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Recently I went to lunch with two LDS friends who’ve lived in Utah their entire lives and our conversation turned to politics and race. “I don’t know why everyone keeps talking about people not voting for Obama because he’s black, I haven’t seen any racism,” said one of the women. That night I mulled over what she’d said and why she said it. I was raised in Utah, but I’d been away for a long time and I’d forgotten the racial isolation of the state’s suburbs. Recalling back to the Sunday school lessons I’d grown up with where blacks were marked for being “fence-sitters” or “less valiant” in the pre-existence, I realized that somewhere in my mind those teachings had given me an initial hesitation toward blacks. Right away, their dark skin color marked them as people who’d messed up even before they got to earth. In a way, my friend was right, she probably didn’t see much outward racism having never left Zion, where I’d been living in the South and had seen outrageous acts of prejudice. But I’ll ask you, which is worse—to experience blatant racism and know it for what it is, or to have it be something passive and unconscious that hides in people blind to racism because of their racial dominance in an area?
The Salt Lake Tribune had an article on the 30th Anniversary of the “all worthy men” revelation. www.sltrib.com/ci_9497769 I thought the last line from Tamu Smith was a great place to start an open discussion, “For racism to stop, we need to hear it condemned at Conference as often as pornography or abuse are.” What do you think?
Like a waterfall in slow motion, Part One
2 years ago
8 comments:
I recently had to really examine my own views on skin color and race. I was pretty shocked by where it took me.
My husband and I recently went through the adoption process. One of the forms we had to fill out was a very detailed form on the race of our future children and what would be acceptable to us. We are talking a VERY specific form. Like is 1/4 or 1/2 of this race okay? Are there any races we are uncomfortable with entirely? Is it important for us to have a baby the same race as us? As I was filling out this paperwork I was also reading several books on adoption and what makes families successful. One of the books pointed out that a parent who is essentially color blind or has no strong feelings on race or racial culture is not a good candidate to parent a child of another race. How do you teach a child of another race to embrace their difference from you if race means nothing to you? You can't erase the differences in the way you look and you can't instill pride or identity if the difference means nothing to you.
I've realized that I have no true racial identity in my own mind. I'm not sure that being totally color blind is so great. I am proud that I don't harbor any real predjudices based on race (at least that I have identified in myself so far.) but I have no appreciation for the difference either.
I can't believe people used to teach that in Sunday School. I hope people don't believe it. My husband was raised in the church and he said that in the 70s people taught that but it isn't true. Crazy.
Interesting comment about adoption. I want to adopt from other countries.
Another thing I have noticed about race is people who say "I'm not racist..." usually follow up that remark with something completely racist.
For me it would be easier to adopt from another country for some reason. Being from China or Africa means something to me. I could teach cultural appreciation much better than I could instill racial identity.
In response to Britta--- From the Salt Lake Tribune
"Such theories continue to circulate among some Latter-day Saints and find support in quasi-official publications such as Mormon Doctrine and the Mortal Messiah series by Bruce R. McConkie, an influential LDS apostle who died in 1985. Attempts to get the church to repudiate these notions have been rebuffed.
"This folklore is not part of and never was taught as doctrine by the church," LDS spokesman Mark Tuttle said this week, adding that the church has no policy against interracial marriage, nor does it teach that everyone in heaven will be white.
The official LDS position is that only God knows why it took so long to eliminate the ban, but that's a cop-out, says Darron Smith, a University of Utah doctoral student who is serving in the Utah Army National Guard at Fort Sill, Okla. "We don't know why the Lord did this? Bulls---. It's called racism."
What floors me about the Obama debate is the whole white vs. black "how black or white is he" thing. I mean, white people have said we aren't ready for a black president, either ignorant of the fact or prejudice enough to the fact, that Obama is also Irish. And the black people think he isn't black enough...and then you have the whole other set who are fearful that his name alone will bring some sort of terrorist president to our White House...
People are stupid. It is shameful. It is sad. I just think it's about time we had ANY minority in office trying to make a positive difference. I don't care what color, sex, religion, or political affiliation at this point. We need a change.
Hey, white america owes them something. they should all get free college paid for by corporations who rose to prominence on the backs of the slaves. white people are guilty because they are white and enjoy the benefits of institutionalized preferencial and priveleged treatment, and are exmept from the deeply-rooted institutionalized racism that still runs rampant in this country. Look in the mirror: if you see a white person, you are guilty and should pay; if you see a black person, you see the victim of injustice, intolerance, and bigotry who deserves your reparation.
I disagree with the previous poster. A race/generation raised to think that the world 'owes' them something is bound for disappointment. Just because I was born white doesn't mean I should pay for anything. Whatever my anchestors did/or didn't do isn't my mess to clean up. (Otherwise everyone in state of Illonis owes the Mormons in 'Zion' for kicking them off thier land... rediculous).
I think I was raised open minded and now that I live in the South I see others who are racist and it makes me upset (although re-verse racism is very rampant here too).
I'm rambling but, check this site out. About blacks in the church, seeing thier point of view is refreshing.... http://www.blacklds.org/
I find that where I live black people are far more racist than white people, acting like the world owes them everything. If we are supposed to treat other races "equal" than lets stop treating them higher than the whites are treated. I find it unfair that other races get scholarships just for not being white. I want a scholarship for being white. And everytime (not all blacks but some) a black person doesnt get what they want they pull the racist card! I worked at Wal-mart customer service, and I WATCHED this person STEAL something then try to return it and I refused to return it for them without a reciept and stuff. Even if they were white and I didn't see them steal it, i still wouldn't have returned it because of the no receipt or sticker from the front door, and the fact that it was worth over $100
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