Complicity "THE LONG-PROMISED DAY?"

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-10-06

"THE LONG-PROMISED DAY?
COMPLICITY

By Jay Stirling

JAY STIRLING has lived in Provo, Utah since age eight. He currently attends Brigham Young University, majoring in international area studies. He has been called to serve in the Switzerland-Geneva Mission and will enter the Missionary Training Center in August 2002.

This is the first column in a new SUNSTONE series devoted to discussing race, racism, and social commentary in the Church. The series, “The Long-Promised Day?”, draws its title from the wording of the letter announcing the 1978 revelation extending the promise of priesthood to every worthy male Church member. It is posed in the form of a question, quietly asking if this day has really arrived, because many Latter-day Saints, just like many other good people, still unconsciously harbor prejudicial thinking. It is my conviction that an open, frank discussion of race, class, and gender issues is critical if we as Latter-day Saints hope to be—and I believe we can—a light unto the world by helping all of God’s children unlearn the evils of discrimination, including the prejudice that masks itself as indifference. This first essay in the series features reflections from Jay Stirling, a former student of mine from the African American Experience course I taught at Brigham Young University Fall 2001.
DARRON SMITH
column editor

S U N S T O N E
PAGE 52 JULY 2002

EARLIER THIS YEAR, I was at an acquaintance’s house watching a basketball game between the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Out of two dozen players, only one was black, so I guess it was natural for some of the guys to comment on the lone African-American. They didn’t describe him by his name, position, or even his number—rather he was “nigga,” and when that wasn’t funny enough he became “coon.” I wish I could say that I said something to contradict those ignorant and insulting statements, but I just sat there, uncomfortable. I talked to a few others afterward. They, too, had been taken aback by how freely the racial slurs had flowed. But they hadn’t rebutted anything either.

After the game, we returned to our BYU dorms, and I doubt any others in our group gave even a second thought to what had been said. But I did. I felt guilty for letting those poisonous words and the ideas behind them go uncontested. But I also know that guilt is not productive. So instead I wrote this essay.

THROUGH “The African-American Experience,” a class I took last semester, I have come to realize racism is much more intricate and dangerous than simple statements of bigotry. “Whiteness theory” explores the complex characteristics of racism in America. Whiteness can be defined in one word: privilege. Being white allows me to shop at a record store without being followed by a suspicious clerk. Being white allows me to apply for any job and know that if I don’t get that job, I wasn’t qualified. It was not because of my skin color. Being white also allows me to be silent about matters of race. Journalism professor Robert Jensen observes that “the ultimate white privilege” is “the privilege to acknowledge you have an unearned privilege but ignore what it means.”1

Racism is dynamic, always evolving, finding expression in slavery, in segregation, and, as it does now, in “political correctness.” In some ways, the current face of racism is even more dangerous than its predecessors. Slavery and segregation were overt, but the “PC” concepts of meritocracy and colorblindness are insidiously subtle agents of whiteness.

The notion of meritocracy is the proclamation that the most-qualified people will succeed in a situation because they are the most-qualified. This notion is particularly powerful because it is tied to patriotism. It testifies to the ability of the rugged individualist to triumph. It is at the heart of the classic rags-to-riches success story that all entrepreneurs seemingly have hardwired in their brain. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are particularly susceptible to the myth of meritocracy because it is paralleled in LDS doctrine that salvation through Jesus Christ can come only to those who have given a total effort to keeping his commandments.

The term colorblindness has recently begun to be applied to name the subliminal notion at work when we whites proclaim that when we see others, we “don’t see colors, we just see people.” Often, the underlying tone of such statements is that we see people of color as, in effect, “honorary white persons” or as “white-persons-in-training.” Audrey Thompson, professor of education, culture, and society at the University of Utah, observes that this kind of racism never questions the ground of racial meaning-making. Treating non-whites as honorary whites assumes the normative status of whiteness. Extending whiteness to others reinscribes whiteness as the norm. It assumes that racism is a problem connected to blackness or brownness, so that blackness and brownness must be erased before racism will disappear.2

Colorblindness is critical to the dominant discourse because it allows the dominants to maintain the pretense they are fighting racism by not making race an issue.

AS I studied U.S. history in school, my teachers always stressed the basic notion that “in the United States, anyone can be president.” At home, my parents always said that I could become anything I wanted. Those messages were reinforced in the children’s books I read and the television programs I watched—I could do anything in this world if I simply worked for it. What I have learned, though, is there is a caveat to such statements: “…if you’re white.”

For example, before BYU, I attended public schools. During my time there, I worked with state-of-the-art computers and equipment. I was able to enroll in advanced and honors classes, and while still in high school, I was able to take college-level classes for credit. Although there was ethnic diversity at most schools I attended, the demographics of those advanced classes were far from diverse—I studied with whites and was taught by whites. At a young age, I was diverted into an environment where the people around me had similar backgrounds—white and usually middle-class. Such an arrangment facilitated and enhanced my education because we had the same basic cultural symbols and vocabulary.

I can say that I went to school with African-Americans, Latinos, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans, for we used the same building, but I can’t say I studied in an integrated school.

But how might this picture look from a different perspective? Just as I was labeled and tagged early in my education, so were the “other” students. My African-American classmates were put into remedial classes because they “just aren’t as bright as the other students.” The unspoken code was that Latino students required heavy-handed school discipline because “there isn’t any in their home lives.” And although at the end of our senior year, we were all handed diplomas that looked the same, a large gulf separated the value of those diplomas. I can say that I went to school with African-Americans, Latinos, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans, for we used the same building, but I can’t say I studied in an integrated school.

Now I attend a private and selective university, which accepted me based on my “success” in high school. When I graduate, I’ll go to a job interview. I’ll wear a black suit and sit across a desk from another white man. I’ll probably remind him of himself when he was younger. He may even have a daughter he’d like me to meet. He’ll glance over my resume and then set it aside and start asking me questions meant to reveal my personality. It will turn out that we will have much in common. He’ll give me a hearty handshake and tell me to expect a call in a few days. This potential employer will then interview a black man. He will offer superficial pleasantries and then pore over this man’s resume. After a few moments of awkward silence, the interview will begin. It will be brief and cool, a little contrived. Later, when the employer must decide who to hire, he’ll look over the resumes again. My rival may have a higher GPA than I, and maybe even more job experience. But I will be hired because of my “intangibles.”

THROUGHOUT our course on the experience of African-Americans, my classmates and I journeyed through history, politics, economics, and pop culture. Our final assignment was a research paper analyzing one of the themes from the class. A few of us wanted to do a project involving interviews and first-person narratives. And our concept proved so popular that all but one class member became involved. We ultimately chose to investigate racism in the Genesis Branch, a predominantly black branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that meets in Salt Lake City.

