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Max
Posted on Thursday, December 07, 2000 - 1:59 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

DID SHE CONSIDER INDIAN SQUAWS AND
AFRICAN PRINCESSES TO BE VULGAR?

Human angels [white women] ... should
carefully avoid ORNAMENTS, which properly
belong to INDIAN SQUAWS and AFRICAN
PRINCESSES. ... A VULGAR taste is not to be
disguised by gold or diamonds."

-Ellen G. White, Second Advent Review and
Sabbath Herald, October 31, 1871, paragraph
15. Article Title: Words to Christian Mothers,
No. 3.
Denisegilmore
Posted on Thursday, December 07, 2000 - 2:16 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Max,
As a matter of fact, she did think them vulgar. And unfortunately, I was raised with a racist father, who changed into a new man later. But my Grandmother, his mother, took over the raising of us children and the arianism came out strongly. I was called Squaw, Nigger, gypsy and so on. I will have to find some of Sister Ellen's statements to post here to show her racist attitude. In fact, I was taught at a very young age that the mark of cain was being black. So, I was not allowed to walk in the front door. I had to use the back door due to my skin coloration in summer. Couldn'
t let the neighbors think you were harboring 'one of those', now could ya. :)

I have to admit Max, that when I first read the title to this thread, I started laughing very hard because I was wondering when one day someone would finally catch on to the racism that did occur in her time, but still to this day.
May God Bless you for bringing up this topic,
Denise
Denisegilmore
Posted on Thursday, December 07, 2000 - 2:33 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Now if you read Testimony to the Church vol. 1, you will find just the opposite. In this she is very opposed to slavery. I suppose it's a matter of what book you read. page 264 if you are interested.
God Bless,
Denise
P.S. If this has anything to do with my 'white man' statement earlier today then I need to correct your take on that. I was speaking from coming from an Indian Tradition of dances, rites of passage, respect, spirits, honor, truism and the such to walking into what is deemed, upper class in comparison. To this, I must express myself as I did today. No apologies as I know from whence I came.
However, I harbor no hard feelings towards any race as I know the other side of that coin only too well. Infact, I don't understand racism. Today's comment was on the integrity of my Indian Tradition vs that of what I walked into. An entirely different world and completely different kind of mindset of the people.
Max
Posted on Thursday, December 07, 2000 - 3:12 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hi Denise,

It's possible to be both against slavery and
racist at the same time. My father was not a
racist, though he lived and worked in the town
of MacAllen, Texas, down in the tippy toe
southern area of the state.

The racism against blacks and browns
(Hispanics) down there irked him no end.
When a white would say, "Some of my best
frinds are Negro," Dad would come home and
say to us, "Yeah, and he loves them like he
loves his dogs."

"They're all right in their place" was a common
saying.

Ellen White did fight slavery in the U.S., but
she also considered blacks to be less than
human -- the result of amalgamation
(hybridism or interbreeding) between black
animals (presumably great apes) and white
humans after the Flood.

The SDA church denies this today, but the
historical evidence for it is too great to be
swept under the rug. Uriah Smith's opinion, for
one, is informative on what EGW really
thought.

There was also a great debate within the
church's inner circle of the time as to whether
or not blacks could be saved.

One side argued that if a black person had so
much as "one drop" of human blood he was
savable.

The other side argued that if he had so much
as "one drop" of animal blood, he wasn't.

All this is denied today.

