LDS Church must face its racial history
Thirty-five years after the LDS Church lifted its ban on blacks being ordained to its all-male priesthood, African-American Mormons still experience subtle discrimination, exclusion and self-doubt, said three panelists on Tuesday’s hourlong Trib Talk.
The trio — black Latter-day Saints Marvin Perkins, of Los Angeles; Paulette Payne, of Atlanta; and Darron Smith of Memphis, Tenn. — agreed that part of the problem was a lack of discussion of the controversial ban, the perpetuation of false ideas about its cause (black skin being the "curse of Cain" or that blacks were "less valiant" in what Mormons call the premortal existence) and ignorance about the role of black Mormon pioneers.
Awareness of these issues is critical, Payne said, not only to find new converts and to retain the church’s black members but also for white Mormons to understand their history.
Members need to know that the ban "was of man and not of God," Perkins said. "The wall came down [in 1978], but the church didn’t clean up the debris."
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/56445020-80/church-lds-ban-black.html.csp
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