Like other Church groups, the Genesis Branch holds worship services consisting of hymns, prayer, discourse, and testimony. It has Relief Society for women, age-specific groups for teenagers and young adults, and Primary for children. Outside of worship services, it also hosts activities designed to nurture friendships among members. Genesis Branch convenes once a month, and group members also belong to geographic wards.

As we began our project, we hypothesized that blacks who attended Genesis were likely meeting intolerance or finding a lack of acceptance in their home wards. We thought we would hear horror stories of bigotry that would reveal underlying racism in the Mormon community. And though our study did reveal that Genesis serves as a haven of sorts for attendees, most of our interviews revealed another theme. Or, to be more exact, the dearth of certain perceptions revealed another theme. Surprisingly, most of those we interviewed felt uncomfortable and often downplayed or evaded our questions about the Church as a racialized environment, and some simply did not see any racism within the Church setting.

A white member of the group said, “Sometimes I do feel different, but I don’t think we look at each other like ‘there’s a black person, there’s a white person.’ Maybe we did initially, but I don’t think we look at each other like that now.”

Many members seemed to think that race didn’t matter at all at Genesis. Many felt the ideal ward would not recognize race as significant. A woman from Barbados said, “Until all differences are wiped out, not just race, handicapped, or whatever, it will be difficult to understand.” One male participant essentially bore his testimony of the universality of the Gospel. Just two or three interviewees thought racism remained a problem. Most responses were colorblind and/or evasive.

It may seem very unusual for a person of color to seemingly propagate a discourse that keeps his or her segment of society oppressed, as some members of Genesis seem to be doing. However, Church doctrine and rhetoric greatly emphasizes obedience to gospel principles and leaders. Though this concept is not specific to Mormonism, it nevertheless creates an atmosphere that does not naturally lead to questions or critiques of Church policies and practices. Furthermore, from a demographic standpoint, the Church in North America has mostly middle-class white members. We who fall in this category have a heavy investment in the dominant discourse. It allows us to maintain our privileged place in society.

Consequently, the few African-Americans who join the Church are not likely as predisposed to ask critical questions about race as are their counterparts who attend all-black churches (as 95 percent of African- Americans in this country do) or those who do not enjoy the comforts of the middle class. Nevertheless, when people of color support the dominant discourse or colorblind theories, they are unknowingly being complicit in their continued disadvantage.

I LOVE the Church, and I believe in the gospel. I am committing the next two years of my life to spreading that gospel and helping others gain the same knowledge I have. The issue of racism in the Church is not related to doctrinal concepts, rather to the social culture that surrounds those precepts. One of the Church’s catchphrases is to be “in the world, but not of the world.” Whiteness and its social construction of race is a concept that is of the world. And unfortunately that also makes some of the Church’s actions in the racial arena “of the world.” The Church is a vehicle for the greatest truths for humans to understand, but it has also become an unwitting vehicle for a great mistruth as well. And it has nothing to do with the divinity of the Church. This is about the pervasive nature of the dominant discourse and its sinister ability to flow through any institution. We as Church members are fond of our title as a “peculiar people.” Now is the time for us to once again prove that peculiarity by adopting a theory of race that is far different than that of most of the rest of the world.

NOTES

1. Robert Jensen, “White Privilege Shapes the U.S.,” Baltimore Sun, 19 July 1988, 1C.
2. Audrey Thompson, “Colortalk: Whiteness and Off White,” Educational Studies 30 (Summer 1999):141–60.

The Persistence of Racialized Discourse in Mormonism

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-09-29

S U N S T O N E

Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?

THE PERSISTENCE OF RACIALIZED
DISCOURSE IN MORMONISM
By Darron Smith

JUNE 2003 WILL MARK THE TWENTY-FIFTH Anniversary of the announcement by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that all worthy male members, regardless of race, are eligible for priesthood ordination. The 1978 declaration created a moment of great hope and optimism within the Church, and many assumed this revelation would usher in a new era of success in proselytizing among African Americans. However, the promise of a quarter-century ago has only partially been realized. This is because the Church has not done enough to remake its racist past and present in such a way as to coincide with its mission to teach, preach, fellowship, and retain African Americans.

Projects designed to fully embrace African-American saints will meet with difficulties, I believe, until each of us recognize just how persistent and pervasive racism in U.S. society is. It is present in virtually every facet of life, including the workings of religious organizations. So, even though the priesthood ban was repealed in 1978, the discourse that constructs what blackness means is still very much intact today. Under the direction of President Spencer W. Kimball, the First Presidency and the Twelve removed the policy that denied blacks the priesthood but did very little to disrupt the multiple discourses that had fostered the policy in the first place. 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 they merited lesser earthly privilege because they were “fence-sitters” in the War in Heaven, and that, science and climatic factors aside, there is a link between skin color and righteousness. A complete disruption of these discourses will require a rearticulation of Church history and an understanding of how that past interrelates with secular racial history. Further, a greater number of black voices will need to be heard in leadership and scholarly settings, where, with sensitivity and without the threat of censorship or sanction, they can communicate ways the now-defunct ban continues even today to create for African-Americans a position of “less-than” in Church spaces.

RACISM is is articulated in multiple and complex ways. The popular perception of racism is that, either by word or deed, racists commit acts of aggression against someone of another race. The problem with this definition is that it assumes only individuals are implicated in racist practices whereas institutions are not—or, if they are, it is usually in isolated incidents. This notion that racism is a function of the individual keeps us from understanding the larger reality of racism as discourse in which social actors perform racial scripts in numerous ways.

For instance, many of us are familiar with slavery, sharecropping, Jim Crowism, segregation, and more subtle enactments of institutionalized racist practices. These are historical events that, thankfully, have been repudiated in the presentday United States, yet the racial perceptions about the “other” that underwrote each of these practices have yet to disappear. So instead of overt racism, most of today’s racial discourse operates in the way individuals, groups, and organizations interact with each other. In other words, how we see ourselves is, to a greater or lesser extent, through the prism of race. Race is not limited only to bodies and skin color, but extends to ideas, values, and beliefs that are held as “normative.” The primary locus of racism at this level is found in the privileging of one group over another. Typically in the United States, whiteness emerges as the preferred prism through which people come to appreciate history, art, literature, and popular culture, and which underwrites much that takes place in the justice system, as well as in business, education, housing, and health care.

In my graduate work in the field of cultural studies, I have found the dichotomy of blackness/whiteness to be helpful in unveiling how racialized discourse influences notions of power and privilege. Blackness and whiteness can be thought of as classifications that have been historically determined through social relations based on oppression, repression, and, to some extent, “progress.” So the construction of blackness as “other” in the Church was not an anomaly, especially given the overlapping secular racist discourses that were endemic in U.S. society—the way in which blackness was named by whiteness. For example, just as today whiteness constructs the idea of black urban spaces as dangerous, sexual, and drug-infested, whiteness in the Church also defined blackness as cursed. Until very recently, black people have not been able to name themselves (which may explain the seeming fixation of the black community to continually represent itself). Since their earliest contact with Africans, Europeans have represented blackness in a number of ways ranging from criminality and fear to myths about hypersexuality and about exceptional abilities in music and athletics.

The seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries produced many ideas about the black body through a regime of pseudoscientific truth.1 During the eighteenth century, for example, black slaves in North America were construed as threefifths a person—chattel property without souls. Such a notion about blackness provided a basis for many whites to justify the inhumane treatment of black slaves. The power of language also enabled academic disciplines to embrace assumptions about black peoples’ so-called inferior values, mores, and behaviors. And whiteness, as the fortunate opposite of blackness and its negative attributes, became firmly established as “normative.” 2

Not surprisingly, early LDS leaders were influenced by many of those ideas about blackness. Pseudo-scientific literature regarding the inherent status of blacks was abundantly available and even found its way into Church publications such as the Millennial Star, Times and Seasons, and Juvenile Instructor.3 But, unfortunately, some leaders went further in portraying blackness in explicitly negative terms by adding a theological layer that implied these inferior characteristics and status were Godgranted or, at least, God-approved. The key element in this theological mix was the adoption of the idea (prevalent during the time it was appropriated) that God “marked” Cain with blackness and “cursed” him so that he would forever be persecuted. Early leaders extended this to mean Cain and his descendants would never hold the priesthood and taught that this mark and curse continued even after the flood through Canaan, Ham’s son through his wife Egyptus, whose descendants were believed to be the negroid races.4 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. A metaphorical reading of darkness as representing that which is loathsome is harmful enough, but many leaders taught that this as a literal fact, that God could and sometimes would darken the skin of those who fell out of his favor, and vice versa.5

Although African-Americans are not usually imagined to be among those who are the descendants of the Book of Mormon Lamanites, it is instructive to look briefly at some of the discourse in just this past half-century concerning this literal interpretation of the skin-color/God’s-favor link. In our lifetime, it has not been uncommon to hear Church members speak about “rescuing” the Lamanite (meaning Native American) population from its own spiritual demise. Numerous scriptural references in the Book of Mormon articulate that the Gentile/white population is supposed to take the gospel to the Lamanite people (Morm.5:15; 7:8), and many members take as literal the Book of Mormon passages that hint that the skin of Lamanites will whiten as they accept the gospel (Jacob 3:8; 3 Ne. 2:15). Spencer W. Kimball, the Church president who received the revelation that repealed the ban on black men holding the priesthood, manifested great concern for Native Americans during his long tenure as an apostle. Speaking in the October 1960 General Conference, he made a statement that was seen as powerful advocacy for this dispossessed minority but which also illustrates how language can powerfully inscribe color consciousness: I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today. . . . For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome as they were promised. . . . The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.6

ONCE IDEAS, EVEN erroneous ones, become internalized to where they work as the lenses through which we unconsciously view the world, it takes a great deal of effort to make them conscious again. And, to some degree, black people in the Church agree or accept—at least partially—the traditional discourse on black spiritual demise; otherwise they would not join. I did not find out about the priesthood ban on blacks until after I 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. I remain a member currently because of my faith in the Church’s basic doctrines and my hope that a more thorough change will occur to undo the traditional racial discourse on blacks still being perpetuated in many corners of the Church. It is not enough to change a social practice, policy or mandate without pushing through the arduous task of rearticulating the discourse that helped to create it.


I did not find out about the priesthood ban on blacks until after I joined the Church, and I passed on much of the folklore while serving a 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.

Many Church members suppose that their leaders are inspired on virtually all matters, including race. But it is impossible for white people, even prophets, to really know blackness unless they develop relationships with blacks that move beyond mere acquaintance, peer, co-worker, or fellow ward member. Without many meaningful intimate relationships with the racialized “other,” how else can we move beyond the profound distortions brought on by the long-standing discourse and the warp of privilege? Even some of the LDS intellectuals who hail discourse on race and speak on those issues summon many of their notions from white sources and cultural spaces. Many seem to me to be cultural tourists, yet they are often called upon to give their “expert” analysis of blackness, just as most official discourse in the Church about the roles and divine nature of women is articulated by men. There is not nearly enough speaking from black spaces that can offer a different interpretation of reality.

Blackness as a discourse that embodies social practice must be reconfigured to provide a different construction of knowledge and truth. Blacks and whites must find new ways of creating mutual cooperation and unity in the Church, and blacks must be given more freedom to speak from the full range of their experience, not just from those experiences that fit comfortably within the predominant discourse. Otherwise, that discourse will never change. Blacks who do move toward Mormonism should not be made to feel that blackness is synonymous with curses, marks, or indifference. And this can be accomplished only by a formal repudiation, in no uncertain terms, of all teachings about Cain, the pre-mortal unworthiness of spirits born to black bodies, and any idea that skin color is connected to righteousness.

NOTES

1. Immanuel Kant, “On the Different Races of Man.” Found in This is Race: An Anthology Selected from the International Literature on the Races of Man (New York: Schuman, 1950); David Hume, Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1988); John Locke, Two Treatises on Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), chap. 1–6.

2. Some scholars have applied the term “regime of truth” to refer to this type of discourse. For example, much work done in anthropology, sociology, medicine, and law has created a way of talking about race that has inhibited access by many people of color to certain economic, housing, medical, and educational resources. For instance, even as legal scholars discuss the need for the law to be “colorblind,” they are actually acknowledging how “color conscious” it really is. And in popular culture, blacks have been represented as inclined toward criminal behavior, which, in turn, has had wide-reaching effects on criminal conviction rates. Biologists have argued that skin, bone, and hair are linked to all sorts of genetic characteristics, and such ideas have often been used to try to fix and secure human difference. The fallout from such constructions is that many members of racial groups “stay” within their own spaces because of the way these disciplines (law, anthropology, sociology, biology, and religion) have constructed and legitimized these differences. Thus the term “regime of truth” speaks to the fact that the concept of race is far more a social construction than a biological one, and that the term “race” is less a description than an instrument of power.

3. See Latter-day Saint Millennial Star 15 (1853):422, 20 (1858):278; Times & Seasons 4:375–76, 5:395, 6:857; Juvenile Instructor 3 (1868):142.

4. Interestingly, the Ku Klux Klan is one of the few “religious” groups who still teach that blacks descended from Ham. And although not actively perpetuating the doctrine through official channels, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, unlike many world traditions, has not sufficiently distanced itself from this folklore nor the extension by certain lds leaders that blacks descend not only from Ham but from Cain as well.

5. The primary scriptural basis for this teaching is 2 Ne. 5:21.

6. Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Reports (Oct. 1960): 32–34.



DARRON SMITH is a lecturer in sociology at Utah Valley State College and Brigham Young University, and he is currently completing doctoral work at the University of Utah in education, culture, and society. He is co-editor, with Newell Bringhurst, of Blacks and Mormons: Race in an American Church, (forthcoming, University of Illinois Press).

