# JW's and Blacks - Bergman

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Posted by Kent [KENT] on October 23, 1999 at 07:40:15 {Fflr7qpqSgOJikFWJ7tMBSwZlMEBKg}:

Jehovah's Witnesses, Blacks and
Discrimination

Jerry Bergman, Ph. D.

> > Abstract

> > This paper researches the history of the racism found in the official teachings of the
> > Watchtower Bible and Track Society, whose followers are now known as Jehovah's Witnesses.
> > Their history reveals they are not free of racism as they now claim, but have manifested
> > extreme racists views in their official, mandatory teachings. Even though 52% of the
> > Witness' membership are non-white, not a single minority person held a leadership position
> > in 1994.

Background

Jehovah's Witnesses are one of the fastest growing denominations, now over 12 million
members and sympathizers. They are the only major American non-ethnic denomination that
consists of a majority of persons from minority groups. One study found that fully 52% of
all American Witnesses are Afro-American or Hispanic, yet the leadership from circuit
overseer and above, is almost totally white (Kosmin and Lachman, 1993). This contrasts to
the Lutheran churches in which only 3% of adherents were black or Hispanic, Mormons only
6%, Presbyterians 7%, Episcopalians 10%, and Methodists 24%. Of the Baptists, the group
with the highest number of minority members aside from the Witnesses, only 31% were black
or Hispanic. Kosmin's study was based on an American nationwide survey which used a large
enough sample to include the smaller sects.

Why are such a high per cent of American Witnesses Afro-American? Whalen (1962)
concluded that one reason they are attracted to the Witnesses is its recent policy of
racial equality. Whalen concluded from actively participating in their activities since
the late 1950s that since the 1960s it appears that blacks were generally treated equally
by the Witnesses. World wide Blacks who become Jehovah's Witnesses usually feel that they
will be welcomed as human beings equal to other members.

Although many segregated Kingdom Halls existed in the deep south in the 1950s, the race
record of the Witnesses is much better than that of many Christian churches (Carr, 1993;
Jackson, 1991). Harrison (1978) concludes that a black male can achieve status in the
Watchtower even if he is only average in intelligence and secular skills. He may be a
janitor in the world, but an Elder in the Watchtower, a respected leader looked up to by
whites and blacks alike. He is also a privileged person because, while the men of the
world may be intelligent, they cannot understand the Watchtower message, what they refer
to as the truth (1978:252).

This topic is of concern partly because a significant number of American Witnesses are
Afro-Americans. Even in the 1960s some estimates put the percentage as high as twenty to
thirty percent of all American Witnesses and, as noted above, the number has drastically
increased since then (Whalen 1962:203). As to research on the number of Afro-American
Witnesses, Cooper concluded that:

> There is no way to know precisely the number of Negro Witnesses in the United States as
> the Society doesn't reveal or encourage any knowledge about the extent of its Negro
> membership. Estimates of this membership in the early 1960s ran from 20% to 30% of the
> total Witnesses in the U.S.... Such... estimates... indicate a considerably higher
> proportion of Negro Witnesses than there are blacks in the general American population
> (10.6% according to the 1960 U.S. Census and estimated 12% for 1970). In the Witnesses'
> circuit assemblies in North and West Philadelphia during the research period, each of
> which included more than 2,200 persons, 99% of the audience were Negroes, figures well
> above the 70% Negro population in North Philadelphia and 60% in West Philadelphia
> (1974:705).

