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
Second Official Church Statement on Mormonism & “the Negro” from the First Presidency, 19696/4/2023 On December 15, 1969 the First Presidency released a second, longer statement defending this church’s overt anti-Blackness & their practices & doctrines of divine white supremacy & segregation. Apparently some “confusion (had) arisen” and the 1969 Presidency (with David O. McKay represented in both ‘49 & ‘69 Presidencies) decided to reiterate their 1949 statement. Today these official statements are brushed away as simply “theories to explain the priesthood and temple restrictions.” –––––––––––––––– I think this part of the statement is especially pertinent to the contemporary queer civil rights fight this church and many of its members are politically and financially involved in: “We feel nothing but love, compassion, and the deepest appreciation for the rich talents, endowments, and the earnest strivings of our Negro brothers and sisters. (If this were our church) it would be a simple thing to act according to popular will. But we believe that this work is directed by God” –––––––––––––––– This is how they were able to be an openly white supremacist organization yet preach Christlike love in rhetoric. And this is exactly how they are able to be an openly anti-queer organization and preach that same Christlike love today. White supremacy doesn’t just fade out of generations of bodies, ideologies, theologies, texts, and imagery, when a rule changes. 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 Exaltation 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. Second Official Church Statement |
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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