The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an article on the 30th anniversary of the revelation on the priesthood. Excerpts follow:
For more than a century, such scriptures were interpreted by Mormon leaders as a rationale to ban people of African descent from holding the priesthood. With each generation, the teaching became more ingrained.
But by the 1970s, in the wake of the civil rights movement, members of the church began to question the ban. That triggered a series of meeting and debates about the issue. And in 1978, the top leaders of the church said a revelation from God would, from now on, allow blacks to join the priesthood.
In 2006, church President Gordon Hinckley, who died earlier this year, gave a speech about racism. He confronted Mormons with their own prejudices, calling them “unacceptable.”
“There is no basis for racial hatred among the priesthood,” he said.
Some Mormons feel the church has not gone far enough. They say that while the 1978 revelation was a good step, the church needs to repudiate its history, explain the roots of its racist teachings and do more to teach the next generation about the church’s history.
“The 1978 revelation changed what was being done, but the problem is that there was no education to follow,” said Marvin Perkins, a Mormon and co-author of the book “Blacks in the Scriptures.” “We tore down the wall, but we didn’t clean up streets afterward.”
Margaret Young, 53, a professor at Brigham Young University, agreed.
“We have a long ways to go to disabuse people of the things that were taught in my generation,” she said. “People my age were all taught the curse idea. The restriction was lifted, but no one repudiated the ideas themselves.”
Some black Mormons say the church is doing fine when it comes to race and integration.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find an organization more earnest in its outreach and more inclusive and effective at integrating people of African descent into its membership and leadership,” said Ahmad Corbitt, who is African-American and director of the church’s New York Office of Public and International Affairs.