Although the sociological as well as the religious factors for their success in gaining
Afro-Americans adherents are complex, a major factor is most Kingdom Halls, as Watchtower
churches are called, appear on the surface to welcome blacks as full members. This fact is
not unknown in the black community, and has also aided Witness missionaries working in
Africa to achieve much success there (Cole 1953, 1953a). The attraction of Afro-Americans
to the Watchtower is explained by Cooper as follows:

> As a "publisher" in the New World Society they are convinced they are
> Jehovah's chosen people. One is no longer identified as Bill Green, warehouse clerk or
> shoe salesman, lower middle or lower class, Negro. As a "publisher" he is
> Brother Green, the West View Study Servant, one of Jehovah's elect. It is an identity
> impervious to outside opinion. By following the Society's rules for "publishing"
> and morality, thereby assuring his place among the chosen, Brother Green gains a sense of
> purity and superiority, factors of importance to an American Negro seeking, as Charles
> Keil says, a new image of self-esteem to overwhelm feelings of self-hatred (1966:165;
> Cooper 1974:715).

The Real State of Affairs

The subject of race is not a topic the Watchtower has spent an enormous amount of time
discussing. Nonetheless, a large number of official statements in their publications
clearly reflect their racist attitudes. For example, an October 15, 1919, Golden Age
article about prohibition (p. 44) stated, "from a criminal viewpoint the desirability
of sobering the southern negro speaks volumes for national prohibition." Another
article refers to Orientals as "coolies" who were "cutthroats and
murderers" (Golden Age, March 10, 1926, p. 374). Many articles, though, are
much more direct. One states that the British Empire nations are all ruled by Whites, whom
the Watchtower describes as having "superior mental, moral, or physical force"
and that this superiority is disappearing because the "powers of the colored races
are expanding" (May 5, 1926:483). A Golden Age article vehemently condemned a
book sympathetic to blacks, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which it called "the work of
Satan" and they even once stated that the Spaniards were a "backward" race
(Bolling, 1927:141). The racism is also obvious in statements such as "careful
observations in a London school showed that children enjoyed the heartiest laughs, not
from slapstick comedies, but from [such activities as] ... watching a negro miner enjoying
a square meal" (Golden Age, 1928:684).

A first person account of the attraction of an Afro-American to the Watchtower is found
in a Watchtower article, the official Journal of Jehovah's Witnesses which prints
policy and doctrine that all members must adhere to under pain of disfellowshipping. In
this article, the anonymous author admitted that behind the common outward appearance of
acceptance was another side:

> I am not saying Jehovah Witnesses are perfect. At times I detect among certain ones of
> them leftover attitudes of racial superiority, and I have sometimes seen a certain
> uncomfortableness of some of them when in close association with persons of another race
> (December 1, 1974:713-714).

This other side of the seeming racial harmony of the Watchtower can be traced back to
their early history. Although the Watchtower claims to believe that all races are
biological brothers, all descendants of Adam and Eve, they have for decades officially
taught the doctrine of biological inferiority of the black race (Bergman, 1984). Formal
segregation of blacks was once rigidly enforced in their organization, both during the
rule of their first president, C.T. Russell (1852-1916) and their second, Joseph F.
Rutherford (1869-1942) and even until the late 1950's:

> Recognizing that it meant either the success or the failure of the...[Photo] Drama as
> respects the whites, we have been compelled to assign the colored friends to the
> gallery... Some were offended at this arrangement. We have received numerous letters from
> the colored friends, some claiming that it is not right to make a difference, others
> indignantly and bitterly denouncing [us] as enemies of the colored people. Some ... told
> us that they believe it would be duty to stand up for equal rights and always to help the
> oppressed.... We again suggested that if a suitable place could be found in which the
> Drama could be presented for the benefit of the colored people alone, we would be glad to
> make such arrangements, or to cooperate with any others in doing so (Watchtower,
> April 1,1914:110).

The administration then concluded that the Watchtower interests were to be put ahead of
efforts to achieve racial justice and human rights, a policy that continues today.
Specifically the Watchtower reasoned that:

> Our explanations were ... it is a question of putting either the interests of God's
> cause first, or else the interests of the race first. We believed it our duty to put God
> first and the truth first--at any cost to others or to ourself! We explained that we
> thought that all the colored brethren should know... that we love to serve them in any way
> possible and to give them the very best we have to give of the Gospel message; and that it
> is only a question of whether our giving to them in one way would entirely deprive us of
> giving the truth to others (Watchtower, April 1, 1914:110).

