Black Churches in Texas: A Guide to Historic Congregations by Clyde McQueen (2000)

The centuries long history of the US has been replete with racial bias and discrimination. Conversations between Black people and white people about this topic doesn’t really happen very often. In fact, I’ve been called out in the group for saying that I have Black friends, as if I might have only one or two, therefore I am not a racist (because that’s the typical white argument). The truth is that I DO have Black friends. But I haven’t had the same conversations with them as I do with the Black women in The Gathering. Why not?

One woman in the group who I have come to adore said that every time they and their friends have a meal together, they discuss how to keep their sons safe. Every time.

When Clyde McQueen, a Black man who graduated from Prairie View University, found he needed a place to eat lunch while driving his agriculture route around Central Texas, he knew he’d find safe haven under the trees in the parking lot of a Black church. Year after year, Clyde drove same route but the churches weren’t the same. Some of them were gone - burned, fell down, closed, sold. Clyde realized he needed to memorialize these Texas landmarks, so he and his wife began a years’ long mission of documentation. The result is the book “Black Churches in Texas: A Guide to Historic Congregations” published in 2000 by Texas A&M University Press. Clyde and Connie were incredible people: she was a teacher and a friend of my mother’s. In fact, my mother thought of Connie as her sister. I learned a lot from them, and that’s the subject for another time.

I know Clyde and Connie had those dinner conversations, and I know their sons were kept safe because of them. But I know they suffered racial injustice. Otherwise, why would a man need to eat his lunch in a parking lot every day of his working career?

Black Lives Matter. Have that conversation around your table this week. Ask the question, “Have you ever worried that your son would be stopped by the police, dragged out of the car, thrown to the ground, and…and…”