For obvious reasons.
Shellep
Posted on Thursday, December 07, 2000 - 10:08 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hello people,
I was just reading max's post, and I have seen for myself in some of ellen's writtings that she was a racist. I am an African American, and found it to be a big problem when I saw what I did in her writtings. When I was SDA I tried to justify her means for those statements because the truth hurts. There are alot of Black SDAs that don't even want to acknowledge the fact that this was so. Most try to make an excuse for it. and leave it at that. I think being a young person only of 21 I've seen the affects of her writtings in the SDA church. When I was there The blacks even had a color issue with the whites. They say that whites don't know how to have church, and The whites probably thought black SDA churches were a HUGE circus. And to be honest. most of the Black churches were just an entertainment center. You even got question as to why you were attending a white church because the white churches weren't live enough. I swear That teaching is and was nothing but a bunch of poison affecting alot of people. When I was apart of the SDA church we were in the South Atlantic Confrence and when I say that those people were wary of whites I meant just that. They say "We're friends of the Whites." But my goodness it sure didn't show. To top it off it wasn't just with whites and blacks it went as far as to hispanics, asian, etc. the South Atlantic Church has a Hispanic church and it doesn't even acknowledge it. sad. Huh?
The teachings of that woman just burn me up. everytime I hear them, because, I will never understand how this world even allows such garbage around them. When Christ said love one another he meant just that, not your own race, and hate anyone outside of it. My Great Great Grandmother was half white and I guess according to ellen white, she was amalgamated.
Boy I tell you. It's wild. I just pray that people will come to a knowledge of the truth and accept it.
Love you guys very much
Shellep
Denisegilmore
Posted on Thursday, December 07, 2000 - 12:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Max,
Yes, it is very possible and infact this is the case in most people I know that are racist. They eventually say they are not but contend that the black man/woman or indian man/woman should 'know their place'. This day, I will not live on an Indian reservation. And the monies that I would get from living in my 'little corner' allotted by the government, is amazing. Still, I cannot be bought and will not live in 'my little corner'. I am a free woman.
I'm also glad that you pointed out Uriah Smith because his comments are infact pointing out the afro american and the indians. I have read them with utter distain. I'm not understanding how anyone, in their right mind, would think that due to skin color, someone is not human or is a product of almagamation. This baffles my intellect and I'm not the brightest person, we all know that. I feel sorry for racist people but more than anything, I have bitterness and anyone around me that makes a statement with a racist taint to it, will here my words, loud and clear. And believe me, there are some, that are my friends by the way, that have been shocked at my passionate words. Then I hear alot of excuses but they know they are busted and they know, with no uncertainty, where I stand. Still, they have to watch themselves because every now and again, something will pop out of their little heads, without thinking, and instantly they look at me and begin this nervous chuckle, explaining that they were only joking. I see right through that baloney and call them on it.
The sda Church does infact deny avidly, that egw had any racist attitude and this just shows me the lack of integrity that I keep seeing within the sda denomination.
Don't think that I don't take into consideration the era in which egw lived. I do. Still, I couldn't talk myself into believing that 'they just didn't know'. I will make no excuses for any era that had or has racism in it's mix.

My first beating came when I innocently was riding my bicycle with my friend James. He was blacker than black could get. I played with him daily as he was my best friend. The beating I recieved caused bleeding too and I learned the word 'nigger' while being beaten. From that day (I was around 6 or 7), I swore to my mother that I'll never be like dad. Fortunately, for alot of people, my dad heard the comment and from that day forward, he was a completely different man. Infact so much so, that he was taking in the neighborhood children that were hungry or left alone or he would intervene if a child was being beaten and take that child to our home. We lived in a predominently black and mexican neighborhood, so we had at least a dozen children, at times, eating, sleeping and being tended to, at our home. My dad's motto became, 'If there is room enough for 5, then there is room enough for 6, and if there is room enough for 6 then there is room enough for 7'. And so on. He said the same thing about food. 'If there is enough to feed 5, then there is enough to feed 6 and if there is enough to feed 6 then there is enough to feed 7'. You get the picture. He was a NEW man and ended up fighting for the rights of the, at that time, minority. Racism is a cancer, it spreads from one generation to the next, until we STAND up and hold fast against it. End of speech...sorry, didn't mean to go on a tangent but this is an issue that really hits home with me. In light of that, I'm not really sorry afterall for the speech. :))) Welcome to part of my life.

Shellep,
I've seen the same type of thing. There is racism extending from boths sides. It is a very sad thing to witness, I know. See, I look like a typical everyday 'white girl', so people feel free to comment on things around me, not knowing that I'm of mixed race. It also enrages me to no end. Of course I can't help myself and I speak up and boy do the heads fly! :)
God Bless you,
Denise

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