We have previously seen a passing reference in a broadside from R. N. Hogan to one Myles Thomas Tune, who in 1962 is sent to Hong Kong as a missionary by a congregation in North Richmond, California. That Tune is a missionary is not in itself extraordinary, nor is it in any way unusual for a local congregation of the Churches of Christ to send a missionary to foreign parts. Yet this particular mission is a landmark in race relations among Churches of Christ: an African-American congregation sponsors a missionary of European descent to preach the gospel to Asians!

i had R. N. Hogan's casual remark and Tune's biographical entry in the 1964 volume of Preachers of Today. Now, thanks to the good work of Craig Churchill, the Heavenly Librarian, and Michael Casey, the Relentless Researcher, i have in hand two tantalizing reports of the North Richmond mission to Hong Kong at its beginning. The first is from a front-page story in the Christian Chronicle; the second is a breathless dispatch from the hand of the inimitable and interminable Ira Y. Rice, Jr., which of course tells us more about its author than its subject. In this case, it tells us something we need to know.

The Negro congregation, which meets at 656 5th St. in North Richmond, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay area, plans to send Tune to the British Crown Colony in May of this year.

At present time there is only one other missionary in Hong Kong, Melvin Harbison supported by the church in Graham, Tex. Two others who were there--Douglas Robison and Guss Eoff-- have recently returned to the States.

Tune is married and has four children. He has preached for the Pleasant Hill Church of Christ for 2 1/2 years and has been editor of "The Reaper" for two years. Evangelist for the North Richmond Church of Christ is F. F. Carson.

Yet another great break-through by our Negro brethren was called to my attention in a letter from brother R. L. Worde received last June. Brother Worde, as you know, is a colored brother, now ministering at the Fairgrounds, Merced, California, whom I started out preaching several years ago.

"We rejoice with you!" brother Worde wrote. "I am so happy to learn that so many brethren and congregations are responding to our Master's call, '. . . GO INTO ALL THE WORLD . . .'

"By the way, did you know that Brother Tune is leaving for Hong Kong in July of this year? I mention this fact because I did not see any mention of his name among the many that you mentioned. Enclosed is an accounting of same in brief for your consideration."

What brother Worde enclosed was the whole front page of "The Independent", Richmond, California's leading newspaper. Displayed prominently across the bottom of the page was a photo of our Richmond preacher, brother Francis F. Carson, together with a 3-column by 5-inch story captioned--

"A white missionary will be sent to Hong Kong by the Negro congregation of the Church of Christ, 321 Alamo St., Richmond.

"Selected for the overseas post is the Rev. M. Thomas Tune, former pastor of the Church of Christ in Pleasant Hill. Tune and his wife are in Nashville, Tenn., on a fund-raising campaign to finance his two-year stay in the Orient.

"The Rev. Francis F. Carson of the Richmond church said this will be the first time a Negro congregation will send a missionary abroad. 'I think this is more significant than the fact that Rev. Tune was chosen for the post. Something like this goes on all the time in our church,' Rev. Carson said, referring to the racial difference.

"In a letter to his congregation, Rev. Carson said that Tune had done much to break down the racial prejudice that exists among churches. 'We feel fortunate in having a man such as Brother Tune with whom we can work.'

"Commenting on the appointment, Rev. Carson said, 'Every man does his job according to his ability, whether he be white or Negro.'

"Rev. Carson said only $7,000 of the $20,000 the church needs to send Tune to Hong Kong has been raised.

"He pointed out, 'If we convert enough intelligent Chinese, they will know far better how to handle their own people and their own problems than do foreigners.' "

On that same page, in a separate story captioned "CHURCH TO BUILD $100,000 EDIFICE" the Independent reported that "Architects drawings will be completed within 30 days for a new $100,000 Church of Christ in Richmond, the Rev. Francis F. Carson said today.

"The new edifice, with a seating capacity of nearly 400, will be built at 15th and Florida streets on 10 lots purchased by the church two years ago.

"Bids will be solicited for the structure sometime in April, Rev. Carson said. The architect is David Francisco Costa, Jr., of Oakland."