Being viewed as inferior supposedly made a person a better servant the Watchtower then
taught, and consequently the official Watchtower publication The Golden Age magazine (now
called Awake!) commented that:

> ...the curse which Noah pronounced upon Canaan was the origin of the black race.
> Certain it is that when Noah said, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he
> be unto his brethren," he pictured the future of the Colored race. They have been and
> are a race of servants, but now in the dawn of the twentieth century, we are all coming to
> see this matter of service in its true light and to find that the only real joy in life is
> in serving others; not bossing them. There is no servant in the world as good as a good
> Colored servant, and the joy that he gets from rendering faithful service is one of the
> purest joys there is in the world (The Golden Age, July 24, 1929: 702).

As recent as 1952, the Watchtower extolled the "servant" and
"teachable" qualities of blacks in their publications, a teaching that all
members must accept as God's teachings under pain of total excommunication:

> ...our colored brothers have a great cause for rejoicing. Their race is meek and
> teachable, and from it comes a high percentage of the theocratic increase (The
> Watchtower, Feb. 1, 1952: 95).

As Russell explained in the late 1800s, he confidently believed that the end of the
world and the start of the millennial kingdom will occur very soon, bringing humankind
into an earthly paradise and a rapid restoration of the whole earth to the perfect garden
of Eden state. Russell acknowledged that the conditions for Afro-Americans were poor in
the present system, but he argued that this will work for their advantage during the
millennium because they will have learned humility from their inferior position. The
current conditions, he taught, were important to help them develop the needed
"strength of character", but only if they remained humble and did not challenge
the status quo:

> If nature favors the colored brethren and sisters in the exercise of humility it is
> that much to their advantage, if they are rightly exercised by it. A little while, and
> [their]... humility will work out for [their]... good... those who have been faithful...
> will be granted new bodies, spiritual, beyond the veil, where color and sex distinctions
> will be no more. (Watchtower, April 1, 1914:110).

Russell taught that those privileged to live in the "new world" which is just
upon us would also be physically returned to humankind's original bodily state, including
our "original" skin color and language, which the Watchtower taught was white
and Hebrew:

> A little while, and the Millennial kingdom will be inaugurated, which will bring
> restitution to all mankind--restitution to the perfection of mind and body, feature and
> color, to the grand original standard, which God declared "very good," and which
> was lost for a time through sin, but which is soon to be restored by the powerful kingdom
> of the Messiah (Watchtower, April 1, 1914:110).

This teaching is discussed in more detail in the Watchtower's answer to the question
"Can The Ethiopian Change His skin color?" The Watchtower Society's official
response to this question is:

> No. But... what the Ethiopian cannot do for himself God could readily do for him. The
> difference between the races of men... have long been arguments against the solidarity of
> the human family. The doctrine of restitution has also raised the question. How could all
> men be brought to perfection and which color of skin was the original? The answer is now
> provided. God can change the Ethiopian's skin in his own due time... Julius Jackson, of
> New Frankfort, Montana, a negro boy of nine years, began to grow white in September, 1901,
> and is now fully nine-tenths white. He assures us that this is no whitish skin disease;
> but that the new white skin is as healthy as that of any white boy, and that the changed
> boy has never been sick and never has taken medicines (Zion's Watch Tower, February
> 15, 1904: 52-53).

This case history, the Watchtower argues, demonstrates that God can and will change
"Ethiopians" (blacks) into whites in the New World. The Watchtower taught that
the black race needs to become white because blacks are descended from Ham, whose special
"degradation" is mentioned in Gen. 9:22, 25. Actually, Mr. Julius Jackson was
likely suffering from Vitiligo, a skin disease involving a loss of melanocytes which
affects about one percent of all Americans. The Watchtower adds that Noah prophetically
declared:

> ...that Ham's characteristics which had led him to unseemly conduct ... would be ...
> inherited by his son,--and prophetically he foretold that this degeneracy would mark the
> posterity of Canaan, degrading him, making him servile. We are not able to determine to a
> certainty that the sons of Ham and Canaan are negroes; but we consider that general view
> as probable as any other (Zion's Watch Tower, July 15, 1902:216).