Daily Herald: Perspectives on the priesthood revelation

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-10-04

archive.harktheherald.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/prv/archive/2003/June/08/LocalCity/4521.xml

Excerpt from Daily Herald June 8, 2003

Darron Smith, co-editor of the forthcoming work "Blacks and Mormons: Race in an American Church, " suggests LDS leaders should step forward to clear the air. Smith, who is black, recently wrote:

"Blacks who do move toward Mormonism should not be made to feel that blackness is synonymous with curses, marks, or indifference. And this can be accomplished only by a formal repudiation, in no uncertain terms, of all teachings about Cain, the pre-mortal unworthiness of spirits born to black bodies, and any idea that skin color is connected to righteousness. "

Herald: UVSC plans week of events honoring Black History Month

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-09-28

archive.harktheherald.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/prv/archive/2003/February/17/LocalArts/16883.xml
Excerpt from Daily Herald Newspaper February 17, 2003

Darron Smith, program co-chair and assistant to the vice president of academics at UVSC, said he sees first-hand the need for programs such as this in the valley.

"There's a dearth of African-American culture in this community, " said Smith, who is black. "What the larger community really knows about black culture is from the media, how the media portrays blacks. " Those portrayals are often stereotypical, he said.

"We'd like to offer a different perspective on black culture, " he said. "By all means, these events don't really encapsulate the fulness of black culture, but they certainly give a snapshot of what blacks have had to deal with, particularly in the past 40 years, post-Civil Rights Movement. "

Daily Utah Chronicle: Mormons Discuss Racial Inequality

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-09-24

Excerpt from Daily Utah Chronicle

"Mormons try to excuse the racial discourse that goes on within their society, and that, to me, is very troubling," said Darron Smith, a BYU professor in the education, culture and society department.

However, Smith also said the racist mentalities some Mormons hold are typical of most of the American population.

"Mormons are no more prejudiced or racist than anyone else in the country...the notions and representations Mormons in Utah have of minorities in Utah come from socially constructed representations they see on TV," he said.

www.dailyutahchronicle.com/news/2003/01/15/News/Mormons.Discuss.Racial.Inequality-345480.shtml

Deseret News: Black Mormons say life better since 1978

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-09-24

Excerpt from Deseret News Sunday, May 25, 2003.

Darron Smith, who is compiling a book exploring black Latter-day Saint experience, said he believes the church is slow-growing in the United States and South Africa because both nations have a history of slavery and racism. The "character and tone" of the past are very different in other nations, he said.

www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,505035583,00.html

Darron Smith interviewed on CBS Affiliate KUTV

Darron Smith is interviewed about his new book "Black and Mormon" .



*** Unofficial Transcript***

KUTV Channel 2 News, CBS Affiliate
News broadcast
September 23, 2004

ANCHORMAN: Good evening everyone. Equal opportunities for blacks in the LDS Church?

ANCHORWOMAN: One BYU instructor says it is still a problem. Dan Rascon live at BYU
tonight. Dan, whose the instructor and what are his claims?

REPORTER: Well Mark and Michelle, the instructor is Darron Smith and this is the name of
his book right here ""Black and Mormon."" He's a part-time sociology teacher here at BYU
and he doesn't mince words in this book and he stands by what they have to say.

DARRON SMITH: ""We are still struggling with these notions of race.""

REPORTER: Darron Smith, a BYU sociology instructor, is talking about his new book ""Black
and Mormon."" A 186 page volume that's sure to stir up emotions about racial attitudes in
the LDS Church.

SMITH: ""Many of the members continue to remind me and other blacks that we were at one
point cursed. I don't think that they do it maliciously, but they are simply summoning
ideas about blacks that they have heard, they've read about, or that has gone through the
rumor mill.""

REPORTER: Smith says this book isn't about an angry member who has a chip on his shoulder,
but rather it's about educating the LDS faithful about blacks.

SMITH: ""We got to be more sensitive, more tolerant, more understanding, more learned
about the racial histories in our society. If I had it my way, I would make it a part of
the curriculum.""

DR. CARNELL JACOBSON: ""There is still a lot of racism.""

REPORTER: Dr. Carnell Jacobson, a BYU sociology professor, who wrote his own book on
minorities in the (LDS) church agrees with Smith, in fact he wrote chapter 6 in Smith's
book.

JACOBSON:""I'd like to see more white members read about blacks and to know more about
black history.""

REPORTER: But both men know that they have a big challenge ahead of them to get their
message out, especially Smith who realizes this book could create some controversy for him
at BYU.

SMITH: ""I shouldn't have to take any jabs. I mean, I should be able to talk about the
sorts of things that I want to talk about that are important to the black community as it
pertains to furthering the mission of the (LDS) Church.""

REPORTER: Now the book is being published by the University of Illinois Press.
It hits the bookshelves next week and pretty much going across the nation. Now Smith is
still obviously a very faithful LDS member. He says he loves the church, he supports the
church, but just feels like members need a bit more history on blacks in the LDS Faith.
Mark and Michele back to you.

10.28.04 Another email from KUER listener

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-10-28

This is another thoughtful email that I received from a listener of my interview on the Doug Fabrizio show on KUER on Monday October 25, 2004.

Mr. Smith,

I just got through listening to your discussion on RadioWest. I am so very glad that more people are talking about the issue of Blacks & Mormonism. I am white. I've tried hard to understand the Church's old policy that Blacks could not hold the priesthood. Luckily I had a brilliant teacher, Bruce G. Stewart, who understood, in depth, Church, American, and World history. He was able to show open my understanding of the topic. I hope that you will be able to reach many more people to help us all, Black & White, Male & Female, Bond & Free understand what happened and what is happening today. I pray we can all see each other as equals.

Sincerely,
A.W.

Stories of Triumph, struggle and strife - Deseret News

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-09-24


Excerpt from the Deseret News on Sunday, June 8, 2003.

Darron Smith

Darron Smith believes firmly that, despite the 1978 policy change, African American church members must become "culturally white" to fit in as Latter-day Saints. A doctoral candidate at the University of Utah and assistant to the vice president at UVSC, he teaches a class that challenges his mostly white students to step outside their historic mindset and understand his rationale.

"The church disciplines its membership to socially 'perform' Mormonism in a particular way, and this performance is fairly scripted," he says. The "body language" of reverent singing, praying with arms folded and the lack of interaction during LDS sacrament services are a white, European form of spirituality, Smith maintains, noting that historically ""the black church grew out of the need to find 'new' ways of self-expression in the belief in Jesus Christ that was different from the white church."

Such differences are among the reasons he believes the church still holds "limited appeal for African Americans."

