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
I found this pamphlet "The Mormons Have Stepped Down & Out of Celestial Government. The American Indian Has Stepped Up & Into Celestial Government,” created by Mormons who were upset that the church ended the Law of Consecration (religious communism) & polygamy. In it they write of how "The Messiah came to His Ppl at the time appointed of the Father, March 1890" despite the Deseret Evening News declaring "1890 has passed & no Messiah has come.” Now maybe you're thinking, "Wait I thought 'no man knoweth' the hour & day of the Second Coming?" If so, then like me you were never taught D&C 130:14-15, written in 1843 in which God told Joseph that if he lived to be 85 he'd see the face of God. D&C 130:14-15: I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following: “Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on this matter.” So, Joseph was born Dec 23, 1805, + 85yrs = the second coming would occur by the end of 1890. But 1890 came and went and all the really happened in Mormonism was the end of polygamy. But, during a solar eclipse on Jan 1, 1889 Northern Pauite spiritual leader, Wovoka, had a vision in which God taught him the Ghost Dance. The authors of this “Celestial Government” document claim that the re-restored church was founded in March 1890 by Wovoka when he called 12 apostles. I can't find anything that says he called 12 apostles, but i did find: Interpreting the Movement "The hundreds that gathered at Walker River in March 1890 listened to Wovoka for five days straight. On the fifth day, Short Bull, a Lakota from the Rosebud Reservation, shook hands with Wovoka, who only told him that "soon there would be no world after the end of the world those who went to church would see all their relatives that had died. This will be the same all over the world even across the big waters." Notably Indigenous ppl from across the land came to listen to Wovoka preach for 5 days. He preached of end times & resurrection & peace on earth." “Do not tell the white people about this. Jesus is now upon the earth. He appears like a cloud. The dead are all alive again. I do not know when they will be here; maybe this fall or in the spring. When the time comes there will be no more sickness and everyone will be young again.” - from a letter by Wovoka One aspect of the Ghost Dance (not sure if this is Wovoka's teaching or not) is that white colonizers would supernaturally be removed from this land in this end times event which would also resurrect the many Indigenous people who were killed by colonization, along with a thriving buffalo population. Many colonists & settlers believed that the Ghost Dance was started by Mormons. Partly this popular belief spread cause white ppl are white-supremacists & wouldn't believe that Indigenous ppl organized this movement themselves so wanted to find a white group to blaim it on. (kinda like how Euro-colonists couldn't believe that Indigenous ppl built the mounds & temples of this land, so they guessed some white Ppl must have been here & are now extinct. & then Joseph wrote the Book of Mormon church which tells that story exactly) & partly bc of the beliefs embedded in the contested White Horse Prophecy, Mormons were the obvious group of white-ish ppl to blame for the Ghost Dance movement. In President Cleaver's 1885 address to congress he spoke in a manner famiilar to Mormons, but usually Mormons are the ones saying this about the rest of us Godless communist queers: “The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation rest upon our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by parental care, regulated by parental authority, and sanctified by parental love. These are not the homes of polygamy.” “Since the people upholding polygamy in our Territories," Cleaver continued, "are reenforced by immigration from other lands, I recommend that a law be passed to prevent the importation of Mormons into the country." Because Mormons practiced polygamy, (which was seen as barbaric by the US, mostly bc of white-supremacy & Euro-centrism as polygamy was seen as an uncivilized & racialized practice among "primitive" Ppl) Mormons weren't considered "white" by the white-power in the US, & thus immigration of Mormons was fought against in the US Government.
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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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