The change in skin color, in other words, was needed to remove the "curse" of
dark skin which was a major part of the whole curse by God. In an article entitled
"The Negro Not a Beast", which attempted to prove that the bigots of the day
were in error, the Watchtower declared that "negroes" were human, but this was
true only with qualifications:

> While it is true that the white race exhibits some qualities of superiority over any
> other, we are to remember that there are wide differences in the same Caucasian (Semitic
> and Aryan) family; and... that some of the qualities which have given this branch of the
> human family its preeminence in the world are not... in all respects admirable... (Zion's
> Watch Tower, July 15, 1902:215-216).

In an effort to provide encouragement for the World's blacks, the Watchtower Society
gave hope that they can become white in an article entitled: "Restitution Can Change
The Ethiopian's Skin". The story is about a person whose skin color changed--today we
know this person was suffering from Vitiligo. The Watchtower reported that this is the
third case they have seen, and this suggested to them "the process of restitution
[is] soon due." The story "From Black to White He Slowly Turned" they took
as a miracle from God, and it vividly illustrates their racists beliefs and their teaching
that in the new world, all blacks would turn white. The item reads:

> ... Rev. William H. Draper... gave a living affirmative answer to the famous Biblical
> question, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" Though
> once as black as charcoal, the Rev. Mr. Draper is now white. His people say that his color
> was changed in answer to prayer. Many years ago Draper was employed by a fair-skinned man,
> and he was often heard to remark that if he could only be white like his employer, he
> would be happy. While in the white man's service Draper 'experienced' religion.

From that day forward he prayed constantly and fervently that he might become white....
He first experienced a prickling sensation on his face, and upon close investigation found
a number of small white spots scarcely larger than the point of a pin. He became alarmed,
thinking he had some peculiar disease but he did not suffer and aside from the prickling
sensation felt nothing unusual. Gradually the white spots became larger and extended
themselves, until now, after the change has been in progress for over 30 years, Draper has
not a single dark spot on his body (Zion's Watch Tower, October 1, 1900:296-297).

The Watchtower has historically viewed blacks in general as having less interest and
intelligence concerning the Bible then other races. A Zion's Watch Tower of April
15, 1900 stated that "There are probably as many as a hundred colored brethren on the
Watch Tower lists, some of them very clear in the truth, and very earnest in its service,
financially and other-wise", but they were not allowed to participate in the
"pioneer work" then because,

> although we have received letters from several of these, who had intended engaging in
> the volunteer work, expressing surprise that in the call for volunteers in the March 1,
> 1900 issue we restricted the inquiry to white Protestant churches. They rightly realized
> that we have not the slightest of race prejudice, and that we love the colored brethren
> with just the same warmth of heart that we love the white, and they queried therefore why
> such a distinction should be made in the call. The reason is colored people have less
> education than whites--many of them quite insufficient to permit them to profit by such
> reading as we have to give forth. Our conclusion therefore is based upon the supposition
> that reading matter distributed to a colored congregation would more than half of it be
> utterly wasted, and a very small percentage indeed likely to yield good results (122).

If the problem was "less education" it would seem that the solution was the
opposite to what the Watchtower recommend here. Education programs should have been
established, as was often done later so as to provide this "humble race" with
the skills needed to make use of the reading matter in question (Cole, 1953). They also
argued that although "the negro is not a beast" whites were clearly superior to
them, and based this conclusion on the following logic:

> The secret of the greater intelligence and aptitude of the Caucasian undoubtedly in
> great measure is to be attributed to the commingling of blood amongst its various
> branches; and this was evidently forced in large measure by circumstances under divine
> control. It remains to be proven that the similar commingling of the various tribes of
> Chinese for several centuries would not equally brighten their intellects; and the same
> with the peoples of India and Africa (Zion's Watch Tower, July 15, 1902:216).

