In the sixties and seventies, there was a culmination of horrific racial biases stemming from a long history of corruption and a perpetually decaying state government. A government deadened in spiritual growth and was seated in my hometown and Mississippi’s capital city, Jackson. During that time, there was an army of people who believed that all people, without exception, were created equal. I was one of those in that army, and I am still a commander. It’s important to note that, over the years, during and since my time in Jackson, I have come to the self-evident and obvious conclusion that there is only one solution to this myriad of issues and biases between Jackson’s people. That resolution is the fundamental and paramount relationship of all people with Jesus Christ.
In retrospect, most children and young adults in Jackson during that era had no idea how deep the taproot was regarding the cultural apartheid’s in the Jackson public schools, or that it even existed. No one seemed to understand, or didn’t care, what that colossal division would come to mean to us as children and our brothers and sisters of different races and cultures.
Most of the children in Jackson during the sixties, including myself, were raised under the White Citizens Council’s sheltered and demonic environment (Rolph, S. R. 2001), which took its tenets from the Klu Klux Klan. In 1956, by an act of the Mississippi Legislature, the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (Rowe-Sims, S. 1999), a white supremacist organization, was formed. This Commission, which had the stated tenet to maintain Jim Crow segregation in all schools (Rowe-Sims, S. 1999), began to chart the Mississippi school systems’ course for years to come. The governor and state legislature were “third eye blind” when it came to the high calling of all school children’s care and well-being, no matter what race, religion, creed, or culture, in Mississippi.
This oversight by these two organizations postured Jackson’s youth to be swallowed up in a ninety-five-year-old “separate but equal” educational system where white children went to one school, and black children went to a different one (Rowe-Sims, S. 1999). Separate, yes! Equal, no! This was a sad commentary of not affording Jackson’s children and the other children in the state the opportunity of diversity and inclusion. All of this began to come to some sort of legal resolution when school bussing came about (Plessy v. Ferguson, United States Supreme Court 163 U.S. 537 (1896). In 1962, James Meredith was the first African American student admitted to the University of Mississippi, giving vitality to the segregation movement (Bolton, C. C. Ph.D. (1999).
Unfortunately, the legal posture of segregation by the Federal Government was way off the mark for what the White Citizens Council (Rolph, S. R. 2001) and the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission had in mind (Rowe-Sims, S. 1999). And the behavior displayed by the general population of civitas in the Jackson community was certainly not what the Mississippi churches of the day had in mind. With very few exceptions, most of the clergy and their churches were mute on Jackson’s gross racial disparity. Indeed, it was an excellent opportunity for the church and all believers to rise up, roar like a lion, make a difference, and possibly change history. They didn’t!
The vast majority of clergy in the Jackson area were afraid of repercussions from the general population, churchgoers, the White Citizens Council (Rolph, S. R. 2001), and the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (Rowe-Sims, S. 1999). However, there were a few who did step up. In 1963, several Methodist pastors published a statement titled “Born of Conviction” (Reiff, J.T. (2018), which was their declaration of independence from the segregationist views in Jackson and the state of Mississippi as a whole. Unfortunately, due to death threats, slashed tires, and crosses burned in front of their homes and parsonages, most chose not to hold with the “Born of Conviction” tenet of “Born of the deep conviction of our souls as to what is morally right” (Reiff, J.T. (1963). They were positively not enchanted with their earthy rewards, and during the first year and a half, seventeen left and the rest within months.
In Byram, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson, James Nicholson (Phillips, E. L. & Vaughn, B. (2009), pastor of the Byram Methodist Church, said: “We have let prejudice shut out the Gospel and in many areas of our lives have turned to the gods of segregation and white supremacy to sustain us” (Brogan, H. (1987). His church fired him due to his stance on the segregation issue. He held and stayed with his godly calling of doing what was right by God’s Law.
Spiritually dead, a focus on earthly rewards and apathy to God’s Holy Spirit, the State of Mississippi turned a Third Eye Blind on the children of Jackson and the State of Mississippi. There is never a race issue for those close to God and the good news of Jesus Christ. Just taking a cursory look at our creation in Genesis shows there is no mention of race or ethnicity. Adam and Eve, both ethnically generic, represent all of humankind. Paul’s instructional letter to the church in Galatia brings further clarity about the issue of ethnic backgrounds. “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (2001) (Original Text Edition: 2016).
As I have said before, in the era of the ’60s, there was a solution regarding race relations for Jackson and the state of Mississippi. That solution is still alive and well today. I have come to the self-evident and obvious conclusion that there is only one solution to this myriad of issues and biases between the people of Jackson then and now, and that is the fundamental and paramount relationship of individuals with Jesus Christ. We have a Father that loves us more than we could ever imagine, loves us infinitely beyond our greatest prayers and way beyond our hopes and dreams. If we could have imparted this commission to Jackson’s citizenry back in the days of such horrific treatment of so many, everyone would have known how to treat one another.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (2001) (Original Text Edition: 2016).
References
Bolton, C. C. Ph.D. (1999). “The Last Stand of Massive Resistance: Mississippi Public School Integration, 1970”, Winter (1999) edition of The Journal of Mississippi History, Volume LXI, No. 4, The University Press of Mississippi.
Brogan, H. (1987). The Penguin History of the United States of America. (2nd ed.) Penguin Publishing Group.
Conner, J. S. & Ryker, H. (1963) The Mississippi Methodist Advocate (Represented by permission of The Mississippi United Methodist.
History.com Editors. (2010) “Civil Rights Activist James Meredith Shot,” A& E Television Networks.
Phillips, E. L. & Vaughn, B. (2009). “Courage to Bear Witness - Essays in Honor of Gene L Davenport.” Wipf and Stock Publications.
Plessy v. Ferguson, United States Supreme Court 163 U.S. 537 (1896) https://bit.ly/3jKwfkS
Reiff, J.T. (2018). “Born of Conviction Statement”. Center for Study of Southern Culture.
Reiff, J.T. (1963). “Born of Conviction: White Methodists and Mississippi’s Closed Society.” The Methodist Advocate.
Rolph, S. R. (2001). Resisting Equality: The Citizens’ Council, 1954-1989. Louisiana State University Press
Rowe-Sims, S. (1999). The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission. Journal of Mississippi History.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV (2001) (Original Text Edition: 2016). bit.ly/2X6bZ3n
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV (2001) (Original Text Edition: 2016). bit.ly/3geKexm
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