For many years I’ve wished that I knew a devoted black Mormon well enough to comfortably ask the question, “How do you reconcile your testimony with the racist things found in The Book of Mormon?” I love this book, but every time I read about groups of people being cursed with a “skin of blackness” or repenting and becoming “white and delightsome” I cringe inside.
Who knew that there are great answers out there to my questions? Not me. I’ve just been living under a rock, preoccupied with my own program, reading my old copies of the scriptures, oblivious to the church changing around me. Today’s post is aimed at any others, who like me, haven’t quite caught up to the times.
This week I listened to a speech given by Marvin Perkins, who—along with Darius Gray—has a whole website, devoted to this and other issues pertaining to race and the LDS church. The answers he gives, while not official LDS, are entirely faithful, relying heavily on the scriptures. There are hours of video and reading available there, but let me give just my brief thoughts—many of which I have taken from Brother Perkins—on the narrow topic of seemly racist phrases in The Book of Mormon (BOM).
A good starting point for this discussion is an understanding of idioms, which can be defined as “expressions that cannot be understood from the meanings of their separate words but that have separate meanings of their own”. A good example is the phrase “over the hill”. A non-English speaker might take this literally and believe that someone’s location has changed after some climbing. Even if they understood that it was a figurative expression, it would make sense that it means that a person has moved beyond sight, possibly due to death or estrangement. There really isn’t anything about the phrase that indicates old age. Understanding idioms often requires us to use textual clues.
A second important point to understand is that race—as we think of it—is a relatively recent and entirely man-made concept. Most of the credit (or fault) for our current language of race can be attributed to Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a German anthropologist, who in 1775 published his work classifying people, mostly by studying skulls.
He concluded that humans could be divided into five races and he assigned each race and name and color. For example, he named one group Caucasian after the Caucasus Mountains. We still use the term even though most “white people” probably couldn’t find these mountains on a map (hint: they are located between the Caspian and Black seas). All “black people” were labeled Ethiopians, regardless of their country of origin.
His assignment of colors—white, black, brown, yellow, and red—also seems rather imprecise. Why not beige, tan, peach, bronze, or taupe? Aren’t we all really just various shades of a brown? How Blumenbach’s theories were used to justify racism or how they have since been refuted are beyond this discussion. The important point is that during Biblical or Book of Mormon times the terms black and white wouldn’t have been used to describe race. So what do the words black and white mean when used to describe people in the scriptures, and how should we understand what seem to be racist phrases?
Since we know they don’t refer to race, we may want to consider whether they are Hebrew idioms and study their use in context to understand their meanings. In doing this it helps to remember that there are many different translations of the Bible. This Bible translation guide shows the continuum of these versions from those that are the most word for word translations (these attempt to take each word in the original language and match it up with its closest English counterpart) to those which are the most thought for thought (these look for the meaning of each phrase or sentence and then use phrases and sentences in English that communicate the same ideas and feelings). These differing translations serve a variety of purposes, including making the Bible easier to read for those with less education or more relatable to a modern audience.
In the LDS church we use our own edition of the King James Bible (KJV), which falls nearer the more literal end of the scale, but in this chart, there are five versions that are more direct. Many of these versions are available to read online and can be helpful in understanding the true meaning behind the words which have been translated as black, white curse, and skin.
Let’s start with the word black and look at Jeremiah 8:21 in the KJV
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Looking at the Interlinear version tells us that the word that is translated as black was the Hebrew word Qadar, which means to mourn.
Next let’s look at Jeremiah 14:2
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
Here the footnote in the latest LDS version of the KJV tells us that the phrase black to the ground means dejected. Other sources translate the use of the word black, as related to people in the Bible, as gloomy or frustrated.
These are just a beginning and I don’t want to spend too much time on a long list of scriptures. If you are interested there are many other examples which can be found in Brother Perkins’ material or by following the footnotes in the most current LDS printing of the Bible or on the Gospel Library app. I believe that if you research the original meanings you will become convinced that blackness in the scriptures is an emotional and spiritual condition rather than a racial one. Likewise, you will discover that “whiteness” refers to purity and righteousness and not skin tone.
