Oldest Brother Writes About Race 60 Years Ago

One of my two favorite brothers.

At the height of the racial conflicts following the 1954 Brown v. the Board of Education decision, my brother Sanford had the following piece published in the English section of the October 15, 1957, Amish Mennonite publication, Herald der Wahrheit (Herald of Truth). For someone who grew up in a deeply segregated state (Virginia), he was clearly ahead of his time, and what he says is very relevant for the racial animosity that rears its ugly head today. 

Sanford was 27 when he wrote this piece, which I have edited slightly for brevity. 

Segregation or Integration?

Sanford Yoder 10/15/57

The national and possibly the international spotlight is on the desegregation contention in Little Rock (Arkansas), Nashville (Tennessee), and other hotspots in the South. In Little Rock, Governor Orval Faubus set National Guard troops around Central High School, a school of 2000, to keep Negro pupils, who had been told by the school board to enroll there, from entering, and thus has gone directly against the Federal Court order, which creates a serious national problem. In Nashville a large elementary school was dynamited by segregationists because one colored child was enrolled in the first grade.

Feelings seem to be mounting, creating mobs bent on violence, manifested in throwing rocks, jeering, mocking and spitting on passing Negroes. This is a sad state of affairs. One thing commendable in this whole situation is the spirit of humility which the Negroes as a rule have manifested in the face of these harassments, and in some cases, cruelty.

Who is right, Governor Faubus or Judge Davies of the Federal Court? those who want integration or the segregationists? the North or the South? the white or the colored? On which side are we?

We as Christians should not be involved in civil conflicts... It is up to the powers ordained of God for the purpose of maintaining law and order in the world to settle this, and not the church (Romans 13:1-4).

But some of us may have allowed this unregenerate world to influence us into believing that the colored race is inferior to the white and therefore should not be permitted an equal fellowship with us.

And while the Word of God very emphatically teaches that Christians are to have "no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness..." it does not mention the race of people. We should have no more to do with the evil deeds of a white man than a colored man, and should have as much to do with, and be as concerned about, an unregenerate colored man as if he were white, Indian or Chinese.

Separation of the church and the world must always be maintained... But the Bible certainly does not teach segregation of the races in God's family. Christians of all races are one in Christ, who has bought us all with the same price, his own precious blood... "Wherefore there is neither Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all." (Colossians 3:11)

Our Anabaptist forefathers believed this, as we can see by our 1632 Confession of Faith, which was written in the face of persecution and hardships. We still accept it because it is based on the inspired Word of God. Article V. states, "...he has caused this Testament ...to be proclaimed in his name, through his beloved apostles, messengers and servants... to all nations people and tongues... that all men without distinction, if they are obedient, by faith... are his children and rightful heirs."

We are so thankful for the all-inclusiveness of the Gospel of Christ, because, were it not so, we too would no doubt be excluded.

We do not hold to this belief just because the United States Supreme Court in 1954 ruled that segregation of the races is unconstitutional and made integration the law of the land (although we do believe in respecting the laws of the land), but we believe it because it is the message of the gospel of Christ. The apostle Peter, in his experience on the housetop of Simon the tanner, was shown this truth in a vision, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." (Acts 10:15)

Some are afraid of what this attitude will do to our witness to the world. Beloved, this love for everyone, white, black, red, yellow, and even those who don't believe this, is our witness to a world filled with hatred and prejudice.

Woodberry Forest, Virginia

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For the past five decades Sanford and his wife Martha have been self-supporting church planters in Costa Rica. At 87, Sanford still writes an occasional piece for the La Antorcha de la Verdad (The Torch of Truth), distributed widely over Central and South America, and for a book of daily devotional readings published here in the states, Beside the Still Waters.