Jehovah's Witnesses today are not taught about this history of the Watchtower
organization. The few Jehovah's Witnesses who are aware of the above often excuse their
organization's historical position with the words "the light was dim in our early
history, but the governing body is now more enlightened". The Watchtower, though, has
not fully shed their old mentality. Bethel headquarter's worker, Watters, while in charge
of the printing of the Watchtower's Bible encyclopedia called Aid to Bible
Understanding was told that it was not going to be translated into Spanish partly due
to the "lack of interest" of Spanish Jehovah's Witnesses in the "deeper
things of God's Word"! The conclusion of the Watchtower administration was that this
scholarly work would be wasted among the Hispanics (Watters, 1988:2).

Other Watchtower statements are more difficult to interpret, but some even appear to be
sympathetic. One Golden Age article noted without comment that "in Brazil a person of
any color may marry persons of any other color, but in thirty of the forty-eight states in
the United States it is illegal for a Negro to marry a white" (1930:810). Another
article stated "Wherever the white man goes, he confiscates the land as far as
possible, and treats the native as an inferior being--a barbarian" (Harrison,
1926:680). He concludes, though, that "A day of reckoning is approaching. There are
ominous signs that the growing intelligence of colored races will not always tolerate the
arrogant dominance of the white." One reason for this sympathy is because the
Witnesses were clearly a minority group, and were not always treated very well in many
societies, including America.

Other indications of sympathy include the discussion of the death rate of
"colored" babies which shows that "the colored people get a raw deal all
around" (Golden Age, March 9, 1927, p. 362). Less obvious is an article on
"Negroes Grateful for Rescue," (Golden Age, August 10, 1927, p. 709), and
a 1926 article (p. 44), which discussed the case of a mob of whites who descended upon the
home of "an aged Negro" in order to beat him and steal his land and property,
was especially sympathetic to the plight of Afro-Americans. Another example is an article
in The Golden Age which states "the attendance at night schools in the largest
Negro city in the world, namely in the Harlem district of New York, proves that the
Negroes are one of the most studious and ambitious classes of people in this metropolitan
area. The enrollment of one of the Harlem night schools last year was 1,788, the largest
in any of the five boroughs" (1927:263).

Of course, the ultimate solution to racism, the Watchtower taught would be the new
world, when the races become equal by all blacks becoming white. A 1926 article was
reasonably fair, noting that a major reason for the "clash between the white and the
colored races is the growing feeling of resentment that is now rankling in the minds of
thousands of educated blacks, browns, and yellows, over the boasted 'superiority' of the
white races" (Harrison, 1926:681). Unfortunately, it ends with the conclusion that
"some look upon the League of Nations as the coming panacea; but this is a forlorn
hope, for the whites dominate the League.... Help will come only by and through the
promised kingdom of Messiah, in which both Jew and Gentile, Christian, white, black, brown
and yellow, will realize their highest hopes and noblest desires." The fallaciousness
of this "wait and do nothing" attitude is, of course, illustrated by the radical
change in race relations that has occurred in the United States, South Africa, and other
nations through the hard work of both blacks and whites and especially the various
Christian churches.

Actually, the antagonism against the Jews was probably much greater than that against
Blacks--referring to Jews, none other than J.F. Rutherford stated "Be it known once
and for all that those profiteering, conscienceless, selfish men who call themselves Jews,
and who control the greater portion of the finances of the world and the business of the
world, will never be the rulers in this new earth. God would not risk such selfish men
with such an important position" (1927:343).

Have the Old Teachings and Practices Really Changed?

