The Petal paper. [volume] (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??, 1957-03-07
BY P. D.

matter how hard ry believe that the stupidity
OF man is In any way the fault of The Lord believe,
and most sincerely that those who have chosen
represent The Lord through the medium of the Church.
and must help solve the problems with which we're
confronted ILL.,
One minister who has faced reality is The Rev Stiles
B. Lines pastor of the Grace Episcopal Church of Cam
den, c. With his permission am printing this page
today he delivered The Introductory note will
give you some background,
Some criticism has been offered to the effect that
have been quite unkind to the churches That should
be cleared up think not critical of the churches
just the men who piousy call themselves ministers
of God and, in my opinion commit objectionable SIM
the sin of omission How they get worked up
whether not Moses played hell by breaking the first
stone which the commandments written is be-
You'd me. Such preaching is useless it. The
churches should serve the people, taking into
the times and conditions under which live do not
to imply that the churches should ignore the his
torca aspects of religion but to my mind today to-
morrow is OF much more Importance than yesterday.
l hope the ministers in these parts will take time to
read the sermon by Rev Lines and undertake. if
the of The Lord, then in the name of common
sense well decency, to take lead in the
problems around The minstery has responsibility
to all persons at all times but preferably at the pre-
sent time. The sin of omission is upon them.
Why the ministers fail to make effort to est
ablsh communications between the races is something
communications have broken down. and in order solve
any problem some means of communication absolute
necessity But right here in Forest County Mississippi
what has been done by the preachers to bridge the gap
that exists between white and colored? I know of no
grassroos discussions sponsored by those who could
and surely are obligated, to take the lead perhaps
there has been such effort but know nothing of it.
Perhaps will have to wait until someone, like
in the case at Camden, S. c., gets his head Dashed in
before the moral leaders speak up Omission serious
thing especially at time like find ourselves in
True, inclined to feel the preachers are indeed
leading their focks And good safe, and sound way to
do is to find which way the flock is heading
then run and get in front of it. That's really eadin
brothers.
1t may be awhile before comes along with the
necessary courage andor conviction to speak out without
trembling in his ecclesiastical boots But the time has
long passed that such person should have shown
up in these parts.
l think Rev. Lines is right They Were Afraid
To Ask Him" And lot of us!
The number of things in this world which | do not
understand numerous that the next book write
will be on the subject the last one? don't re-
member The figures the study don't have, but from
memory l recall something about study conducted by
city of New York the actual cost of discrimination in
of dollars and cents The COST recall, into
the millions each year. How fail profit from such
study is beyond me- One example, which amounted to
only fifty cents but which is indicative of much
happened to me in Atlanta last month.
had occasion to take cab from meeting attend
ed back to my hotel 1t raining and the first cab
piled into it. 1t told the driver where wanted to
go He just sat there. | repeated my destination Still
sat Finally, in my innocent stupidity, asked whats
the matter, trouble?"
'No sir" he replied "colored drivers can't haul white
passengers"
Well guess that trip to Chicago last year ruined
me couldn't see the difference but didn't argue The
man offered 70 call white cab for He did, and for
about twenty minutes stood in the rain waiting. He
offered to let sit in his cab out of the rain but fgur
ed if anyone sitting there could trouble
for the Negro man. gM
At the airport, perhaps it was my hotel bill,
| saw printed something to the effect WELCOME TO
ATLANTA, THE CITY OF PROGRESS thought about
Governor Griffin, and Mr. Cook the available Attorney
General and having to stand in the rain for
twenty minutes Yep, reckon that's progress, alright
enough
On broader scale let's take brief look at the State
of Mississippi Approximately 481 of population is
colored That's darn half Now, what would happen
if we saw fit to pay equal wages for equal work. Every
one would profit and there's getting around that
simple fact
If darn half the population makes twice as much,