If I had been born black at the same time and place where I grew up I would not have been called black, African-American, or any such terms that came into vogue in the late sixties. The most polite people would have called me Negro. The less enlightened would have referred to me as that colored boy, and I can point in old school yearbooks to 2 or 3 who would have called me nigger. I know; I went to high school with them and had to listen to them.
By recalling the experience of the first family of color to move into our rural community I can say that most people would have treated me respectfully. The school bus driver would have given the same talk to every one on the bus that she gave to us the day before the children of that family rode the bus for the first time. I do not recall all her words (I was only about age 10) but she made it clear that if any of us said or did anything to make those children feel unwelcome we would answer to her. I would have been warmly accepted by many other children but in retrospect I can see that the adults would never accept me being too friendly with white girls. That could have meant serious trouble; not like the deep south maybe, but serious none the less.
I would have been accepted in either of the two churches in that town just like I was at school. Any athletic ability at all would have only enhanced my acceptance. But, I am sure that I would never have felt totally a part of life in the community. So, my family would have taken me about 20 miles to the nearest all-black church and to all-black social activities in that city. I could have gone roller skating in that city only on Monday evenings. That evening was for colored people only. All other evenings were for whites only.
I could never have gone to school in Georgia as I did at age 17. If that school had admitted me they would have faced severe reprisals. The burning of one of their campus buildings in the 1950's was thought to have been a warning from some locals to not even think about it. Since that year was so spiritually decisive for me I can only speculate what I would have done next. After graduating from the local public high school I could have gone to Moody Bible Institute just as I did. They were integrated from nearly their founding in 1886. But I would have listened to the Dean of Men tell the assembled male students to date only those of your own race. I would have quickly caught on that dating and marriage is where even the most accepting of white evangelical Christians drew the line in those days, and they drew it with great firmness! They were, in the words of Romans 12:2, conformed to the culture around them and not yet transformed. I would have probably read the poll results in the late 1950's that only about 2 % of Americans were accepting of intermarriage. I look back from today when the percentages are exactly reversed.
In the election of 1960 I would have been impressed that Kennedy contacted Martin Luther King Jr., who was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, to support him, while Nixon did not. So I would have ignored the pleas of evangelicals to not support a Catholic and I would have supported Kennedy. In the election of 1964 I would have continued my support for the Democratic Party, giving them most, but not all, the credit for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But I would like to think that I would have been intellectually honest enough to see that the Republican, Barry Goldwater, was not a racist, that his opposition to the Civil Rights Act was his fear of expansion of federal power, and that he had promoted equal and fair treatment of all people in his Arizona business. As a Christian I would have felt very good about the fact that the movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. was centered in the churches, built on the truth that all humans are created in the Image of God, and included much prayer. I would have been very proud of the strength and stability of black family life. I would have later wept while watching the government's "War on Poverty" have the unintended consequence of decimating black family life, leading to the current high percentage of black babies born to single moms and the horrendous black on black murder rate.
I would have no doubt supported Hubert Humphrey over Nixon in 1968. He had been passionate about civil rights as early as 1948. Following Rowe v. Wade in 1973 I would have been increasingly troubled by those in the civil rights movement who one by one began to deny the humanity of the unborn child. I can see myself, as a consistent Christian, moving into the company of that 10 to 15 % of black Americans who feel that the Democratic Party has betrayed and repudiated those Christian principles that were the foundation of the civil rights movement. I would be absolutely incensed today that homosexual behavior is equated with skin color and called the "newest civil rights movement". I would see this as one of the most monstrous false analogies in all history and another betrayal of all that the movement for racial equality stood for.
I would today want to emulate men like Howard Jones, who was the first man of color on Billy Graham's team. In his lifetime he and his wife Wanda endured countless insults and slights but stood firm and loving for the cause of Christ above all. Like them I would want to follow the example of Jesus. "When they hurled their insults at him he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." (I Peter 2:23) I would like to think that I would have the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to be very patient with all my white brothers and sisters who just don't understand what it has been like. I would hope that same power of the Holy Spirit would enable me to convince many other black Americans to rethink their support for some of the politicians to whom they are selling their souls. I would like to think so.