The Watchtower in their publications today tries to convey the impression that they
never taught these prejudicial views, and that only the churches of Christendom, all which
they regard of Satan, are guilty of this sin (Bergman, 1990; Carr, 1993). Yet the Catholic
Church officially dropped these racists views long before the Watchtower formally did. The
Watchtower even once admitted that the Catholic Church dropped their official prejudice
against Afro-Americans at least 40 years before they did.

Even up to a hundred years ago the Catholic Church held the view that blacks were
cursed by God. ... this view "apparently survived until 1873 when Pope Pius IX
attached an indulgence to a prayer for the 'wretched Ethiopians in Central Africa that
almighty God may at length remove the curse of Cham [Ham] from their hearts (Awake!,
October 8, 1977:29. See also the 2/8/82 issue).

The Watchtower taught that the curse of Ham applied to the black "race" as
late as 1929! A factor that must be considered in understanding the racism problem in the
Witnesses is:

> ...it would be very surprising indeed if Jehovah's Witnesses - even today a community
> largely composed of converts - did not carry with them many of the values and attitudes of
> the larger societies out of which they have come. Hence one often finds among ordinary
> Witnesses a certain degree of rather covert prejudice towards persons of other
> nationalities or races. Occasionally one may hear Witnesses, high and low, make racial
> slurs. (Penton, 1985:286).

Changes came about only because of outside "worldly" social and legal forces:

> The appeal and the need to belong, are so great it makes it impossible for black
> Witnesses to question the monolithically white nature of their leadership; it allows them
> to defend the fact that Jehovah's Witnesses were among the last of all religious groups to
> be integrated in the South. They waited until integration became law; they did not
> question the segregation laws that had kept them apart until then, nor did they protest
> them in the name of God. When nuns and priests and ministers and students marched to
> protest against what the Watchtower Society believed was Caesar's business, the Society
> called them "crazed mobs." (Harrison, 1978:261)

The modern Watchtower also acknowledges that some white Witnesses do not live up to
high non-racists standards. They claim that the modern Watchtower can pride itself on its
supposed freedom from racial prejudice only as an organization. The Watchtower often
quotes the many news media comments on their massive assemblies held across the world each
year at which people from all races and nationalities allegedly attend in harmony. One
observer often quoted is G. Norman Eddy, who once stated Jehovah's Witnesses had a:

> genuine high regard for the people of all races. Unlike some who pay lip service to the
> doctrine of racial brotherhood, the Witnesses welcome all to their society--even to places
> of outstanding leadership--without reference to color or feature (Journal of Bible and
> Religion, as quoted in the January 15, 1973, Watchtower, p. 37. See also Cole
> 1953).

Former high level Watchtower official Watters comments on this claim as follows:

> It is true that the assemblies of Jehovah's Witnesses are remarkable in this regard,
> but so are many modern church groups across the country, especially among the charismatic
> persuasions. Yet unlike the churches, the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses has never
> had a non-Caucasian in its membership, Negro, Hispanic or otherwise (1988:1).

One study of Afro-American Watchtower members concluded that as late as the middle
1950s:

> While... about one half of the membership of the Witnesses is Negro, the leadership is
> almost completely white. When I visited the national headquarters in Brooklyn in 1952, I
> was told that there were only two Negroes in the headquarters staff of over four hundred;
> one Negro worked in the mailing room, the other was a linotypist. The national
> organizational work, the editing and writing, the supervision of the various
> departments--all these functions were the exclusive provinces of the white members(Cohn,
> 1956:8).

In the Watchtower official 1953 report of their international convention, not one
African American is identified as having a position of oversight at this convention:

> Two foreign Negroes are pictured as delegates from African countries, and what appear
> to be American Negroes are pictured as "cleaning up the kitchen"; another
> witness, apparently Negro, is pictured as helping in the immersion exercises. It is
> difficult indeed to escape the impression that the role which the Negro plays in the
> Witness organization is very similar to that traditionally assigned him by the least
> enlightened sections of white society: he is regarded as best kept separate and not quite
> equal; often he is merely "cleaning up the kitchen" while his white brother does
> all the important theologizing (Cohn, 1956:8-9).

