Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1930-12-20
CLAYTON Powell Answers
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p.ooN Under the direction OF A
S SI Powell, Jr. An appeal was
ID ID To the church and community
t for clothes. Bundles came IN 50
roridIv that it now requires tour
I r|p working eight hours day.
to receive and distribute tnem " oo eLs
needy. At the end OF three w sean
45O0 pieces of clothing hau OeeN
GIN In response to the solicitation Of
this Bureau, many members Oh our
church have opened their homes "
Wy Thru the generosity of the Seward
prosser Committee, this Bureau has
been able to place on an average %
60 hundred half-time workers eacn
T,aak Others are sent TO cream
Lonees wash windows and do otner
1york for our members who are III
GOOD circumstances, and these mem
Sers nav soc an hour for the services
rendered. +,,o
At a Sunday morning service TWO
weeks ago, the pastor pledged S1,OUg
of his salary to open Tree nGJ@
kitchen. Within few minutes, WIN,
out any urging, church members anu
church organizations raised IN aG Tl
tional pledges and cash, Sl,5oV, ne
Relief Bureau now has SZ,oOo III
hand or in sight and will open the
Kitchen December 26th, and will keep
It omen for the next three months, or
as long as the need exists.
This pastor told his members not
RI olive him any "hand shake" money,
collections or donations during the
HOLIDAYS, but to make all their gltts
instead to the poor. o.
He has been driving 1926 car
and his officers wanted to give, nm
new one, but this he absolutely re-
fused to accept. What sort OF q
representative of the lowly Jesus Is
a big, fat, well dressed preacher IN
new car, riding up and down stree!s
which are lined with homeless, PENN,
less, and foodless men, women ana
children? -;
If every Negro preacher in this
conntrv would refuse TO accept dona-
tions from their churches during the
HOLIDAYS not a single person OF the
race would go hungry the week we
are celebrating the birth of the Man
who became poor for our sakes, that
we, thru His poverty might be made
rich.
There are 10000 Negro preachers
who ought to give their salaries
during the months of January, Feb
ruary and March to feed the hungry
and clothe the naked. Another 1O,OOO
ought to give during those months
half of their salaries, and another
10000 should give one fourth OF
their salaries for the same purpose.
This would give these preachers an
undreamed of power and influence IN
their localities.
II would also open the hearts and
pocketbooks of their members, and
lastly would give us revival OF re-
Ggion among Negroes for which we
have been offering hypocritlcal
prayers for the last twenty-five
years. -,
If we fail to do this we should
never again preach or read from the
25th Chapter of Mathew:-"I was
hungry and We fed Me; was naked
and We clothed Me-"
The churches and lodges have got
ten large part of the colored peo-
pies money during the last sixty
years, and for the sake of the God
whose name our acts have often
blasphemed, and for the sake of our
starving brothers and sisters whom
we have often robbed under the guise
of religion, friendship, love and truth
and charity, let us restore unto them
this winter at least enough of that
money to keep them from starving
and freezing.
This is the only practical way to
meet MAMIE H. BURROUGHS
challenge and to answer her scorch-
ing indictment. The preachers,
churches and lodges that remain in
different this winter to our sorely de-
messed people, will soon be gone, and
they ought to be gone and forgotten