As co-editor of a forthcoming book that deals with black Latter-day Saints, Smith and fellow author Newell Bringhurst believe "the church has not done enough to undo its racist past, which remains as a major obstacle in its mission to teach, convert, fellowship and retain African Americans. To more effectively change its image as a racist organization, the church needs to forthrightly and frankly confront its past history of racial exclusion and discrimination. Admittedly, this constitutes a most challenging undertaking given the pervasiveness and persistence of racism in American society at large.

January`06:PBS documentary "Frontline" interviews Darron Smith

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2006-01-30

January 2006: PBS documentary show "Frontline" interviews Darron Smith


The "Frontline" special "Mormons in America" will air November 6, 2006. Darron will also be interviewed for another ""Frontline"" documentary on ""Religion and Ethics"".

Air date TBA.

The interview will focus on Blacks and Mormonism.

Annette Daley: The Long-Promised Day?

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2006-01-17

S U N S T O N E
PAGE 62 OCTOBER 2003
THE LONG-PROMISED DAY?
AT LAST, I FELT LIKE
PART OF SOMETHING
By Annette Daley


WHEN I CONVERTED to Mormonism in 1982, I had minimal knowledge of the Church’s past policy of withholding the priesthood from men of color. I was a naïve eighteenyear- old and did not make the connection that this policy would have affected my ability to receive temple blessings had I come to the Church a mere five years earlier. Indeed, in 1984 when my former husband (who is Caucasian) and I were going to be sealed in the Swiss Temple, I prayed to Heavenly Father that my first experience in the temple would be uplifting and memorable. I knew it would not be without challenges, for I would almost certainly be the only person of color among a sea of white members wearing white temple clothing. I was sure to stand out noticeably! I was pleasantly surprised to find that one other person of color attended the Swiss temple that day, a woman from Denmark, of all places! I attended that temple monthly for several more years, and I was never again privileged to see another person of color there. I knew that Heavenly Father had interceded on my behalf to assist me in what could have been a separatist experience.

I had lived in Germany for some six years previously, living and working among neonazism. I had even dated and seriously considered marriage to a blond-haired, blue-eyed German, but his desire to remain in Germany did not mesh with my need to escape the suffocation I felt living among such narrow-mindedness.

I chose instead to marry a brown-eyed, long-haired G.I. whom I had met at an LDS singles dance in Germany. Two years later, my husband received orders to serve at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. This was to be our first home in this new land. Having no family nearby, my husband and I decided it would be best for me and our newborn son, Ryan, to stay with some military friends in Maryland while he found a home for us. (Although I had come across the bridge at Niagara Falls some eight years earlier with my high school band, this was my first official trip to America.) While finding our new home, my husband had received a dinner invitation from members of the ward which was to be kept when his family joined him. However, the offer was quickly rescinded when I showed up at church—a black woman with a beautiful brown baby in her arms. They were just not ready for it.

Following our stay in Oklahoma, we spent five years in a great and partially integrated ward in Kentucky, where I still have strong ties. While living there, we took a trip to the Atlanta Temple. I recall most vividly seeing all the people of color in the temple parking lot and grounds, and my mouth fell open when I realized their destination was indeed the House of the Lord. Upon entering, my mouth and eyes opened wider to see that many of these precious brethren and sisters were not only temple-goers but also temple workers! Tears glistened in my eyes. After years in the Church, I no longer felt like a minority. My husband gently whispered to me to close my mouth, for to look at me, I appeared dismayed, when in reality, I was really just shocked and overjoyed to see so many of my people in this sacred, holy place, performing work for our kindred dead.

During our time in Germany, I had attended a stake conference and there met my first black LDS family. They had joined the church in the early 70s, withholding of the priesthood notwithstanding. Their strength of conviction amazed me, and I had a lengthy conversation in the parking lot with the mother as she detailed how both she and her husband had known they were doing the right thing and that God would some day hear their prayers. Would that my faith were that strong! A couple of years later, fate brought this family to our stake in Kentucky, where the wife sorrowfully told me that while her children were accepted by the youth of the ward, due to the color of their skin, these same youth shunned them at school.

Wherever we moved during our fifteenyear marriage, my husband and I caused a ripple among ward members, as we were generally the only interracial couple. The exception was in Kentucky, where there were two other mixed marriages. My husband often joked about starting a club called “the mixers.” While people could not, or would not, understand what drew the two of us together (the Gospel), they unanimously agreed that our biracial children were indeed beautiful to behold.

IN 1999, after my husband began pursuing an active homosexual lifestyle, we divorced. I then decided to move to Utah. I had been offered a job at which I would make enough money to support myself and my children, and I knew the Church was strong there and I would have a network to assist me in rearing my teenage sons in this troubled world. But Zion was not all what I expected. My children felt alienated, not just because of the color of their skin and because there were no other members of color in the ward for them to follow as role-models, but because Utah Mormons seemed to be so foreign. I even mentioned in passing to a brother I met at the Genesis group that I was considering taking my children to participate in Calvary Baptist Church’s youth programs. He confided that he had done the same thing for his children so they might have experiences with youth leaders who look like them and so they might be in a youth group with several people of color.

Because the narrow-mindedness, provinciality, and intolerance among many Utahns was simply too much for him to overcome, my oldest son chose to move in with his father. The discrepancies he saw among members had caused him to begin to identify himself as not being “one of them.” I am now raising two teenage boys, and my former husband is raising the other two boys in Michigan.

S U N S T O N E
OCTOBER 2003 PAGE 63

Ever since my conversion, I had heard of the miraculous Salt Lake Temple, and I was overjoyed when after years of struggling due to the collapse of my temple marriage, I was able to obtain a temple recommend and attend that sacred, historic temple. Yet, once again, I stuck out like a sore thumb. It reminded me of years before when I would attend temple sessions with my former husband and people would be shocked to see us unite in the celestial room after performing an endowment. Still, I very much enjoyed attending the temple and was impressed with the beauty and majesty of the surroundings. And I finally did find the peace I had so desperately sought since the heart-wrenching breakup of my marriage!

I now live in a diverse neighborhood in Taylorsville and attend the Genesis branch whenever I am able. It is ironic to me to see the numbers of white Mormon families in the Salt Lake area who choose to adopt children of color and rear them in the most homogeneous of places, where they will likely never see another member of color in their whole lives, except on television or at a Genesis meeting. I see how hard my children struggle to be accepted, and they are fortunate to have a black mother who looks like them, who is available to answer their many questions regarding race and acceptance. I cannot imagine how difficult it would be for an adopted child of color growing up and not interacting with other people of color in daily life.

Last year, I joined a progressive Mormon group called MESJ—Mormons for Equality and Social Justice. As such, I participated in a “brown bag” discussion at the University of Utah where we discussed race in the Church. It was there I met Darron Smith, who encouraged me to write about my experiences for this SUNSTONE column.

I procrastinated writing for a few months, until now, shortly after my experience during the celebratory weekend commemorating the priesthood revelation. The culmination of my experience as a black LDS woman came during the Tabernacle celebration of the June 1978 priesthood revelation when dear Sister Gladys Knight and her lovely choir, Saints Unified Voices, filled the Salt Lake Tabernacle with songs of praise and worship.