Even as late as 1973, the Watchtower Society wrote, in answer to the question if any
blacks were on the governing body that:

> The answer to your question regarding blacks on the Watch Tower Society's directors is
> No... however... membership in the corporation is not something determined on the basis of
> race... selecting of men to handle unusual responsibilities is on the basis of spiritual
> qualifications and not on the basis of racial or national points, and this is in accord
> with what we read at Acts 10:34,35: "For a certainty I perceive that God is not
> partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable
> to him." (Letter from Watchtower Society EG; E1, 1973).

In a review of one work written by Afro-American Witness Firpo Carr--who attempted in
his book to rationalize why there have not been any blacks on the Watchtower's governing
body--Watters concludes "his most astounding claim is that there WAS a black man on
the Governing Body--William K. Jackson! ...Having known Bill Jackson from my six years at
Bethel (1974-1980) and [I could not understand how he came to this conclusion because] he
was as white as a sheet with no black features whatsoever." Carr's only evidence was
that Bill Jackson "openly stated that he was black" to which Watters adds,
"That is news to all of us who worked at Bethel. Perhaps Carr needs a second book to
correct the incredible fantasies of his first one, if the Watchtower doesn't disfellowship
him first" (1993:11). In response to this book, Jones wrote:

> Writing from another "Black American Perspective," I can tell you that
> "blacks" are still second-class in the Watchtower movement regardless of what
> Firpo states. Only very recently has the Watchtower ventured to place "blacks"
> in its regional management posts--i.e.: circuit or district overseer--in its Southern
> territories of the USA. Also, from the representative stance, the Governing Body lacks
> Asian, Hispanic, and "black Americans." ... the latest slew of "young
> people" articles ... bombast a popular and predominantly "black" music form
> ("rap" music) [shows] ... the Watchtower's strong, white, middle-class
> orientation. It notes very little on the more acceptable "white" suburban music
> forms of country, modern rock, metal, pop, etc. but focuses on the suburban white,
> middle-class "fear"--black rappers invading the white home. Additional evidence
> of the Watchtower's "white,""good ole boys" club mentality (1993:9).

One of the more subtle reasons behind the Watchtower's reluctance to use minorities to
serve on the Governing Body is its belief that only Caucasians of Northern European
American descent can serve in such high capacities. As Watters notes:

> Any aspiring soul brother must put on the same attitudes of English Caucasians in order
> to be trusted. While the Watchtower does have a few blacks in high position, including
> Circuit Overseers and members of the Service Department at Bethel, such ones have been
> promoted no higher in spite of their adopting "white" attitudes. Perhaps with
> increased public pressure and the passing away of the older diehards, a black may be
> appointed to the Governing Body--time will tell. One thing for sure, they will have to
> lose their "soul" in order to do so! (1988:2)

This lack persists in spite of the fact that the education level is now markedly higher
for Afro-American Jehovah's Witnesses compared to white Americans. The most extensive
survey found only 67.6% of the white Jehovah's Witnesses are high school graduates, and a
mere 4.4% college graduates (Kosmin and Lachman 1993:272). In contrast, 82.6% of the black
Jehovah's Witnesses are high school graduates, and fully 7.6% college graduates. The
socioeconomic and educational status of Afro-American Witnesses is also considerably
higher compared to whites (272). For the high school graduates, only those 18 and above,
and for college graduates, only those age 25 and above were surveyed. The authors
concluded that blacks outperformed whites among most of the religious groups with low
levels of educational attainment (272). Interestingly, the national average for the
percent of U.S. adults that have attended college is 48% (U.S. News and World Report,
Oct. 3, 1988:71). In California, fully 64% have attended college--a number fifteen times
higher than the Witness percent of 4.7%.

