The Guardian, a British newspaper, broke the story four days after Dylann Storm Roof gunned down nine African Americans who were having Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, that the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, Earl Holt III, president, had made donations to these Republicans who are seeking to become the Republican nominee for President of the United States: Ted Cruz $8,500, Rand Paul, $1,740, Rick Santorum $1,500.

My reaction: First, I want to thank the Guardian for making this information available for the public.

Second, I ask, Why had no American newspaper or the Southern Poverty organization not released this information? I suppose this is another example of American exceptionalism.

At least two of these Republican recipients of money from this white supremacist organization said they are going to donate the money to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund that has been formed to support the families affected by the shooting to cover expenses caused by this tragedy.

I call upon directors of the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund to refuse, not accept: return any money donated by recipients of the money from this white supremacist hate group. There are things in life that are more important than money. One of them is moral integrity.

One year, one month and one week, after the Montgomery Bus Boycott began in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks who refused to give her bus seat to a white person and just days after the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on Montgomery buses was unconstitutional, die-hard racists in their attempt to prevent integration on buses, in the wee hour of that morning bombed four churches and two parsonages in Montgomery. Two of these churches had to be rebuilt and two had to be repaired after suffering extensive damage. I was pastor of the Bell Street Baptist Church, one of the churches that had to be rebuilt.

Bell Street Baptist Church, Library of Congress

Following these bombings the Montgomery Improvement Association that conducted the Montgomery Bus Boycott (of which I was the original secretary, a position I held for the first half of the bus boycott) formed the Reconstruction Committee on Bombed Churches to secure funds to help in the rebuilding and repairing of these bombed churches. From the Reconstruction Committee and the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., the Bell Street Baptist Church received about one-third of the amount of money needed to rebuild that church. We refused to accept funds from the White Citizens Council or any other white racist organization. Sixteen months after the bombing the Bell Street Baptist church was rebuilt.

Again, I call upon directors of the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund to not accept any money from these Republicans that they received from the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens. I believe you know that God will provide for those who have moral integrity. Also know that if you accept this money it will send the wrong message to the younger generation. This God forbids!

I call upon people of goodwill to contribute to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund. The Fund is set up as a Wells Fargo Memorial Account with a $5,000 contribution from the city, and donations may be made at any Wells Fargo bank.

In His Love,

Uriah J. Fields (Electronic mail, June 23, 2015)