I had been raised in England in an Anglican church; hence loud church services had never been a part of my life. Yet something stirred deep within my soul when I heard Gladys and her choir sing their arrangements of many black spirituals and sacred hymns of Mormonism. The Tabernacle was bursting at the seams, and members clapped as she and the choir sang beautiful praises to the Lord. For the first time since I had joined the Church twenty-one years earlier, at last, I felt like part of something. I was not the only person of color in a crowd—there were many. With God’s blessings, I will continue to feel like a part of the crowd. Though I seriously doubt it will happen soon, I still hope that an increasing number of people of color will be brought into the fold in Utah.

Do I have a dream? Absolutely! It is that I can continue to live in Utah among the stares, feelings of isolation, occasional overt and blatant bigotry where I have to try harder than ever to give people grace for their mistaken beliefs that all people of color are either basketball players like Karl Malone, or rap singers, or, worst of all, gangsters. While my dream is far from a reality, that does not mean that it will not be so one day. The next time I attend a regional conference in the new Conference Center and see that among the approximately 25,000 members, I am one of only a handful of people of color, I will think back to that glorious June 2003 Sabbath day in the Salt Lake Tabernacle when I felt like part of something.


I even mentioned in passing to a brother I met at the Genesis group that I was considering taking my children to participate in Calvary Baptist Church's youth programs. He confided that he had done the same thing for his children so they might have experiences with youth leaders who look like them and so they might be in a youth group with several people of color.


ANNETTE DALEY is a forty-year-old single mother of four boys. She is presently employed by Salt Lake City Corporation in the office of community affairs. She teaches the sixteen-year-old Sunday School class in her Taylorsville, Utah, ward.

Darron Smith: Vita

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-09-07

DARRON T. SMITH
Provo, UT
84606
Email: [email protected]

EDUCATION

Doctoral Candidate. University of Utah, school of education, the department of education, culture, & society. Program emphasis: civil rights, critical race theory, multicultural education, affirmative action and organizational communication.

M.Ed. Higher Education, 2000. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

PA-C. Physician Assistant Certification Program, 1996. University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah.

BSH. Behavioral Science and Health, 1994 University of Utah.

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

Consultant to Dean of School of Education, Brigham Young University, 2004. Responsibilities include:

· Develop and implement diversity brown bag series for teacher education faculty on various topics to improve the quality of teaching and preparing prospective teachers for working with a diverse student body

· Create and implement a scholarship program for underrepresented minority students at BYU who want to be public school educators

· Established recruitment measures designed to attract more underrepresented students of color interested in public education

· Organized fiftieth anniversary commemoration of Brown in the school of education.

Consultant to Assistant Vice President of Faculty Affairs, Utah Valley College, 2003, 2004. Responsibilities include:

· Establish a college wide honor society program to recognize high achieving undergraduates (Phi Kappa Phi and Golden Key)

· Create and institute a marketing system designed to attract minority faculty in various disciplines on campus.

· Organize and implement space for adjunct faculty

· Diversity coach for faculty and president office

· Mediate disputes between faculty, staff and students

Assistant to the Vice President of Academics, Utah Valley State College, 2002. Responsibilities include:

• Promote diversity on campus whenever wherever needed especially by assisting academic departments with faculty searches and hires.
• Assist vice president with increasing representation of diverse faculty in all departments on campus.
• Serve as a diversity specialist and liaison between the vice presidents office and the general campus and faculty.
• Represent the vice president of academic at various functions
• Budgeting for college events

Contributing Editor, Southern Christian Leadership Conference Magazine. 2003- a civil rights organization created by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Responsible for the editorial content of the magazine.

Column Editor, for “Cultural Care Issues for Physician Assistants” Advance Magazine for Physician Assistants. January 1999, 2002

Adjunct Faculty, Utah Valley State College. 2002- Responsible for the following preparations:

College of Education
DE 332 Foundations of Education

Behavioral Science
BS 3200 Race and Minority Relations
BS 113 Multicultural America

History
HIST 417R American Issues & Topics: The African American Experience

Communication
COMM 350 R Special Topics: Mormon Cultural Studies
COMM 100 Introduction to Public Speaking

Adjunct Faculty Brigham Young University. Responsible for the following preparations:

General Honors and Education 1995, 2002
HONRS 230R The African American Experience

David O’ McKay School of Education, Secondary Education 2000, 2002, 2004
SEC ED 113 Multicultural Education
SEC ED 326 Social Foundations of Education

Adjunct Faculty of Sociology Department, Brigham Young University. 2001,2002, 2003, 2004. Responsible for the following preparations:
SOC 323 Race and Ethnic Minority Relations
SOC 326 Sociology of Education
SOC 113 Multicultural America
SOC 111 Introduction to Sociology
SOC 112 Social Problems

Adjunct Faculty of the Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah Physician Assistant Program. 1997. Responsible for the following preparation.

FPM 552 African American Health Care Issues

Adjunct Faculty Family Consumer Studies, Ethnic Studies Program, University of Utah. 1994,1995. Responsible for the following preparations:
FCS 564 Understanding Youth Gangs
ETHNC 3910 Understanding Youth Gangs

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS

“Using Critical Pedagogy to Fight against Religious Racism in a Conservative Context”: Crossroads 2004 in Cultural Studies, Fifth International Conference, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, June 25, 2004

“Race and Meritocracy: White Supremacy at a Religious Institution of Higher Learning”: Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State University, March 25, 2004

“African Americans in Mormonism: 25 years since”: Mormon History Association. Kirtland Ohio May 5, 2003.

“Stepping in the Right Direction”: Mormon History Association. Tucson Arizona April 17, 2002

“The clinical management of obesity”: Knoll Pharmaceuticals Obesity Seminar. Marriott Hotel, March 8 1996.

“The future of medical allied health occupations”: University of Utah School of Medicine April 1997.

“Managing obesity in family practice”: Obesity Symposia. Aspen Colorado May 1998

“Race and Clinical medicine: Communication is an art”: National Physician Assistant Conference. Salt Lake City. May 1999.

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS AND ACADEMIC WORKS

Smith Darron T., Bringhurst, Newell G. (an edited book in preparation due for release October 2004) Black and Mormon forthcoming by University of Illinois Press.