NOTE: It may shock some of our white brethren to wake up to the fact that such ability and sense of responsibility exists among growing numbers of our Negro brethren. It does not astonish me at all. I have known it for more than 20 years-- ever since singing for R. N. Hogan's FIRST MEETING IN THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY OF TEXAS in 1940. How well I recall one preaching brother who pulled a conniption fit because I "stood up and waved my arms in front of all those niggers" (his words), when I led the singing in that meeting. He's dead now. Father forgive him; he knew not what he did. [11] He was the unChristian product of the unChristian segregation and unChristian prejudice in the unChristian "churches of Christ" in the unChristian south. This is not to say there are no Christians in the southern churches. But wherein division over race is concerned, hardly any of our congregations in that part are "Christian." Did not Jesus pray his disciples might all be "one"? (John 17:20-21) How one? "As thou, Father, art in me and I in thee." Why? "That the world may believe . . ." And here we are trying to evangelize the world while practicing DIVISION--racial division among ourselves! If we were either Scribes or Pharisees, Jesus' word for us would be: THOU HYPOCRITES! Since we are only small-souled, racially-prejudiced, so-called "Christians", does that make us something else? When will we learn that "let there be NO DIVISIONS among you" in I Corinthians 1:10 rules out not only denominational segregation but racial segregation and any other kind of segregation as well! What real difference in principle is there in saying "I of Paul . . . I of Apollos . . . I of Cephas . . ." and in saying "I of White . . . I of Black . . . I of Yellow, Red, Brown, Green, Pink, Fuscia[sic] or Chartreause[sic]"! Sometimes I would God that we'd all just inter-mix and inter-marry until all these artificial divisions we have built up could be dissolved. In that case we'd all turn out perhaps a light beige. Being then all of the same color we no longer could excuse ourselves for dividing over that and would have to figure out something else! It might not be easy--but we--unChristians that we are--would think of something!

On the other hand, now and again, we learn of changed attitudes here and there which give hope that the little leaven of Christian unity may leaven this unChristian lump of segregation and prejudice one of these days. In his letter enclosing the Richmond Independent clipping, brother R. L. Worde commented, "On the spiritual side, things are breaking for us. The newsletter in which this note is enclosed will give you some of the breaks, plus the recent bulletin from across town. Please note: the brethren did not say "the colored church that meets in the Fairgrounds." I "noted"; and sure enough it didn't say that. It simply referred to the church that meets in the Fairgrounds without adding the divisive word "colored".

If some of us preachers--or elders--like the "rich young ruler" we think we're better than should come to the Lord, asking "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" I wonder what our answer would be if Jesus said unto us, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast (racial prejudice and segregation), and give (open the doors to) the poor (Negro brethren you have kept clear across town from you all these years), and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me (according to the principle of Christian unity in the New Testament)." I know he didn't say exactly those words to the rich young ruler, but what we seem to covet, instead of "possessions", is our foolish pride, prejudice and segregation. Would we desegregate our congregations for Jesus Christ? Or would we, like the rich young rule[sic], go away "sorrowful", for we have great prejudice. (Even if we do not--personally--a few (usually a very few) of our proud white members we cater to--do. And we'd rather lose our own souls in hell than to risk offending their prejudice. After all they might quit coming or, worse yet, quit giving! And we prefer a proud, prejudiced, covetous white brother to a an[sic] humble, loving, liberal colored brother--and I can prove it. WE OPEN OUR DOORS TO THE ONE, CLOSE THEN[sic] TO THE OTHER. Verily, the legs of the lame are not equal!

In 1961 Myles Thomas Tune is 32 years old and an alumnus of Michigan Christian Junior College and David Lipscomb College. He is a veteran of four debates, including one on "Church Corporation"[sic]--a topic significant for mission fund raising. The search for support delays Tune's departure for Hong Kong until July 1962.

A group photograph accompanying the CC story shows Tune in the company of "the elders and minister" of the North Richmond congregation--six of whom appear to be "elders" and three are more likely "ministers." The picture, printed where it is, is itself a landmark. Can any California scholars shed light on the history of this Bay Area congregation? How long does its mission in Hong Kong endure?

There is more than one Ira Rice, and we may regret that this is not the one we remember. The rhetorical style is familiar: red hot, capitalized, underlined, and amplified--a boom box in print. We shall have cause before long to examine IYRJr's history at close range in his own words, and in that study we may come to understand the roots of his rhetoric and his behavior, and who his mentors are. Older members of black Churches of Christ remember IYRJr from a different perspective than some of the rest of us have had--but the distinction is perhaps in degree, emphasis, and circumstance rather than in substance. IYRJr has a story to tell, and soon enough we shall see him telling it. Here he is characteristically "radical," and radical about race relations in a way that no other person in the Churches of Christ, black or white, would express in public for years to come.

May God have mercy.

dhaymes, his mark +