A Thoughtful Book

Let justice roll down by John Perkins.

This is the story of a Black man who grew up in Mississippi in the 30s and 40s. It begins when he was 16 and his older brother was killed by a white police officer.

 

After that John moved to California to look for a better life, and at 27, he became a Christian. He began to meet and work with white Christians. A few years later, his family moved back to Mississippi to try to help Blacks there have a better life, by teaching them about the Bible and Jesus.

 

As the Civil Rights Movement grew, Perkins searched how he could work social justice and the true gospel together to both Blacks and whites. Blacks needed to learn their true worth; hundreds of years of slavery and racist treatment had left them with a feeling of low self-worth.

 

In the 60s, he and his ministry worked with voter education and registration, then he began working for better housing and economics for Blacks. He felt this was all part of his Christian ministry.

 

Perkins talked of his peaceful boycotting and protesting in the early 70s, then of his and those with him being arrested and beaten by police officers. He told of his journey through the court system with appeals. He got to the point, due to injustice for Blacks, of wanting to turn away from the white Christians he had fellowshipped with and worked with. As he lay in bed with severe illness, he knew that hate could destroy him too. He found hope when he remembered Jesus, on the cross, asked God to forgive those who were crucifying him.

 

This book was originally published in 1976. When it was published as a classic many years later, John Perkins’s daughter added a post script, telling some of the things her father had done since then, including making friends with a white Mississippi policeman as they worked together for their neighborhood.