ahead with my post.)
“Do Witnesses Experience _______to Your Knowledge?”
The only way to know if someone experiences a thing is to believe them when they tell it.
Sex abuse in the congregations was not not done in the open. Racial discrimination and profiling would likely be covert as well. So someone who experienced that treatment would have to risk stepping forward now. And being believed.
We are all ex-JDubs here
.....No comments?
There you go.
Obviously, there was no racial discrimination or profiling.
In my old hall there was no racial discrimination that I knew of.
But I'd like to compare how the GB treated JWs in Malawi v JWs in Mexico. The GB allowed one group to bribe the authorities but insisted the other group must refuse political cards.
I'm fairly sure an argument could be made that the GB favoured brown skinned Mexican JWs over black skinned Malawian JWs.
But was this racist?
Dunno ...
I'm sure you know which topics have the longest running thread, going for 20 plus pages, the ones about race - the majority of those threads are actually highly nuanced, if emotionally charged.
Furthermore, Simon rightly doesn't tolerate racist language on the forum.
One time I posted a comment that featured the n-word and I was trying to be ironic or sarcastic. I spelled it with an 'a' at the end, the way black people do. I didn't call somebody that word as a term of abuse but it was still edited out of my comment. Fair enough.
This probably should be best answered by a JW of color - I guess it depends on the situation.
If a white South African family lived in a black congregation, then perhaps that particular situation would best be told by a white ex-JW.
Are there discrimination issues in JW Land?
IDK...Does the elder who would get drunk and then use every foul-mouthed expletive imaginable to graphically describe how he would castrate Black men, where he would shove the amputated appendage, and then burn the person to death as they screamed count?
He lives in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
It’s interesting that in the congregations I was in there were many black brothers and sisters. We had many elders that were black and I was never raised viewing them any differently. However I will say this in the 1970s we had an influx of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican people who became Jehovah’s Witnesses. I used to hear many elders Complain that they were never paying their fair share of the bills and were more interested in fancy clothing in cars then they were in donating
I moved to the American Deep South to an area where there was a need for publishers. I was a blue-blooded white boy who had no clue.
The American Negroes had only recently begun integrating in the South. Actually, Witness congregations had been only very recently integrated. I was not an elder, I only aspired to be useful. But the elders were black and although it was never verbalized, there was a measure of self-worth for a southern black man to have any responsibility, at his place of employment, as a school teacher or as a clergyman, with white people beneath him.
The prejudice was more than subtle. Their own children got away with the usual kid stuff, but if a white kid had any sign of trouble, there was going to be plenty of counsel given! Also, I was available to do any of the chores that MS's do and I was given those chores, but it took long years before a CO came along and asked why I wasn't appointed.
My list goes on, but you get the idea. I just told myself that the burden of understanding was on me.
