Unsettling Mormonism
an archive of unsettling histories, mythistories, and mystories
from U.S. & Mormon settler colonialism, white supremacy, and imperialism
from U.S. & Mormon settler colonialism, white supremacy, and imperialism
In response to the Lowry Letters the First Presidency published this church’s first of two official statements defending this church’s overt anti-Blackness & their practices & doctrines of divine white supremacy & segregation. This is that first statement. Today many leaders of this church claim that the anti-Blackness of this church was a folk-belief with mysterious reasons and origins. But previous leaders were very clear on these beliefs & their doctrinal foundations. Which to me seems like yet another example of this church’s practice of doublespeak, of having their cake and eating yours too, of being an openly white supremacist organization in practice but preaching Christlike love in rhetoric. White supremacy doesn’t just fade away. We must put as much effort into disassimilating from it as effort was put into assimilating us all into it. And in my experience, born just 5 years after the end of the African Salvation Ban, and raised Mormon in Utah’s Dixie, there has been zero efforts to be accountable to and responsible for our culture’s ongoing history of divine white supremacy. Official Church Statement on Mormonism & “the Negro” |
AuthorI am nicholas b jacobsen, an artist, researcher, historian, educator, and organizer. I am a trans-non binary Euro-settler raised in the Nuwu lands of so-called Utah. My family has been Mormon and Utahn for as long as either of those concepts have existed. My ancestors sacrificed everything--their identities, homelands, jobs, health, & safety to become Mormon, Utahn, U.S. American, & white--to settler their Zion. They also sacrificed their humanities as they committed genocide against Kuttuhsippeh (Goshute), Timpanogos Shoshone, Shoshone-Bannock, Eastern Shoshone, Ute, Nuwu (Southern Paiute), and Diné (Navajo). Because my ancestors made my home through Indigenous genocide in their home/lands––I take it as my personal responsibility to unsettle what my ancestors settled, while helping my fellow settlers do the same through reading, writing, art, and community building. Archives
June 2023
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