Conclusions

In evaluating the Watchtower's statements on race, one must keep in mind that these
official pronouncements are considered quasi-inspired by Jehovah Witnesses and must be
accepted by them as next to God's Word under pain of total excommunication. Changes only
came about in response to the civil rights movement and societal changes:

When I was at Bethel headquarters in the 1950s, there were only, as I recall, two
(male) black Witnesses working there --both at menial tasks. The explanation given for
this disproportionately low number of black Witnesses was that it might
"stumble"--that is, distress, or give a bad impression to--the Witnesses'
Brooklyn Heights neighbors, who were presumed not to want Negroes in their moneyed midst.
In the late 1960's, when not to be overtly racist became chic (the Heights is a liberal
neighborhood), the Watchtower Society pragmatically admitted many more blacks to its
headquarters staff (Harrison, 1978:255).

Although the Watchtower admittedly has changed their teaching in this area,
none-the-less major race problems are still a concern. One example is :

> It had, in fact, amazed me (but not the Witnesses, apparently) that at an earlier
> convention in Yankee Stadium, in the Witnesses' "demonstrations" (skits), white
> Witnesses role-played middle-class businessmen, while young black Witnesses role-played
> street kids who smoked what they anachronistically referred to as "reefers."
> (Harrison, 1978:256).

As Carr admits "racism rears its ugly head, even among the witnesses from time to
time" (1993:219). As of 1995, not one non-white person is on their governing body
which consists totally of "old white men" most in their 80's or older. This is
to be deplored in an organization with almost 10 million adherents and sympathizers and a
high disproportionate number of non-whites (Cole, 1953). What is most to be deplored is
the Watchtower's lack of condor about their history and their resistance to correcting it.
n

References

Bergman, Jerry. Jehovah Witnesses and Kindred Groups. New York: Garland, 1984.

__________. "Jehovah's Witnesses II." Controversial and Polemical
Pamphlets, New York: Garland, 1990.

Bolling, J.L. "The Story of Uncle Tom's Cabin." Golden Age, Nov., 30,
1927:140-143.

Carr, Firpo W. A History of Jehovah Witnesses from a Black American Perspective.
Aurora, MS: Stoops Publishing Co., 1993.

Cohn, Werner. "Jehovah's Witnesses and Racial Prejudice." The Crisis,
January 1956:5-9.

Cole, Marley. "Jehovah's Witnesses Religion of Racial Integration." The
Crisis, April 1953:205-211, 253-255.

___________. "Training Africans for a Better Life" as told by George Brumley,
Color, April 1953a:18-21.

Cooper, Lee R. Publish or Perish: Negro Jehovah's Witness "Adoption in the
Ghetto" In Irving I. Zaretsky and Mark P. Leone Religious Movements in
Contemporary America, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1974.

Harrison, Barbara Grizzuti. Visions of Glory. New York: Simon and Schuster,
1978.

Harrison, William. "The Menace of a World Race War." The Golden Age,
July 28, 1926:680-682.

Jackson, LaToya. Growing up in the Jackson Family. NY: Dutton, 1991.

Jones, Michael. "Blacks and the Watchtower." Free Minds Journal,
July/August, 12(4):9, 1993.

Kosmin, Barry and Seymour Lachman. One Nation Under God. NY: Harmony Books, 1993.

Penton, James. "Apocalypse Delayed." The story of Jehovah's Witnesses,
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.

Rutherford, J.F. "A Righteous Government." The Golden Age, Feb. 23,
1927:341-345.

Watters, Randy. "Blacks and The Watchtower." Bethel Ministries,
July/August, 7(4):1-2, 12, 1988.

__________. "Was There a Secret Black Man on the Governing Body? A Review of 'A
History of Jehovah's Witnesses; From a Black American's Perspective'" Free Minds,
March/April, 12(2):11, 1993.

Watchtower Society. Letter from EG; EI to G.M. Crowder, January 25, 1973.

Whalen, William J. Armageddon Around The Corner. New York: John Day Co., 1962.

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Kent

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