People have asked me, "How
can you, as a black man, be a member of
the Mormon Church? Is the Church racist?" or "I
thought the Church was racist." What I tell them
is that The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is one of the most racially
unifying organizations in the history of the world. It is powerful in its potential
to help all of the human family see one another as
children of God. I think that black people
and white people and Asians and Hispanics and Aboriginal
people from all over the world are coming together in
the gospel, in Christ, and are becoming one under the
banner of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's as if part of the
marvelous work and a wonder that was prophesied would come
about in these last days, which we know is the gospel
of Jesus Christ, includes unity of
the human family. The Book of Mormon is one of
the most racially unifying books in the world. It's the only book of scripture
where God explicitly tells people of one color to reach out
across color barriers to those of another color with the
gospel of Jesus Christ, where God organizes a society
in the context of a large family--I'm thinking of Lehi and
Sariah--who have children who then become divided and assume
different colors and different cultures. But throughout
their history, God tells the righteous of
whatever color to reach out to those of the other color. And ultimately, in 4 Nephi, He
brings that whole family back to one in Christ. And the scriptures say, "Surely
there could not be a happier people among all the people ...
created by the hand of God." And I think that's what
God wants for His children in these latter days.