National Republican., 1888-05-21
THE MINISTER'S DIFFER
In Regard to Colored Delegates At.
tending the Baptist Meeting.

tending the Baplist meettnEs
Rev. Walter II. Brooks, pastor of :the
Nineteenth Street Baptist Church. has sent
the following statement to this paper
when recently colorcd newspaper of this
city, the PODit'S ldrOCdie severely arragnCd
the white Baptists of the District Of columbia
on the charge of Intentionally ignoring the ten
or twelve thousand COlored Daptists In their
midst, In making the necessary arrangements
for the public anniversary meetings of the
several national missionary societies now In
session at the Calvary Baptist Church, Of
pastor, was grievcd, for ! felt that an In
Justice had been done our brethren Of lighter
hue; IN this state Of mnl set
structures Of that paper, aud. IN n private let
ter, called tile attention Of the Rev. Mr. Greene
to the atraignmcnt of himself and brethren,
nc the same time suggesting that one or two
suitable members from each of the leading
Culorcd churches be added to the several com
mittecs on accommodations and entertain
mCnt The suggestion. | am told, suhsc-
qucntly took the form of proposition In the
general committee Of arrangements, and was
superseded by an agreement to request 4 Ger.
tain colorcd brother, In whom they cheer.
fully .conhdcd, to select from the culored
churches commlttcCun the entertainment of
culored delegates and visitors. The Rev, Mr..
Greene and DR.. ID: $. Foster the chairman of
positively Informed that a Colorcd committee
Tor eolorcd people was not the recognition
sought, and would not give satisfaction but
rather strengthen the charges made against
them rs prcludiccd against their brethren on
account of race and color and purposIly liz.
norng their very existence,
Having consented to heyo iie "nortllcirn
brethren should have held, for once At least,
their burning prejudice ~ allegiance. aud in
yitcd their c0lorcd brethren TO unite with
them In welcoming the visitors and delegates
10 this national council of Baptist workers,
white and cOlorod, from all the sections of
our common country, In failing, TO do so
they have served notice on the cOlored Ban-
lists Of Washington that their presence In
white audiences is not desired and nssocia
tion with them In Christian work is not To be
moi, shared by the several societies; never.
theloss, let them remember II, in seeking to
conciliate the south, they persist IN carrying
their anniversary, meeting, into the territory
conscientiously do not believe in the equality
anything that looks like "sqc@ ire; irei;cogmit!on" nth!
selves and their brethren Of darker skin
greater than ever. To my mind the signs of
the times point TO separation. The COlOred
BaptiSts have already their thousands of dis.
tlnct church organizations, their district asso
Citations and state conventions, rcprcscntinga
membership Of i,GQ0,OOO, and a general mis-.
sionary society with mission stations and mis-.
sion workers on the continent Of Africa. With
our rise in wealth and Intelligence II society
for domestic missions and for publication aud
Sunday school work will certainly come, and
those who have driven or helped to drive, or
even consented to the driving, of the wedge Of
race prejudice will share the glory OF the
shame Of adding to the already too numerous
religious denominations in. America another
distinct and separate wing. Need. say
that, In the light of these and similar facts, II
Is needless for the Missionary Union to send a
delegation to the Baptist Foreign Missionary
Convention of the United States, which meets
AZ Nashville: Tenn, IN September next, ns the
brother In black will not consent To give UP
his society TO Join the union a. such Il time as
this. lie cannot meet With nis northern
friends on southern soil without giving offense
to his eX.master or being himself wlungci
and insulted. Let the societies insist on the
recognition of the doctrine of the fatherhOod
of Sod and the brotherhood of man, and they
will be In the line of their duty and he Will
ing to await the time of real reconciliation
OF the northern and southern brethren on this
doctrine.
AS there are generally two sides to story,
and dcsirOus of knowing the other in this
case, q reporter of the REPUBLICAN called
upon Rev. Samuel II. Greene, ID. d., pastor
of the Calvary Baptist Church, where the
anniversary services are being held, and
asked him If there had been any distinctions
made In the meeting on account of color or
any line drawn on that account
"None whatever" lie replied; ''the church
is open and free to all.n
''lTow did 1t happen that the meeting
came to be held in this city,"
at was at session of the Pastors AS
sociation that the holding of the anniversary
meetings were discussed and an Invita- ion
was sent out to the churches requesting
their views in regard to 1t. Five churches
responded favorably and they were then
asked to designate committees who would
meet together and form an organization to
be known as committee of entertain
ment. The invitation for the anniversary
meeting was extended by the white Baptist
churches of the city, as the constituency of
the societies invited to unite IN the meetings
was made up almost exclusively Of whites.
II did not occur to Us, therefore, that there
was any necessity of adding colored per.
sons to the committees that had been
created
''Thcn this was not committee of ar
rangcmensY
''No. IL was more committee of enter
tainment than ANYTHING else. Securing
quarters and providing accommodations for
the delegates.
"Thc societies prepared their own pro-
grammcs and conducted their meetings.
From beginning TO end there was no in
tended discOurtcsy on the part of the com
mttcc to our brethren of color"
'Was there anything done toward pro-
viding for cOlorcd delegates ?'
"When attention was called to the sCnsi-
tivcncss of the colored churches the chair
man Of the committee was instructed to Hp-
point Rev W. II. Brooks To organize Il
branch committee to provide FOR the enter
tainment of any ColOrcd delegates who
might be present. Ills committee was to do
for them iust what the other committee was
expected to perform for the white delegates,
and, as he was supposed to he better ac-
quainted with the delegates aud where ac-
ccptablc accommodations could be had, IL
was thought that everything would be salts
factory. This appointment, however, hG
declined, insisting that colorcd pastors
should be added to the existing committee.
Such additions seemed 10 the committee I'M
necessary, inasmuch as the object was met
in the arrangement that had been proposed,
and there the matter ended.'
The reporter also met Hon. A. NJ Clapp
yesterday at the church and inquired of him
If there had been any discrimination made
by the committee against thccOlorcd people.
There has been nothing of the kind,h he
replied. "IlliS committee was created for
entertaining purposes only. They were to
look up quarters for the delegates aud see
that they were taken care of. Asthe colorcd
ministers knew their own people best,
where suitable and acceptable accom-
modations could he secured, it was
supposed that they could take care of the
cOlored delegates the same as We would the
whites. We all stand OH religious equal
ity, Here all have been treated alike. The
colored people are present, and you can see
for yourself whether or not they are ig-
nored. think have proven rs good u
friend to the colored race as any man, aul
do not see why there should DE anydiiler-
cnccs here and so far rs know, there are
uOne.n
.