I reconciled the issue of
race relatively early on. It became an issue before we
joined the Church--wasn't a big issue. We just had heard about
it, but it wasn't something that we focused on as a family. We were more struck by
what we felt in our hearts when we heard the gospel, by
the friendliness of the members. And those two things
combined helped us to gain testimonies
of the gospel, each of us individually. I came to see myself
not as a Black Mormon but as a disciple of
Christ who is Black, and there's a difference
in that order. We need to identify ourselves
in that order as well. So I identify myself--and
everyone should identify himself or herself--first
as a child of God, as a disciple of Christ. And secondly, according
to the categories of men. We can see each other
not as the world sees us, in boxes and categories,
but as God sees us. There's a scripture
where the Lord says that we come to
see as we are seen and know as we are known. And I think through
the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our
hearts and our eyes are transformed such that we can
see each other in a godly way. I think all the answers
to all the questions and all the challenges that
we face in the Church start and end with the author and
finisher of our faith, who is the Lord, Jesus Christ. And so when we go
back to Him and focus our answers and our yearnings,
our longings around Christ and His salvation through
Him, His Atonement, then I think we can see more
clearly to understand the perspective and the context,
the eternal context, of things. And I think then that makes us
more patient, more loving, more understanding, more humble.