40 years later, the dream is not yet fulfilled: Moving Toward a New Social Rights agenda
Southern Christian Leadership Conference Magazine. Vol 32 no. 4, (Contributing Editor, Fall Issue 2003)

Assaulting Our Own: Why do we denigrate one another instead of uniting for social justice? Southern Christian Leadership Conference Magazine. Vol 33 no. 5, (Winter 2004)

Cultivating Cultural Competency
Advance Magazine. Vol 8 Issue 5, (January 4, 2000)

What Matters Most: A Guide Towards Improving Sensitivity (June 2000)
Scribe Publishing. Salt Lake City, UT

Our Efforts Can Have an Impact of Troubled Youth
Advance Magazine. Vol 13 Issue 8, (August 2, 1999)

Understanding Race: A Clinical Perspective
Advance Magazine. Vol 7 Issue 1, (January 4, 1999)

Clinical Care: African American Male Health
Advance Magazine. Vol 10 Issue 4, (April 2, 1999)

What Matters Most: A Story of Human Potential, (March 12, 1999)
Scribe Publishing. Salt Lake City

RESEARCH INTERESTS

College Students Perception of Race and Normality on Predominately White campuses.

Popular Culture and the Formation of Race and Representation in a Global Context

Racial Perceptions of Black Health Practitioners in U.S. Health Care.

White Teachers Perceptions of Race

Race and Medicine in the Antebellum Period

MEMBERSHIP IN ACADEMIC SOCIETIES

American Sociological Association
American Academy of Physician Assistants

ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATION

Utah Dispute Resolution, Utah bar /Conflict Mediator

ACADEMIC SERVICE

Co-Director “Voices and Views of Black America,” Utah Valley State College, 2003.
General Education and Diversity Committee, Utah Valley State College, 2003.
Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, Utah Valley State College, 2004.
Director “Celebrating our Heritage,” Utah Valley State College, 2004.
Co-Director “Brown” Seminar, David O’ McKay School of Education, Brigham Young University, May 2004.

40 Years later, the dream is not yet fulfilled

Originally posted on DarronSmith.com on 2004-09-29


40 years later, the dream is not yet fulfilled:
Moving toward a new social rights agenda.


Since integration, some African Americans have been brought in closer contact with white America, and middle class African Americans, to be sure, have truly benefited from such relations. However, working class blacks continue to suffer from low wages and unemployment in a nation determined to redirect tax dollars toward increased military spending, war, and conflict abroad. Millions of dollars are being spent by the Bush administration to fight wars and terrorism that seem destined for failure while millions of Americans go without decent health care, food and housing. While addressing thousands at the 40th anniversary commemoration of the March on Washington, held August 23rd 2003 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Martin Luther King, III, correctly noted that millions of Americans have no health insurance and many millions more have health insurance that doesn t cover serious illnesses. Let me make it plain as I can: we are here to call on congress and the white house to establish a health insurance system that covers every person and every illness. Nothing less is acceptable for a great democracy.

“Freedom is never voluntary given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Bush administration seems more intent on maintaining the status quo at the expense of those who have traditionally been left out and left behind. Indeed, Karl Marx, the German philosopher’s prediction regarding the polemical nature of capitalism (owners and managers versus workers) has come true, especially when considering how the wealthy are consistently enfranchised at the expense of the poor, the black and brown, women, gays and lesbians which is precisely what the Bush administration has maintained since he “won” the election.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s landmark “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered at the conclusion of what was then the largest organized display of civil solidarity. Given before some quarter of million people crowded into the national mall, Dr. King’s prophetic speech called a nation in crisis to do away with the immorality of Jim Crow racism and segregation, which was the order of day, and encouraged blacks to use non-violence toward the goal of full racial equality and social justice. As a result of Dr. King and other civil rights leaders’ struggles, white America would eventually institute laws that gave blacks, for the first time, real hope and promise. And although some progress toward social justice has been made, enduring problems and challenges abound for black Americans in this a socalled post-civil rights era. Blacks, in general, continue to suffer persistent racism at the hands of white individuals and white dominated organizations, and working class African Americans remain economically disenfranchised from the dream so vividly envisioned by Dr. King.

This summer’s observance of the historic March was an important symbolic gesture even if for nothing more than how it brought together concerned Americans, activists, community and civil rights leaders of all racial and ethnic groups to speak out against social injustice in all its forms. But I wonder if the strategy of marching and protesting has outlived its day? As I ponder about what went on at the march, I notice that newer generations of civil rights activists seemed unaffected by this tradition whose roots are deeply entwined with the practice of civil disobedience. Many young people in the hip hop community seem to think or feel that because they have greater freedoms, today, to move about and acquire jobs they have somehow “arrived.” They seem not to understand that their much-improved circumstances came about because of the sacrifices of many people who risked their lives for freedoms sake. Their freedoms came through a long sordid history of agitation against white supremacy and institutional racism that restricted their forbearer’s full participation in the American dream. I’m sure the march helped them get some sense of this, but in and of itself, I do not think it is enough.

Despite growing resistance to racial oppression and other gradual reforms, “full inclusion” in the dream continues to meet many stumbling blocks. Public education could help provide the understanding and platform that could lead to social change for youth, but instead, it often sustains the (re) production of classism and racial inequality. Poor facilities, a Eurocentric curriculum, tracking, and an abundance of uncaring teachers who have preconceived notions about their students of color—particularly black students—all serve to create an environment whereby young people are not expected to excel in school. Quite naturally, the inadequate preparation in public education ultimately translates into fewer opportunities in jobs and higher education, and even an awareness among the youth color of just how disenfranchised they are. Many do not even know the outline of the “dream” against which they can measure their current life conditions.

In addition, many white politicians fail to appreciate how much racism(s) shapes their lives, as well as, people of color and they are therefore unmoved by civil protest. They figure that America has already done its part in alleviating social injustice. The Johnson administration passed two significant laws; the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965, which legislatively redressed the evils of white supremacy. These politicians, along with their constituents assume that because changes were wrought forty years ago there is no longer a struggle. Racism is a thing of the past. So when they meet civil unrest today, whether in the form of speeches, marches, or all out violent revolts like the 1992 LA rebellion, they assume that “those people” are ungrateful for the wonderful things this nation has done for communities of color. And perhaps more importantly, many white Americans are under the false pretense that this nation has atoned for its past ills of social injustice and it is now the responsibility of each individual (they say) to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and become productive citizens.

Whiteness Theory

Whiteness theory has emerged in academic circles in the past twenty years. It describes the cognition and seemingly natural state of American-ness, which is synonymous with being white. I find it a helpful tool in explicating the “new racism” of white America and how Jim Crow has metamorphosed into a more subtle, kinder and gentler form of racist expression. According to whiteness theory, white people do not “see” racism because they are the beneficiaries of its privileges. They assume that racism is confined to acts of meanness against someone of another race. This simplistic definition of racism conceals the more destructive reality of racism as an institutional structure that has a life of its own. The manifestations of racism are not necessarily acts of violence like lynching against people of color but are found in racist policies and practices that do not take into consideration the voices and viewpoints of people of color. The whiteness of state, local and federal policies universalizes laws and procedures that more often than not harm communities of color. For example, the controversial Patriot Act, which is being vigorously pursued by the United States attorney general John Ashcroft attempts to negate a portion of our civil liberties under the guise of home land security. I do not know if Americans fully comprehend the danger in such a policy. The federal government would be granted even more power to invade into the private lives of American citizens through the use of wire phone taps and illegal searches of anyone whom it deems as “suspicious” or a “threat” to national security. Historically, these “suspicious” characters have usually meant black or brown folks, which may explain their overrepresentation in U.S. jails and prisons. Whiteness provides the backdrop for racism in that whites conduct business with little or no thought or understanding of the need for diversity in policymaking. A government that does not take into account the voice and will of all people under its jurisdiction is guilty of white supremacy thus perpetuating racism.

