Is BYU a reflection of a racist Church?

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IHAQ
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Is BYU a reflection of a racist Church?

Post by IHAQ »

BYU is overwhelmingly populated by LDS members (98%) and so is representative of the Church.
At Brigham Young University, Black students represent less than one percent of the 30,000 undergrads on campus, a fact that can leave many of the Black students feeling isolated. But they do have a Black Student Union which has tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to encourage more inclusiveness on the school’s Utah campus.

“The fact that we have a ‘Black’ table is an issue in itself,” BYU junior Kylee Shepherd said in an interview with Newsweek. “It just goes to show that we’re not welcomed at anybody else’s table. To relate it back, because we go to a church school, Jesus would have wanted me at his table and so, I should be allowed at any table.”
Link

I think the demographic on display at BYU - less than 1% black students, is a shocking indictment on the Church.
Black BYU students felt their cries for representation were going unheard. So in February of 2022, Shepherd, along with Nate Byrd, Rachel Weaver, Kennethia Dorse and Sebastian Stewart-Johnson launched The Black Menaces on TikTok to show the rest of the world what life is like for Black students on campus. The group approaches white BYU students to ask their thoughts on topics like whether they think Black people should receive reparations and if they think white privilege exists. The account currently has over 675,000 followers and nearly 23 million likes.
Clearly the University and it’s Masters in Salt Lake have paid lip service (if that) to the need to work hard to ensure racial equality.
The Black Menaces say their goal is to share their experiences with as many people as possible. “The Black Menaces aren’t affiliated with BYU, so they can’t hold our voice back,” said sophomore Stewart-Johnson. “We wanted to highlight everything that we go through in a way that millions could see it.”

“There’s a lot of prejudice and discrimination that goes on here that people don’t know about,” Nate Byrd added. “And so our goal is to let people know that hey that exists here, and this is something that needs to change.”
Sadly, this kind of public activism is the only way the University and the Church will ever change. Neither organization changes proactively, they have to be dragged their by good brave people speaking and acting publicly to shame them into progress.
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Uncle Rico
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Re: Is BYU a reflection of a racist Church?

Post by Uncle Rico »

Howard University has a 2.2% white student population. By your logic, that's a shocking indictment on Howard University. Should Howard University actively recruit people of white color to satisfy your woke sensibilities?
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Uncle Rico
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Re: Is BYU a reflection of a racist Church?

Post by Uncle Rico »

0.142% is the percentage of white students at Spelman University. Are you OK with that percentage or do you think we should boycott Spelman University for not being diverse enough?
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drumdude
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Re: Is BYU a reflection of a racist Church?

Post by drumdude »

Uncle Rico has a great point. We should classify BYU as a Historically White University. It can be a safe refuge for white students who have been discriminated by the woke movement.
huckelberry
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Re: Is BYU a reflection of a racist Church?

Post by huckelberry »

drumdude wrote:
Mon Apr 25, 2022 4:47 pm
Uncle Rico has a great point. We should classify BYU as a Historically White University. It can be a safe refuge for white students who have been discriminated by the woke movement.
You might have a point. Few if any of us really understand the suffering and fear that Uncle Rico has to endure.
toon
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Re: Is BYU a reflection of a racist Church?

Post by toon »

Uncle Rico wrote:
Mon Apr 25, 2022 12:13 pm
Howard University has a 2.2% white student population. By your logic, that's a shocking indictment on Howard University. Should Howard University actively recruit people of white color to satisfy your woke sensibilities?
OMG. Is this where you really want to go? Questioning the diversity of a HBCU? Seriously?
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Kishkumen
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Re: Is BYU a reflection of a racist Church?

Post by Kishkumen »

How many Black people in North America apply to BYU and really want to go there? My guess is not many. The land of the lily-white. With all of the people out there moaning about how awful BYU is, it’s funny to see people complain about who gets to go there. Let’s talk about who is forced to go there by religious nut job parents. My parents tried to warn me off, but I didn’t listen.

And I had a good time there. It all worked out OK. Was it diverse? Not really, and I think that would have made it better, but I don’t know that BYU can woo people of color to attend a religious university in the milky-white Utah County.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
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Doctor CamNC4Me
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Re: Is BYU a reflection of a racist Church?

Post by Doctor CamNC4Me »

Have any black students who attend BYU expressed why they chose to attend that school? I’m only passingly familiar with The Black Menaces as their content has been shared on Reddit’s r/exmormon. I find value in humans choosing to interact with outgroups, but I’m not sure what appeal exists for a black student to attend BYU? I’d much rather a child attend a PAC-12 school over 80% of the private colleges and universities that exist, mainly for the academic standards, networking, and research that I don’t believe BYU can match.

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Hugh Nibley claimed he bumped into Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Gertrude Stein, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Romanoff. Dishonesty is baked into Mormonism.
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