Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Four years after Marshall Keeble "defrosted" the Abilene Christian College Lectureship, race relations in America and the Churches of Christ reach a decisive turning point. On 17 May 1954, in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, the United States Supreme Court unanimously declares that racial segregation of public schools violates the "equal protection" clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and must be ended. Thurgood Marshall, who will one day be appointed to the Court, has won his most famous case. The precedent will ground and extend the African American struggle for freedom and justice in the latter half of the twentieth century.

In that same month of May, Harding Academy expands its operations into Memphis, building on the same site where the Harding Graduate School of Religion will emerge. By 1971, when court-ordered busing is forcing open the last bastions of public school segregation, Harding Academy of Memphis will become in fact one of 97 private school systems attempting to thwart desegregation in Memphis. Its administrators will repeatedly deny any intention to be a "segregation academy," but the intent of its founders to create a segregated institution and the racial composition of its burgeoning enrollment are not in doubt.

In 1954 Leon Ramsey is publishing the Christian Chronicle from his printing business in Abilene, Texas. Ramsey's is the only name listed on the masthead, but James Walter Nichols may already be involved with the paper, founded by Olan Hicks in the early 1940s as a vehicle for news rather than opinion. It is a financially precarious enterprise. Sometime in the academic year of 1955-1956 several of us will be excused from classes at Abilene Christian High School to help James Walter Nichols move the meagre possessions of the Chronicle to new quarters. Under his management, with capital provided by Ray McGlothlin and other investors, the Chronicle will become the flagship of a promotional empire, Fidelity Enterprises. To Nichols's credit, the Chronicle will also become the first truly public forum among whites for discussion of race relations in the Churches of Christ.

This text is an editorial directed toward white members of the Churches of Christ. It is clear that in the mind of the author "Negroes" are "they" and "them," while "we" and "us" are white. Indeed, by the time of this editorial, there are two Churches of Christ, somewhat united in doctrine but profoundly separate in race, social horizon, and polity. In four decades that gulf has continued to widen. The questions that this editorial asks remain pertinent. What are the obstacles to "full fellowship"? Why have we not achieved it? What are we going to do about it?

Race segregation is now unconstitutional in our state schools. It was ruled thus by the Supreme Court not long ago. When will the Christian schools admit the Negro?

The problem of segregation has been bitterly argued for many years with millions of words both spoken and written. We have now a definite premise on which to stand one way or the other, and that is that segregation is definitely unconstitutional.

But, what are we doing about it. Where are the Negro names upon the lists of students in the Christian schools? Where are their names in our church directories? In most of the schools there is not a single Negro. Why? Christ, 2000 years ago, opened the door for the Negro into the church along with everyone else. Why can not we, mere mortals, have the strength to open our class-rooms, dormitories and church pews to them?

There is absolutely no good reason why we should not. Some few "hot-heads" will of course stand for their family "traditions" and think of their "pride." But then, isn't there someone always against anything?

It is our belief that if a poll were taken of the students and teachers in the Christian schools, the greater majority would vote for the admission of the Negro.

We should certainly approach this problem as any other, and that is through the eyes of a Christian and through the light of New Testament teachings.

We've all been taught since our childhood that Jesus loved the little children "red and yellow, black and white." We know inherently that segregation is wrong.

It is regretable[sic] indeed that some money-mad ancestors of ours had to begin human slavery. It is our duty, consequently, to alleviate the tide of hatred and prejudice which has grown within the hearts of both of these races which God has created. The Negro has the same soul, the same blood (Acts 17:26--"one blood all nations of men"), and in many cases is far more righteous than any of us.

"Why," someone says, "don't the Christian schools admit the Negro?" One answer has been that the towns-people would begin putting pressure upon the school officials and wouldn't be as "nice" to them as before. What childishness! There are probably other so called explanations, but none of them are valid. If we are really trying to live up to God's Word, we should do it in "spirit and truth" in every detail.

How long will it be until our neighbors will not have race prejudice as an argument against us? Many of the denominational schools have admitted the Negro long before the Supreme Court handed down its decision. How long will it be until we can say: "We do admit the Negro into the Christian schools," and "we do worship with them as true brethren." "We do it because it is in keeping with all Christian principle."

Christ opened the door of the church to the Negro. Why don't we open the school doors? When will we fully fellowship them in our worship?

This editorial is an opening salvo in a prolonged battle to integrate "Christian" institutions and to abolish American apartheid in the Churches of Christ. That struggle is not over. Within a year the venerable Amos Lincoln Cassius will restate the issue in terms that remain relevant.

Are we, the leaders and members of the Church, to allow these conditions to continue to exist within our churches? Are we to allow the denominational churches of the world to prove their belief in and acceptance of the love and tolerance of Christ by the dropping of racial barriers within their churches, while we, snared by apathy and indolence, do nothing? The hue and cry that there are no racial barriers within the Church of Christ avail nothing if, and as long as, we think, speak, and reaction to one another in the ways that we do simply because of the difference of our background. Time is far spent and the day of reckoning draws near. (A. L. Cassius, "Colored Churches," Christian Echo 50 (July 1955): 4.

May God have mercy.

dhaymes, his mark +