Second Official Church Statement on Mormonism & “the Negro” from the First Presidency, 1969

First Presidency: David O. McKay, Hugh B. Brown, & N. Eldon Tanner

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.”

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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”

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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.

First Presidency: David O. McKay, Hugh B. Brown, & N. Eldon Tanner

Second Official Church Statement
on Mormonism & “the Negro”
​from the First Presidency, 1969

​"To General Authorities, Regional Representatives of the Twelve, Stake Presidents, Mission Presidents, and Bishops.
"Dear Brethren:
"In view of confusion that has arisen, it was decided at a meeting of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve to restate the position of the Church with regard to the Negro both in society and in the Church.
“First, may we say that we know something of the sufferings of those who are discriminated against in a denial of their civil rights and Constitutional privileges… We as a people have experienced the bitter fruits of civil discrimination and mob violence.

“We believe that the Constitution of the United States was divinely inspired, that it was produced by ‘wise men’ whom God raised up for this ‘very purpose,’ and that the principles embodied in the Constitution are so fundamental and important that, if possible, they should be extended ‘for the rights and protection’ of all mankind… It follows, therefore, that we believe the Negro, as well as those of other races, should have his full Constitutional privileges as a member of society…

"However… The first amendment… specifically provides that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'

"(Thus this church’s anti-Blackness) falls wholly within the category of religion. It has no bearing upon matters of civil rights…the question of bestowing or withholding priesthood in the Church is a matter of religion and not a matter of Constitutional right.

"A word of explanation concerning the position of the Church.

"From the beginning of this dispensation, Joseph Smith and all succeeding presidents of the 
Church have taught that Negroes, while spirit children of a common Father, and the progeny of our earthly parents Adam and Eve, were not yet to receive the priesthood, for reasons which we believe are known to God, but which He has not made fully known to man.

“Our living prophet, President David O. McKay, has said, ‘The seeming discrimination by the Church toward the Negro is not something which originated with man; but goes back into the beginning with God…Revelation assures us that this plan antedates man’s mortal existence, extending back to man’s pre-existent state.’

"President McKay has also said, ‘Sometime in God’s eternal plan, the Negro will be given the right to hold the priesthood.’

“Until God reveals His will in this matter, to him whom we sustain as a prophet, we are bound by that same will. Priesthood, when it is conferred on any man comes as a blessing from God, not of men.

“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 and that the conferring of the priesthood must await His revelation. 

“In developing that love and concern for one another, while awaiting revelations yet to come, let us hope that with respect to these religious differences, we may gain reinforcement for understanding and appreciation for such differences.

Faithfully your brethren,
The First Presidency
David O. McKay
Hugh B. Brown
N. Eldon Tanner”