drumdude wrote: ↑Fri May 29, 2026 6:03 pm
As far as I'm aware, the statistics stand as such:
Number of black actors in
Witnesses(2021) : 0
Number of black actors in
Six Days in August(2024): 0
Number of black actors in
Becoming Brigham: 0
Number of black authors published in
Interpreter: 0
Number of black volunteers working for
Interpreter: 0
It's really easy to avoid racism when you have essentially zero interaction with people of that race.
Based on a cursory search. I believe
Tarik D. LaCour is one of the few people of color who has spoken at any Mopologetic conference. He's since forsaken the LDS religion and returned to the holy mother church. Notably,
Tarik is front and center on Daniel Peterson's Facebook friends list. I suppose this may make up for the statistical oversights above.
This is the problem that the Church is propagating. To correct over a hundred years of institutional racism you can't just stop the proactively racist policies and think that's job done. The problem is too ingrained within the root and branch population of the institution. To correct the problem you have to initiate policies of positive discrimination. The lack of proactive discrimination in the Church is an ongoing problem - not proactively seeking out black candidates for Apostleship and giving them preference over white candidates means here we are, nearly 50 years later, without a single black Apostle. And that's not just a PR problem, it's an institutional problem because it signals to members that black people are still inferior. Which is why we are still seeing members behaving in racist ways. The Church needs to lead by example and actively appoint black Apostles. Until that happens, organisations like Interpreter will follow that example and not actively seek to improve the diversity of their institutional hierarchy by proactively seeking out black speakers and black volunteers and black contributors, and giving those people more of a shout. It's simply not enough to just say "okay, we won't be racist anymore". That doesn't address the problem that's been created. The Church needs to be actively anti-racist, which is different to just not being racist anymore.
This is a good piece on the problem...
Racism is broadly defined as a systemic hierarchy based on race that has become enmeshed with our institutions, policies, and culture, in a way that benefits white people and keeps traditionally marginalized individuals in a position of disadvantage. This sense of subordination is maintained by individual actions, sociocultural norms, and institutional structures.
It is critical to understand that there are two overarching categories of racism: passive and active racism. Active racism includes explicit actions taken in order to maintain the system of racism and the continued oppression of those in targeted racial and ethnic groups. This may look like overt advocacy for the preservation of the position and “rights” of the members of the agent group (e.g. Ku Klux Klan members holding a public rally to promote white supremacy).
On the other hand, passive racism is less obvious, yet just as malicious. These are implicit beliefs, attitudes, and actions that inherently contribute to the maintenance of racism, often stemming from unconscious/implicit biases. Microaggressions are commonly grouped under the umbrella of passive racism; specific examples include phrases such as “I don’t see color” and “you speak good English for a [insert racial/ethnic group member here]” as well as perpetuating the myth of meritocracy, assumption of intelligence/deviancy/etc., pathologizing cultural communication styles, or simply acting as a bystander in the face of injustice.
Therefore, we must be committed to embodying acts of active anti-racism in exchange of passive anti-racism. It has never been enough to simply verbalize a stance of anti-racism, and it will never be enough. We must be able to recognize and act on the fact that individual liberation cannot exist without collective liberation. Here is a visual that clearly distinguishes between passive and active anti-racism, as well as differences between ally behavior and anti-racist advocacy: It is necessary to not only claim anti-racism, but to continually work towards equity among and within communities, either through policy and advocacy work, or through conscious dismantling of internalized narratives rooted in bias and prejudice.
An example of being actively anti-racist would be to remove the racist passages from the Book of Mormon. Ending the Priesthood Ban but leaving those passages within the canon is an example of passive racism. The Church as an organisation is still being passively racist because it isn't taking the actions necessary to become anti-racist. Just look at the recent Apostle appointments - racism is alive and well within the First Presidency and Quorum of 12 Apostles, even if they are blind to it.
