My Aunt Martha would have been saddened by the recent rash of burnings of black churches. She was the housekeeper and live-in companion for my grandmother for 17 years. During all that time, she faithfully attended her black Baptist church in Rockwell, N.C. She took her vacation during the first week of August because that was the church's annual "week of preaching." She made sure that the preacher ate at her house at least once that week. To Aunt Martha, anything connected with the church was to be respected. The burnings would have perplexed her — as they do me.
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