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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - X. The Negro Community - 43. Institutions - 3. The Negro Church in the Negro Community
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940 An American Dilemma
however, the Negro church tends to be different from the white church in
relation to its community.
The Negro preacher^s stand on problems of caste and on all ^^political”
problems is equivocal. On the one hand, he must preach “race solidarity”
because his congregation demands it and because he himself stands to gain
if the economic and political situation of his community improves. On the
other hand, he is not only a focus of caste pressure, but his position of lead-
ership depends upon the monopoly given him by segregation. Although the
Negro preacher is “other-worldly” in his sermons," he has a closer relation
to politics than has the white clergyman. In accordance with Baptist and
Methodist tenets, he preaches puritanical morals, and yet is often far from
exemplary in his own life and sometimes has connections with the under-
world. These paradoxes exist because the Negro preacher is not only a
clergyman, but also, as Du Bois puts it, “a leader, a politician, an orator,
a ‘boss,^ an intriguer, an idealist.” These divergent interests make the
Negro preacher shift his actions fairly frequently with respect to contro-
versial questions, so that he appears inconsistent.
Negro preachers usually support Negro business. But at least one case
Is known where they have received threats from white business competitors
for doing so.““ And there is the fact that the Negro church often receives
more money from white businessmen (since there are more of them even
in Negro neighborhoods) than from Negro businessmen. In advertising
Negro business, preachers use the pulpit as well as written endorsements
and the church paper.^^ Some of the Negro businessmen are known rack-
eteers: their legitimate businesses are sometimes a “front” for gambling
rackets and even vice. The churches are, of course, officially against such
things, but gambling (especially “policy”) among the members of the
congregation is too widespread to be stamped out, and often the contribu-
tions from Negro policy racketeers—especially in the North—are a major
source of support for the church. Some Negro ministers in Chicago meet
the situation by ignoring the policy playing that goes onj others openly
endorse it on the grounds that it provides jobs for Negroes and that
“gambling isn’t the worst sin.” Some Spiritualist churches actually give out
lucky numbers to be played.^^
Where Negroes vote, preachers frequently take a stand and use their
influence and their pulpit to swing Negro votes.^® Although the feeling
is prevalent among Negroes, as among whites, that clergymen should have
nothing to do with politics, the Negro preacher’s position as a community
leader, as well as his desire to get money for his church and even for him-
self, often leads him to have some sort of tie with a political machine or
candidate. A minister who has a political tie gains in power, since he can
“fix” minor difiiculties with the law for members of his congregation and
" Sec Chapter 40, Section 5
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