My Personal Attitude about Race,

And the Priesthood for Blacks

in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I had always considered myself as color blind  until some personal experiences made me realize that there were still areas of improvement for my attitudes. I had my first experience with deep seated racial prejudice and unreasonable hatred while serving on the Army in the fifties. I had a serious leg injury which placed me in the hospital. For a few days, a fellow soldier from the deep South and I were the only occupants of the ward. He had majored in English, in college, and we had some stimulating discussions. Eventually a black trooper was added to our duet, and the following morning, while only the white GI and I were in the bathroom, he went into such a vicious and unreasonable diatribe about this blankety-blank n****r that it was impossible for me to identify the intelligent young man with whom I had had interesting conversations. I was literally shocked.

At the same time there was a black orderly serving our ward. He and I had become good friends, so that after I was released from the hospital, we spent quite a bit of time together. In fact, he went to Church with me on several occasions. On one occasion I sked him if he had a girlfriend. He did. I sked him if he had a picture. He showed me the picture of lovely, black girl, and I as awakened to the fact that my conception of beauty was far from color blind. I was rudely awakened to the fact that my racial attitudes had definite limitations. 

While teaching at Indiana State University I experienced another awakening. Three black students came to class with, what seemed to me, was an obvious chip on their shoulder. They dared me to “learn them something”. I braced myself for a challenging semester. It turned out that those three students were intelligent and hard-working and came to be among the top in the class, in fact their contributions added much to the learning atmosphere for the entire class. Again, I realized that I had to overcome some limitations in my racial attitudes.

That same semester I was preparing material for my class in the preparation room adjacent to the large theater-style classroom. A black colleague was using that classroom as a meeting place with a student group he was advising. I eavesdropped. At first, I just heard a word or two, without really paying attention. After a while it was obvious to me that he helped the students understand, that racial tensions can be moderated when both races learn to understand each other. This was much like Booker T. Washington in “Up from Slavery”. I stayed until long after I had completed my preparation, and introduced myself to my colleague, and we became good friends.  He taught a Sunday School class in a black Baptist Church, and on one occasion he invited me to come to his class to introduce the class to Christian teachings as understood by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I mention these details to help you understand how he responded when President Kimball announced the revelation opening access to the priesthood to all worthy male members of the Church, and participation in temple ordinances to all worthy members, regardless of race. He knew how I felt about my black brothers and sisters, and he also knew that I would rejoice, and, out of respect for me, he wanted to share my joy, so, when he heard the announcement on TV, he called me on the phone to express our shared joy.

A neighbor, who at that time served as the judge in the local juvenile court, approached me one day: “How can you, as an intelligent human being, associate with a church which discriminates against the black race”?  My response: “What the Lord does with His Priesthood, is His business. How I treat my black brother, is my business, and if I treat my black brother and my black sister in any way other than with deep love, my Father will hold me responsible.