In the year of 1931 I joined the church, Carter Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, and I am still an active member. It was my introduction to church, religion and my God.
The exposure to God’s teaching began in youth Sunday school, then young adult and was concluded by adult Sunday school. The church in conjunction with my parents instilled in me the overwhelming importance of loving yourself, family, friends and people in general. It guided me to live by the teaching of God’s word “feed my sheep.”
As a youngster I thought it meant food, but eventually I came to understand it meant that I had an obligation to enlighten my brothers and sisters and thereby enhance their growth as an individual and a race of people. My faith and my knowledge of the bible began to increase, and also my concern about our future as Black people.
Over the years it became more and more apparent that for a multitude of reasons or excuses too may Blacks were reluctant to expose those whose actions were not only detrimental to us as a race, but oft times destructive. In my early years in the church I interpreted the statement “Go tell it on the mountain” as meaning don’t be reluctant to tell the world at the top of your voice that you serve a mighty God. However over the years I have reinterpreted it to mean, “those who are oppressing us must be exposed for the entire community to see.”
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