I cannot believe the topsy-turvy, self-justifying, racist reasoning expressed by Ayla Stewart, but thank her for expressing her deliberately inverted, poisonous ideology so clearly:
Racism against “white ppl [people] and white ppl [people] only, in the form of denying us our heritage and culture,” she tweeted, “is in direct conflict with gospel of Christ” (“Black Mormons applaud as LDS Church condemns white supremacy as ‘morally wrong and sinful,” Aug. 15).
I am a white person, and I want no part in any “heritage” or “culture” that clings to some invented sense of superiority, seeking to justify the atrocities of slavery and the social, economic and political injustices based on race that persist to this day.
White supremacism is a tool of con artists, not a heritage to be cherished.
In order to build the egalitarian society and nation that is the American dream, not to mention practice our religions with honesty and integrity, white people need to wake up and make some sacrifices — of unquestioned, blind privilege and status, of putting in the long-term, consistent effort to examine and change our hearts, minds and actions. Some of us are already working hard at that, and always have resisted the stench of racism. Take up our crosses and follow. That is our common heritage.
That effort does not mean jettisoning our favorite hymns or whatever just because a white person wrote them; that’s just cheap and divisive, and fails to accomplish anything. Rather, it means making room at the real and powerful decision-making tables for everyone, and opening up air-time for and listening to others’ point of view and favorite hymns, bringing cultures born of the invented, imposed segregation of peoples together and identifying and jettisoning the parts that lied to and divided us, in order to grow into something more just and human. If anyone chooses to read that as jettisoning them, that’s nothing more than their sad choice, and we say our goodbyes.
While I am not Mormon myself, I too applaud and support the Mormon leadership’s statement: As a Protestant Christian, I agree that racial prejudice is a sinful attitude, and that actions and systems (social, legal and economic) motivated by it or that do not confront it are sins — all in direct opposition to the teachings and example of Jesus.
I also know that non-Mormon Christians have just as ugly a history of inventing racist theologies. I hope this statement of doctrine will encourage all of us in our quests to live better in love and justice.
Inclusion is orthodoxy: “I have other sheep which are not of this fold.” (John 10:16) “Everyone who loves has become God’s child and knows God.” (1st John 4:7)
Loren Carle, Salt Lake City