The unearned privileges of whiteness translate into increased structural opportunities for white people within institutions that relegate people of color under the rubric of procedural “fairness” and “neutrality.” A good example of these concepts are in standardized test taking, but how can institutions really be “fair” when there are no people of color co-constructing policies, methods and procedures in organizations? Without black representation and voice in policy-making in whatever organization, there will remain a profound distrust on the part of black Americans about the intentions of white controlled institutions, and many of these organizations will consciously or unconsciously engage in racist practices. For example, the Exxon Corporation was caught on tape devising a plan to exclude people of color from promotion thus relegating them to entry-level positions with no chance for mobility.

The New Social
Rights Agenda

The new social rights agenda of the twenty first century needs to concentrate on several tasks. The agenda must continue to help define what it means to be black in a white supremacist nation, and, in so doing strive for a greater and more vocal representation in our nation’s government. Reeducate the public that racism is not only about attitudes and behaviors. Calling someone the “N” word or burning a cross on her lawn, for example, is undeniably despicable, but this sort of action is a mirror reflection of racist thinking that has led to this personal action. Many white Americans overwhelmingly assume that because they are not name-calling or committing acts of violence against people of color they cannot possibly be racist. I am very glad that many Americans despise being thought of as “racist,” and much of the aversion to this label is the result of what Dr. King and others accomplished in the sixties, but racism has to do with more than just individuals. Racism is also present in a civilizational worldview that preaches the dogma of a “neutral” and “colorblind” world yet whose laws and goals about educational obtainment and social mobility have been designed by and for whites but passed off as universal for all Americans. It does not surprise black folks when whites incessantly utter that we are not working hard enough or that the system is race neutral. Colorblind racism is the new enemy of social rights; an unfortunate new rhetoric created by the pounding and twisting of Dr. King’s vision of a colorblind society. Many Americans assume that 1964 transformed this nation into a raceless society; in other words, we jumped from racist to nonracist with the stroke of a pen.

It is not that simple. It takes work to move beyond the crippling effects of institutional racism, and I am convinced that what Dr. King started forty years ago must not be abandoned because of a few freedoms and opportunities that have been gained for privileged middle class blacks. No, we must not rest until the poor and needy have greater chances of providing a life for themselves and their families. The new social rights initiative needs more young bodies that will mobilize into political action, especially if they will draw on the intellectual resources of organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League. More importantly, blacks need to build coalitions with various organizations committed to ending social injustice. Younger generations of blacks involved in the struggle must reconnect with the history of slavery and Jim Crow segregation in order to contest “the political right and all forces, both personal and institutional, which aim to roll back the clock.” This generation must not allow the illusion of racial equality thwart the cause of human liberation—there is currently nothing to celebrate for black Americans until all Americans, regardless of race, are economically and politically free.

We must keep hope alive through greater political participation. Black Americans have to vote for individuals who best represent their needs, and they must realize that just because someone is black it does not necessarily mean that they understand the black experience. Our experiences as African Americans are not monolithic but are rather a cornu- copia of music, social consciousness, poetry, dance and the struggle for human liberation within different locales and regions of the nation. African American Californians, for example, have a different social history and experience with whiteness than blacks living in Boston’s Roxbury district or in Selma, Alabama.

What all African Americans do share in common, however, is racial oppression. Many upper middle class blacks complain of constant discrimination at the hands of whites. They are not insulated from racial discrimination because racism still has a visual component. The first thing that is noticed about a person is not their wallet, but the color of their skin. Skin color then relegates them to a series of racial assumptions and subsequent stereotypes that are based on particular historical occurrences that each racial group has had with white America. African Americans, Latino/as, Native Americans and Asians Americans have all had some past encounter with white supremacy that has created racial assumptions about each group in some grossly distorted way. For example, blacks are less intelligent and Asian’s are more intelligent than average. Eventually these ideas create conditions whereby certain racial groups receive greater or lesser access to education or other avenues leading to economic advantage. A new social rights agenda should focus on bringing to light these subtle and abhorrently unjust systems of oppression that have become “naturalized” within the American fabric.

Until all Americans have three square meals a day, jobs that provide a living wage and equal pay for equal service, the fortieth anniversary march was not much more than an observance. It needs to be a beginning. It needs to be a jumpstart for deep reflection about Dr. King’s dream and how the dream has been deferred and will remain so unless all of us realize the caustic effects of the systemic racism and other injustices, which continue to polarize our nation. It takes much work that goes beyond legislation to change the hearts and minds of a people. White people must recognize that one way in which racism is perpetuated is in the unearned privileges of being white. And black people must stop believing the mythology of them as inferior (this is difficult given the constant images of popular culture) and continue working toward a new definition of blackness that falls outside the scope of whiteness and white supremacy. The way ahead will be difficult.

Organizational structures and cultures do not change easily. We as African Americans must do our part. We must register to vote and elect responsible government officials who care about the needs of the black community enough to upset the white elite’s sense of entitlement. Rioting and civil defiance may not be the most effective way at achieving a political advantage, but when a people are denied voice they will often lash out in violent and hostile ways.

In Conclusion

It is imperative that social and civil rights reform begin with all Americans—white people in particular. Too many white Americans believe that racism is completely a psychosocial affair therefore they are unable to “see” racism as a national problem. Until white people become as outraged about racism as people of color, social change will remain elusive. Social rights, like civil rights, at least partially, should be about teaching whites who remain in darkness over the vexing issue of racism and social injustice. And the responsibility for educating whites should not be the responsibility of people of color, but rather antiracist whites must shoulder that burden. These antiracist whites are persons who were schooled by people of color; they were able to teach them about the realities of racial oppression and how whites benefit from white supremecy. In order for America to become the nation it could be we must continue to push for change. The dream is not yet ful- filled and there is still work to do.

Darron T. Smith is Ph.D candidate in the department of Education, Culture & Society at the University of Utah. His research focuses on racial discrimination in white dominated institutions including public schools and higher education. He is co-editor of the forthcoming book (2004) off the University of Illinois Press, Black and Mormon. Darron is also contributing editor of this issue of the SCLC National Magazine.

New web site format for DarronSmith.com

Because of some technical reasons, I have had to change my web site. I am now using Blogger. I will move all of my previous articles and blogs to this new format as quickly as I can.

Thanks for your patience.