Racism In The Organization

by Hunyadi 35 Replies latest jw friends

  • cyber-sista
    cyber-sista

    One of the reasons I was attracted to the Org in the first place was because I bought into the whole racial equality doctrine that I thought existed in the Org. It is professed anyway, and may even be a bit better than in some other Organizations, but it is not unheard of.

    Years ago i was quite upset by a Thurs night meeting part a sister gave where she was talking about marriage and how young ones should take their parents advice on chosing a marriage mate. The example she gave was of a young white sister who fell in love with a young black brother, but she took her parents advice and didn't marry him. That was a very strange talk.

    At a meeting once I heard a man from the south give a comment on racial equlity and he was telling the story about when he lived in the south when JWs used to be segregated. After awhile they were instructed to integrate the congregations and he said at the time he commented..."Well, I guess if you have to meet with the niggers we have to meet with the niggers". His comment shocked me...It wasn't that he had just used the "N" word, but it was his attitude towards non-whites--I found the manner of his comment to be crude and dehumanizing.

    Closer to home. My daughter who was never baptized married a non-JW man of mixed race. He has dark hair and skin and she is fair-- they make a darling couple. The elders in my congregation were unusally opposed to the marriage, being that my daughter was not a JW in the first place. I sensed it was racial when one elder commented that he had seen my then future son-in-law and said to me "She can do better than that !" I had never talked with my son-in-law about this, but he told my daughter that he also sensed that they were racist by their reactions to him. Granted they could've just been opposed to him because he was not a JW, but hey isn't that a form of racism itself? If you think about it--in this way we could say JWs are prejudice against people in the world--after all they are the ones who are claiming to be of the superior race...

  • badboy
    badboy

    I read in WE LEFT JWS that in a LA congregation that 1 person said`he may be a n*******,but he sure can talk'

  • Maverick
    Maverick

    I have always tried to be fair and honest in business and do the same work for anyone, whatever their orientation or ethnic background. I had a beautiful black female JW friend who I met right after my ex left. We were just friends, never touched, nothing improper. I knew she wanted more but I could not get past the racial aspect. Though I have dated all kinds of women I was never attracted to black women, and I feared there would be problems with family and others. I do live in the South and in times past race has been a big issue. I was assaulted in High School by a gang of blacks and they stabbed me.

    It took me almost five years to get past this. She hung in there and was a loyal friend the whole time. Even after I dumped the religion. We have been lovers a year and a half now. Boy I was a big slow dummy! The girl is great! And as for all the things I was worried about...not a problem! Maverick

  • Bryan
    Bryan

    I have a cousin just west of Oklahoma City who married a black man. She told me they started going to the Midwest City Congregation (closer OK City), because mixed couples were more accepted there. She said many couples had taken refuge there. This was in the 80's.

    Bryan

  • franklin J
    franklin J

    Hunyadi,

    racism is ugly and seems to be the most prevalent in America; this white and black thing goes way back. I know of many racially mixed couples who do just fine in New York; crossroads of the world, but would never survive in other regions of the country due to the local culture. My experience with the Europeans; especiallly the French; is that is not such an issue with them.

    It seems that the very rich or the very poor do not care about racism; it is that large"middle class" "middle America" that gets uptight about it.

  • seeitallclearlynow
    seeitallclearlynow

    In 32 years, I've never been aware of any racial prejudice in any of the congregations I attended in So Cal or Detroit or New York. But then I wasn't aware of much of anything in any congregation, because I just never got very involved with the people themselves, being an extreme "loner" type. In Northern Cal, I don't remember there being any race but caucasian and one or two Latino. Probably not an accurate memory; I just don't really remember.

    I seriously believed that race was NO ISSUE at all among Jehovah's Witnesses, except on rare occasions, always having to do with interracial couples and their families' reactions to the prospect.

    In Detroit, I got to the point that when I was trying to describe a person to someone else, I never mentioned race, and once someone just couldn't recall the person I was trying to describe, so they asked me if they were "black or white" and I honestly couldn't remember! That was weird. Turned out they were both "black" I guess, just different shades.

    Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that the "perfect racial harmony" was just another lie. But there are many JWs who really aren't prejudiced, I'm sure of that.

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