But I can hear you saying that the BOM actually talks about a “skin of blackness”. So does the Bible. Let’s look at what seems to be a Hebrew idiom. We find this in Job 30:30
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
I don’t think we jump to the conclusion that Job actually changed colors because of his many trials or that the people of Jeremiah became darker because of the hunger caused by the famine. It seems fairly clear that, while in both cases the writer used the word skin, he was actually referring to countenance or spiritual state.
The last word I wish to consider is curse. I grew up believing that Cain and/or Ham and their posterity had been cursed with dark skin. I’m quite sure that I got these ideas from other members of the church, and my perception was that these theories were generally accepted as doctrine. I hate to admit that only recently have I been entirely clear that these philosophies about curses had been disavowed. This despite the fact that Elder Bruce R. McConkie made this strong, yet humble statement following the lifting of the priesthood ban in 1978.
It is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whomsoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world.
We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past.
A careful study of the scriptures shows that the true meaning of the word curse in both the Bible and the BOM is a separation from God, his spirit, or his people. While there is mention of a mark being placed on Cain, the scriptures never say what that mark was. It appears that theories about dark skin being the sign of a curse originated several hundred years before the LDS church was founded and were used to justify the practice of slavery. It is not surprising that members of the church believed these common notions, or that correcting these widely held beliefs takes time.
I am grateful that as church president Gordon B. Hinckley made this very clear statement, which is now on LDS.org as part of the Race and the Priesthood essay.
Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects unrighteous actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form.
There are two things in particular that I have been on my mind since hearing Brother Perkins speak concerning blacks in the scriptures. The first concerns Joseph Smith’s translation of the BOM. I have to think that Joseph may also have believed—as I and many, many others did—that the Lamanites had been cursed with a dark skin. It also seems unlikely that he would have knowingly included Hebrew idioms that coincided with those found in the Old Testament. There are also several other subtle textual clues in the BOM that refute the idea of black Lamanites and white Nephites.
In Alma 3:4 we read:
And the Amlicites were distinguished from the Nephites, for they had marked themselves with red in their foreheads after the manner of the Lamanites; nevertheless they had not shorn their heads like unto the Lamanites.
Think about that. If the Lamanite and Nephites were different colors, why would they need a red mark or different hairstyles to distinguish themselves?
There is also something interesting in Alma 55:4 where Moroni
caused that a search should be made among his men, that perhaps he might find a man who was a descendant of Laman among them.
And it came to pass that they found one, whose name was Laman; and he was one of the servants of the king who was murdered by Amalickiah.
Should finding the one guy with dark skin among a white army actually require a search, or would he be rather obvious? Could it be that they were looking for someone who understood the Lamanite culture or language rather than one who matched their color? The story continues:
Now Moroni caused that Laman and a small number of his men should go forth unto the guards who were over the Nephites.
And when it was evening Laman went to the guards who were over the Nephites, and behold, they saw him coming and they hailed him; but he saith unto them: Fear not; behold, I am a Lamanite. Behold, we have escaped from the Nephites, and they sleep; and behold we have taken of their wine and brought with us.
Now when the Lamanites heard these words they received him with joy.
As you consider this story, notice that the guards saw them coming. Wouldn’t the one brown guy with his group of white buddies have seemed suspicious? Notice also that it was his speaking to them that calmed their concerns, rather than his appearance.
I have been impressed by how well the following substitutions work in scriptural texts.
Gloom or wickedness for black
Purity or goodness for white
Countenance or spirit for skin
Separation from God, his spirit, or his people for curse
Try it in 2 Nephi 26:33, a verse that at first seems to be an obvious reference to race.
He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.
Then notice that we have a very similar list in Alma 1:30.
They were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respect to persons as to those who stood in need.
and again in Alma 11:44
Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous;
This is the kind of stuff that I have never noticed in the BOM before—and which I question whether Joseph Smith was even aware—that reinforce my belief that the BOM is an inspired translation rather than a clever fiction.
The second thing that I have been pondering since hearing Brother Perkins, is why I was so content to wait for someone else to give me an answer to my questions. These answers were out there, primarily in the scriptures themselves, yet I didn’t find them. We have been commanded to
Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.
Have I been content to lean on the knowledge and testimony of others, rather than search ponder and pray for my own understanding? I think so, but I want to do better.
