Mormon Racism And Black Self-hatred In Zion

As an African-American Latter-day Saint and the co-editor of Black and Mormon, a book-length anthology published in 2004 exploring black Mormons and their place in the LDS Church since the 1978 priesthood revelation, I applaud the LDS Church’s most recent effort to deal with its troubling racial past as reflected in its 6 December 2013 statement “Race and the Priesthood.”

For decades, however, the Church has not forthrightly addressed its racist past despite calls from many of its more progressive black and white members. Not surprisingly, the black membership worldwide remains small, between one and three percent according to survey data. Most black members reside in and practice their faith on the continent of Africa, mainly in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and the Congo. According to a 2009 Pew survey, approximately three percent of US Mormons, or 186,000 people, are black.

While efforts were being made at the federal level to dismantle Jim Crow racism and desegregate the nation, the LDS Church was determined to maintain the position that people of African ancestry were under divine sanctions. Mormon leaders then proceeded to advance a number of racist theories to justify this belief, including that black people were the sons and daughters of Cain. This idea was disseminated through a sizable body of official writings, doctrinal pronouncements, and conference talks to the general membership of the Church.

Unfortunately, with no words to the contrary by church leaders until now, these teachings and understandings have persisted well into the 21st century. Evidence of just how pervasive these beliefs were came as late as February 2012 when Brigham Young University religion professor Randy Bott gave an interview with Washington Post reporter Jason Horowitz where he articulated much of the old racist folklore in Mormonism that had been in existence for over 130 years. Bott spoke of curses and marks on people of African lineage, invoking the book of Genesis in the Bible and Mormon scripture found in the Book of Abraham.

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Mormon Racism and Black Self-hatred in Zion