Is there such a thing as a black Mormon?

Why would a black person ever join the Mormon church?

It seems to me to be an instance of Stockholm syndrome.

Yeah, I knew a family who adopted twelve black children. Not all at once, though.

When I was at Youth Conference last year, the Stake paraded around a bunch of black members to dispel any allegations of racism against the church. They "disputed" a lot of accusations regarding the 1978 revelation and such. One thing that amused me though, is that they stayed to participate in the dance, and while there, it wasn't difficult to overhear them all talking about smoking pot and having sex. I had to excuse myself to have a good laugh.

I had a student last year (I teach at a community college) who is African-American and an adult convert to Mormonism. She even attended Ricks College at one point a few years ago. She is from a VERY strict fundamentalist Christian background (Pentecostal), so for her, becoming a Mormon was relative freedom (so she told me). Based on a few things she said, I suspect she may have converted in order to marry a Mormon--no idea what her husband's ethnicity is.

I also saw a black LDS missionary bicycling around our town with his companion once--this was maybe two years ago.

Honestly, in both instances (my student and the mishie I saw), I just felt sorry for them. I know that may be patronizing, but that's my honest reaction.

before they realize the racist history and present of the church.

My mother once asked a friend how she felt about it and she said that she didn't know about it before she joined, that she was devastated once she did, that she doesn't know the mind of God, and that she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I've not personally met any but I've hear several speak -- Darius Grey is the man I most remember. The big difference is between Americans of African descent and sub-Saharan Africans. In the USA, most African Americans are overwhelmingly Christian and know of the history of the LDS Church. Having said that, just as their are whites who are attracted to the church and dismiss and ignore the problems and history their are blacks who would do the same. Mormonism looks very attractive from the outside -- until you find out the truth.


"Missionaries across the world have encountered a problem in recent years: after only a visit or two, an investigator who had shown real interest cuts off contact. Researchers have found that most of those investigators have one thing in common: they lose interest after finding negative, inaccurate information about the Church online..."

http://lds.org/church/news/church-members-share-the-gospel-online?lang=eng

Most blacks who join Mormonism and younger white members are not aware of the past racist teachings of its prophets and leaders.

Darron Smith, a black convert, wrote: ". . . even though the priesthood ban was repealed in 1978, the discourse that constructs what blackness means is still very much intact today. . . . Hence there are Church members today who continue to summon and teach at every level of Church education the racial discourse that blacks are descendants of Cain, …..[that] there is a link between skin color and righteousness. . . .

Further anchoring the early LDS appropriation of negative notions concerning blackness are several Book of Mormon teachings that associate dark skin with that which is vile, filthy, and evil, and white skin with that which is delightsome, pure, and good. . . .I did not find out about the priesthood ban on blacks until after I had joined the Church, and, sadly, I passed on much of the folklore while serving an LDS mission in Michigan. Looking back on that experience, I venture to say that had I known about such teachings in the Church, I might not have joined. . . .("The Persistence of Racialized Discourse in Mormonism," by Darron Smith, Sunstone, March 2003, pp. 31-33).

"I venture to say that had I known about such teachings in the Church, I might not have joined. . . ."

MIGHT not have joined? Ok, I've added Mr. Darron Smith to the list of those I pity.

There are a lot of black members in Brazil. The policy was a problem for missionaries there for a long time (as Brazil has a large black population and a lot of interracial mixing). The first ever black GA was Brazilian. He joined the church when blacks were still not allowed the priesthood. I don't know why that wasn't a problem for him. Anyway...

I've also met quite a few converts from various African countries. In the ward I would attend here (in Texas) if I still went to church there is at least one African-American family (I think there is/were more) and the dad is a member of the bishopric. The parents were both converts but their children have been raised in the church. I think most of them don't know about the history of racism when they join the church and only learn about it much later. And I guess, by then since they are totally TBM they can somehow justify it as having been "God's will".

Yes, a very good friend of mine is a black Mormon. He once told me that maybe he did do something wrong in the pre-existance and that's why he's black. How brainwashed can you get? And how awful is it that the church actually makes him think that?

WHAT?! Does he have basic knowledge of human variation?! Folks have different skin colours and racial features on the basis of where their ancestors come from! It has nothing at all to do with CAIN or with DOING SOMETHING WRONG IN THE PRE-EXISTANCE! Never would I want to be a black Mormon female, I'd soon as become a Satanist!

Back when I was LDS I asked the same question, "Man how could you be a Mormon if you're black, given the fact that racism is alive and well in Mormonism?" Then I realized how racist that question was.
What difference does my skin color make in determining whether or not I remain a member of an unapologetically racist institution?
If you're okay with belonging to an unapologetically racist institution just because you're white, then you're just as racist as the racist bastards who instituted 19th Century racist myths by incorporating them into Mormon scriptures and Mormon Doctrine.
I always had a problem reconciling Mormon racism with Christ's commandment to love our fellow men as ourselves, which became even more of a concern on my mission, since that was the main question brought up by people I tried to convert to Joseph's Myth. But it wasn't really until I had two inner racial couples move into my ward that it really came to a head. I had two Black Mormon friends who married a couple of Mormon sisters and converted for them. We were in the same EQ together and the topic of race was not off limits. We spoke about it often. I did a lot of research because of what we discussed. I gave my black Mormon friends a whole chronology of racism in the Mormon church. One of them told me that if he didn't have a spiritual witness of Mormonism, he'd walk away right now.
I was the one who ended up walking away, despite the fact that I had plenty of "Spiritual witnesses" about the truthfulness of Joseph's Myth. None of that seemed to matter, compared to the fact that I could no longer justify belonging to an institution of racism, sexism and homophobia.
People ask why I can't leave Mormonism alone. Like I say, "I'm the first to admit that as far as demographic groups go, you could do a whole lot worse than Mormons. I mean, they're a relatively successful, law abiding, productive, well educated group of people and I've got no problem with Mormons as a group of people. Mormonism obviously works for millions of people. The practical, pragmatic part of Mormonism obviously works and I'm all for encouraging that. However, it's also an unapologetically exploitative, racist, homophobic and misogynist institution that really needs to be destroyed, like every other exploitative, racist, homophobic and misogynist institution."

I don't know if it's the same in the US, but over here (UK) in areas with large black communities, there are plenty of black Mormons. In fact, black Mormons are in roughly the same ratio to whites in LDS wards as they are in the community.

The ethnicity most underepresented is probably South Asian.

I've often had the same thought about (active) gay Mormons and the Log Cabin Republicans.

My wife joined the church and I was BIC. Inactive for years until she miraculously joined the church on her own. She didn't even know I had been mormon. Anyway..... blah, blah, blah.... When she found out about the past, she was pissed and it never even crossed my mind until she started going off about it. Then I remembered all the crap I'd been taught growing up. (Fence sitters, less valiant, I should be dead, my kids should be dead, etc.... - strange how all that crap didn't even come to my memory when we started going. All we could think about at the time was - "it must be a miracle". Anyway, I've known one and she is no longer a mormon, so no, I don't know any.

One is from Kenya, her parents were converts a long time ago. Another guy (from the US) converted after he married a (white) mormon lady - they had a couple of kids. And a couple of kids adopted by a white couple.

One of my missionaries was black. And actually, there was a second black missionary on a daily transfer for one of my lessons. I always wanted to ask them about the 1978 revelation, but it was always far too awkward for me to bring it up. What a pity.