Posted by Cynthia on February 04, 1999 at 16:38:20:
In Reply to: Lamanite Placement Program posted by rpcman on February 02, 1999 at 11:50:26:
rpcman:
Thanks for the quote. Whew. What I'm trying to accomplish is to actually find my best friend from elementary school (the foster kid) and find out what her life was like beyond that point. I've since moved far from my hometown, and it turns out that at least one of her foster parents has died. Any thoughts about how to track her down? Did the church keep records they might share, do you think? And do you know of any collections of stories of these kids? Any contacts among Native Americans who have spoken out on this horror?? Did the kids have to be Mormon before the placement, or not? How about the families of the kids? Agreeable, or not? Did it matter? Do you know what kinds of BS the church filled Indian parents with, to get them to give up their kids? I find it inconceivable that --- after the boarding school mess --- parents could be convinced to again hand over their precious kids to white religious zealots! It must have been SOME line the church was giving them. Do you know why the church stopped this practice? Was it another case of "divine revelation" brought on by strong social pressure? I have a million questions. Answer or not as you can and feel like it! Thanks again for the post!!
Cynthia
: I can probably answer some specific questions on the subject for you if you have them as we took in three "Lamanites" when I was growing up. None of the three had a happy ending that the Mormon indoctrination was supposed to offer them.
: Here is a (deranged) quote from Spencer W. Kimball on the subject:
:
"I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today as against that of only fifteen years ago. Truly the scales of darkness are falling from their eyes, and they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people....: The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos;...The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.
: At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl...was several shades lighter than her parents...There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.
: The day of the Lamanites has come....today the dark clouds are dissipating." (Improvement Era, December 1960. pages 922-23)
- tough questions rpcman 11:00:53 2/05/99 (4)
- thanks! cynthia 13:24:50 2/05/99 (2)
- more rpcman 13:41:56 2/05/99 (1)
- Indian Placement Program Bob P. 17:52:46 2/07/99 (0)
- thanks! cynthia 13:22:37 2/05/99 (0)
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