"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" --Micah 6:8
I believe that the Black freedom struggle is sacred and urgent.
I am also nothing if not an ardent reader and relatively-decent organizer of information. And with the most-recent protests and movements for Black equality, I have been reading and collecting a lot of relevant articles about racism in our societies and the need for anti-racism.
I am aware that the majority of my audience is white Latter-day Saints. Accordingly, the articles I am posting are geared towards that audience. (The book recommendations are less audience-specific.) These articles and books are just a start, but they call for Latter-day Saints in particular to "consider [our] ways."
Spencer J. Fluhman, "Harmony Won't Come Until We Recognize Racism as the Problem," Deseret News, June 1, 2020
https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2020/6/1/21277329/george-floyd-harmony-recognition-racism-is-the-problem-hatred-love
Key quote: "Authentic communion at the congregational level surely means making space for the burdens that come with our national history of racial injustice. Is there any hope for congregations of “one heart and one mind” if segments of Christ’s body cannot speak their pain or their anger at the persistent inequities that have long defined this national crisis? Surely membership in our covenant community requires more from us than comfortable obliviousness to the realities of our neighbors’ lives. Such a weighty history of American racism and its effects on our fellow Saints must demand our attention."
Patrick Mason, "George Floyd and Jesus: A Eulogy"
Medium, June 5, 2020
https://medium.com/@pqmason/george-floyd-and-jesus-a-eulogy-b36c475d4694
I would suggest reading the entire post. To take a quote out of context would also make it lose its beauty. Also, I expect this post will make some people uncomfortable. Analogies often do.
George Floyd is not Jesus--nor does the author say that he is. But at the same time, Jesus also said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:40). The post also reminds me of a favorite hymn of Latter-day Saints is "A Poor, Wayfaring Man of Grief," which recounts the many good deeds the narrator does for a stranger (or strangers?) he or she keeps encountering. The last verse states:
"Then in a moment to my view
The stranger started from disguise.
The tokens in his hands I knew;
The Savior stood before mine eyes.
He spake, and my poor name he named,
“Of me thou hast not been ashamed.
These deeds shall thy memorial be;
Fear not, thou didst them unto me.”
As followers of Christ, I believe that God asks us to see Him in the Stranger, and in the Other. Too often we turn away from suffering.
Janan Graham-Russell, "Choosing to Stay in the Mormon Church Despite its Racist Legacy," The Atlantic, August 28, 2016.
Again, hard to take a quote out of context with this article, since they are Janan's personal experiences of choosing to join the Church, as well as a historical overview of discrimination faced by Black Mormons--both in the past and today. But I found this part particularly beautiful:
"This kind of resilience is often found in the communities built by black Mormons, which recognize a God who never cursed people of black African descent. 'What we want to instill in our children is a sense of pride of who they are,' said Natalie Sheppard, featured in Nobody Knows. '[It's not only] being a child of God but being a black child of God in a beautiful garden, that if he had wanted to make everyone the same, he would have done that. But instead he made us all different for a reason. Part of that reason to me is so we can teach each other."
Darius Grey, "Healing the Wounds of Racism," The Ensign, April 5, 2018.
This article is by Darius Grey, one of the founders of Genesis, a group established in October 1971 to help serve the needs of African American members of the Church. It was written as part of the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the lifting of the priesthood and temple ban. It is as urgent and timely as ever. His second point in the article is particularly poignant:
"Some people acknowledge the problem [of racism] but may not
recognize it in themselves. Sometimes racism is so subtle, we may not realize
we’re expressing it.
"How are we to judge when are our thoughts and comments might be
out of line with gospel teachings? Consider how the following examples could
represent racism. How would the Lord have you change your heart if you
recognize that you:
- Prefer
associating only with those of your own race and think others should too.
- Believe
it’s OK to discriminate when selling or renting a home.
- Don’t
initiate a friendship (or respond to friendly overtures) because of racial
differences.
- Aren’t
happy if your children associate with those of a particular race.
- Feel
proud of yourself when you behave well toward someone of another race.
- Would
have difficulty welcoming someone of a particular race into your family
circle.
- Feel
less compassion toward those of a different race who suffer the effects of
poverty, war, famine, crime, and so on.
- Assume
that a person of another race (or who looks different) must be from
another country.
- Make
jokes or disparaging remarks relating to someone’s race or a racial group.
- Believe
that the gospel of Jesus Christ supports any racist thinking or behavior.
- Justify
racist attitudes or behaviors because of similar attitudes or behaviors
shown by other good people, including Church leaders or members.
If you recognize any of these thoughts or attitudes in yourself,
you have identified an opportunity to grow and become more Christlike as you
work to overcome them."
These articles are not exhaustive. There are so many good thinkers and writers who are combating racism, but these articles are a start.
The book list below is also non-comprehensive (indeed, I fear that they only scratch the surface), but they are books which have resonated with me, which have made me check my own biases, blind spots, and privilege, and which have expanded my worldview, my heart, and my dedication to racial justice.
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
No Mercy Here: Gender, Punishment, and the Making of Jim Crow Modernity, by Sarah Haley
Black Reconstruction, by W.E.B. DuBois
The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. DuBois
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors after the Civil War
and Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century, both by Tera W. Hunter
Again, these are just a start. But all of us need to start somewhere, and all of us can do better, and can do more. When we use the scripture saying "be one or ye are not mine," (D&C 38:27), we would do well to look at the verse preceding it:
"For what man among you having twelve sons, and is no respecter of them, and they serve him obediently, and he saith unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there--and looketh upon his sons and saith I am just?
Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one: and if ye are not one ye are not mine." (D&C 38: 26-27)
To "be one" is not a call to passivity. It should not be used to conform to the status quo or to say "all's well in Zion." It is a call to action. It is a call to those in power to recognize injustice and address it. We need to be active in community building, in speaking up for justice, and in building bridges. Black lives do matter. And, so do Black lives, histories, and experiences in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"Either we apply the Gospel to our relations with all men or we perish both spiritually and perhaps morally. Respect, love, and mercy for our neighbors are the laws of life and cannot be ignored with impunity. Latter-day Saints should be in the forefront of the battle for equal civil rights for all groups in society. Latter-day Saints should give freely of their time and means to help the disadvantaged in our society and in the world to gain sufficient food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and self-respect. There is no other way ultimately to peace and good will among men. Indeed, all other efforts in the name of the Gospel--missionary work, ordinances, payment of tithes and offerings, genealogical and temple work, prayers and singing--all are vain unless we remember to 'do justly and love mercy.' For this we have the witness of Micah, Amulek, Jesus, and our own hearts." --Lowell Bennion, "Overcoming Prejudice," 1970.
