Dedicatory prayer of the Church’s monuments to free and enslaved, member and non-member Black pioneers: “...We’re honored to be able to dedicate this memorial and these wonderful features that have now been added to declare to all who visit how precious and important every child of God is unto Thee... We are grateful for the Black pioneers and our dear friends of the Black community and in the Church and all that they do to bless the lives of others. Protect these wonderful representations [that] remind us of who we are and what blessings we enjoy because of those pioneers,”
“...Within weeks of entering the valley, the Saints encountered Indian tribes who had captured children from other bands. Some Saints bought Indian children from these slave traders, in some instances after seeing the traders kill or torture those the Latter-day Saints did not purchase. Pioneer families adopted and attempted to integrate these children into Latter-day Saint communities, despite cultural differences and racial prejudice. Some exploited and mistreated these Indian children.” “In March 1852 the legislature in Utah Territory passed “An Act for the Relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners,” a law that regulated the acquisition and care of Indian children. The children could be indentured as household servants for up to 20 years, but those who acquired servants were required to process an indenture agreement with county officials, clothe the…
“Latter-day Saint militiamen planned and carried out a massacre. They lured the emigrants from their circled wagons with a false flag of truce and, aided by Paiute Indians they had recruited, slaughtered them. Between the first attack and the final slaughter, 120 were killed. ...In the early 2000s, the Church made diligent efforts to learn everything possible about the massacre. Historians in the Church History Department scoured archives throughout the United States for historical records; every Church record on the massacre was also opened to scrutiny. A resulting book published by Oxford University Press in 2008 by authors Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr., and Glen M. Leonard concluded that while intemperate preaching about outsiders by Brigham Young, George A. Smith, and other leaders contributed to a climate of…
“The predecessors of many Americans of different backgrounds made great sacrifices to establish this nation. Whatever those sacrifices—of freedom, property, or even life—let us now honor them for what they have done for us...”
The Steps of Repentance 1. Sorrow for sin 2. Abandonment of sin 3. Confession of sin 4. Restitution for sin 5. Obedience to all the commandments 6. Recognition of the Savior
(Homelessness and addictions are often a product of systemic racism.) “Always dealing honorably with others is part of loving mercy. Consider a conversation I overheard decades ago in the emergency department of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. A patient, Mr. Jackson, was a courteous, pleasant man who was well known to the hospital staff. He had previously been hospitalized multiple times for the treatment of alcohol-related diseases. On this occasion, Mr. Jackson returned to the hospital for symptoms that would be diagnosed as inflammation of the pancreas caused by alcohol consumption. Toward the end of his shift, Dr. Cohen, a hardworking and admired physician, evaluated Mr. Jackson and determined that hospitalization was warranted. Dr. Cohen assigned Dr. Jones, the physician next up in rotation, to…
When I was 17 my little sister told a boy that lived on our street how excited she was that our older brother was coming home for a brief weekend visit. The kid was shocked that they were letting my brother come home from prison for the weekend. My sister responded that he was not in prison he was in college at BYU. This kid, who would be in prison less than 5 years later himself, asked a very telling question, "He's in college?! Is he white? Being black is complicated in the US and especially in religion within the US. I have spent the last week and a half trying to find words to describe my recent trip to D.C. to participate in the Black LDS Legacy Conference. A…
“After over 200 years, many still seek the truths needed to become free of some of the traditions and the lies that the adversary spreads throughout the world. Many are “blinded by the subtle craftiness of men” (Doctrine and Covenants 123:12). ...For almost a year, between 2016 and 2017, the people in the Kasai region faced a terrible tragedy. It was a very dark period for the people because of a conflict between a traditional group of warriors and government forces. The violence spread from towns in Kasai-Central Province to the wider Kasai region. Many people fled their homes for safety and hid in the bush. They had no food or water or not anything, really, and among these were some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day…
“The Reverend Amos C. Brown tells a story about Howard Washington Thurman. Howard lived next to a woman who mistreated his family because they were Black—even throwing manure from her chicken coop into the Thurmans’ yard. When the woman fell ill, Howard’s mother took her some soup and roses. With gratitude, the woman asked where the flowers had come from. Mrs. Thurman explained, “While you were throwing the chicken manure, God was preparing the soil.” “That’s what we’ve got to do in the midst of evil,” Reverend Brown said. “Take the manure but have the faith in God to use it to grow a garden of roses.” ...The Savior provides the perfect example for us to follow. He taught us what to do when offended (see Matthew 18:15), persecuted (see…
“Telling the new missionaries their influence “will extend far beyond what you see and will ever know,” Elder Uchtdorf shared a story of a friend receiving an unexpected email, not recognizing the sender’s name and nearly deleting it. Opening the email, he saw a photograph of himself as a missionary serving in a faraway country 46 years earlier. The email text — written in Spanish — asked: “I would like to know if this is you in this photograph?” The photo was from when he and his companion had taught a young family — mother, father and two daughters — who joined the Church. It was a time when a great political divide resulted in a military coup, the overthrow of the old regime and the arrest and imprisonment of…
