GA Church Historian apology for his racist comments

[Okrahomer]

Here

What was he thinking?!

 

[Calm]

I am grateful he apologized.  I understand the feeling one needs to do something to distract from feeling or sensing awkwardness as that can even rise to the level of pain for some people, but his choice was so wrong.  It was more than cringeworthy.  

It should be obvious imo it is going to take many LDS time to get used to the style of This Little Light of Mine.  And rather than just admit they are struggling to adapt, I can imagine there will be jokes and many will be inappropriate.  I hope the actually nasty remarks and outright rejection of the song will be limited to a few and far between.  I love that the Church leadership went ahead and put it in rather than bypassing the discomfort.  We will never change our culture for the better if we don’t accept discomfort from time to time.  We certainly have required it of converts over time.

I don’t really get this remark though.  There is a massively long history of whites not only seeking out Black culture for entertainment, but also stealing it for their own without giving credit, but have I missed where LDS in particular have been making fun of Black hair or food?  Or are we unusual in using Black music as a source for entertainment (I am thinking of Gladys Knight’s performances, but also when the purely white Mo Tab many decades ago sang folk songs as I am guessing some of them were Black spirituals, but I have never been a fan of choir music, so I don’t know of specific songs to be sure).  Not saying there hasn’t been patterns of racism in the Church, the Ban was an enormous mark that had ripple effects of racism throughout our culture imo.  And to me judging people’s spirituality as less than is worse than mocking food or hair, which is bad enough, so not intending to try and trivialize our general racism over the decades.

Maybe this kind happened in other parts of the US, I just don’t remember encountering anything amounting to a pattern with either.  And find it hard to imagine where it would have occurred. Neither would be used as examples in talks or lessons, as far as I can remember and any pictures of Blacks were done in the same style as other races portrayed (thinking of the cartoon like style at times used in the Friend and pictures of members around the world elsewhere.

Quote

 “It follows a long pattern of the LDS Church taking sacred Black spiritual and cultural practices — be it music, food or hair — and turning them into caricatures, racist humor or entertainment for mostly white audiences.”

 

Edited Monday at 12:22 AM by Calm

[longview]

Serious question - - - what style are the Oakridge Boys using?

 

[MustardSeed]

I really dislike this type of apology.
It’s meaningless. Without self reflection and understanding why, the attitude still remains. Does he not recognize that these comments were rooted in attitude? Sheesh this makes us all look so bad.

 

[Okrahomer]

20 hours ago, Calm said:

I am grateful he apologized.  I understand the feeling one needs to do something to distract from feeling or sensing awkwardness as that can even rise to the level of pain for some people, but his choice was so wrong.  It was more than cringeworthy.  

It should be obvious imo it is going to take many LDS time to get used to the style of This Little Light of Mine.  And rather than just admit they are struggling to adapt, I can imagine there will be jokes and many will be inappropriate.  I hope the actually nasty remarks and outright rejection of the song will be limited to a few and far between.  I love that the Church leadership went ahead and put it in rather than bypassing the discomfort.  We will never change our culture for the better if we don’t accept discomfort from time to time.  We certainly have required it of converts over time.

I don’t really get this remark though.  There is a massively long history of whites not only seeking out Black culture for entertainment, but also stealing it for their own without giving credit, but have I missed where LDS in particular have been making fun of Black hair or food?  Or are we unusual in using Black music as a source for entertainment (I am thinking of Gladys Knight’s performances, but also when the purely white Mo Tab many decades ago sang folk songs as I am guessing some of them were Black spirituals, but I have never been a fan of choir music, so I don’t know of specific songs to be sure).  Not saying there hasn’t been patterns of racism in the Church, the Ban was an enormous mark that had ripple effects of racism throughout our culture imo.  And to me judging people’s spirituality as less than is worse than mocking food or hair, which is bad enough, so not intending to try and trivialize our general racism over the decades.

Maybe this kind happened in other parts of the US, I just don’t remember encountering anything amounting to a pattern with either.  And find it hard to imagine where it would have occurred. Neither would be used as examples in talks or lessons, as far as I can remember and any pictures of Blacks were done in the same style as other races portrayed (thinking of the cartoon like style at times used in the Friend and pictures of members around the world elsewhere.

 

I agree that he was likely trying to fill a void of embarrassment about a song we are still grappling with. I also agree that it’s moments like this when well-meaning people are most prone to errors in their off-the-cuff remarks. It does feel like the temporary lapse reveals something about our culture — a flaw — that needs fundamental fixing. 

Edited Monday at 08:23 PM by Okrahomer

[Okrahomer]

19 hours ago, longview said:

Serious question - - - what style are the Oakridge Boys using?

 

This sounds like southern gospel to me — very much in line with other pieces by the Oak Ridge Boys. 

[Calm]

3 hours ago, Okrahomer said:

does feel like the temporary lapse reveals something about our culture — a flaw — that needs fundamental fixing. 

It becomes a more instinctive response as the brain scrambles in discomfort or even panic imo and yeah, that reveals other levels.  

Doesn’t mean it’s the true, authentic person and the other we usually see is the mask, people are complex and can have attributes that are contradictory.  Some of the most generous people I know were also the most self centered in certain ways, not exactly selfish, just assumed people would respond as they expected them to.

Edited Monday at 11:43 PM by Calm

[bluebell]

I’m glad he apologized. There wasn’t much else he could do since you can’t unspread butter, as they say. 

[Okrahomer]

55 minutes ago, Calm said:

It becomes a more instinctive response as the brain scrambles in discomfort or even panic imo and yeah, that reveals other levels.  

Doesn’t mean it’s the true, authentic person and the other we usually see is the mask, people are complex and can have attributes that are contradictory.  Some of the most generous people I know were also the most self centered in certain ways, not exactly selfish, just assumed people would respond as they expected them to.

Agree 100%. And here I am feeling all high and mighty about it, when I could have the same or similar lapses.

[Okrahomer]

12 minutes ago, bluebell said:

I’m glad he apologized. There wasn’t much else he could do since you can’t unspread butter, as they say. 

Totally agree

[Tacenda]

I've not done my due diligence on reading all the posts thoroughly, my take was different. My take is he made fun of whites not blacks because blacks or African Americans have the ability to show a lot of emotion and rhythm.

Please correct me if I'm really not getting it.

This morning I played pickleball with friends that are in his ward in Kaysville and they brought it up and were disappointed too.

Edited yesterday at 01:26 AM by Tacenda

[Calm]

1 hour ago, Tacenda said:

because blacks or African Americans have the ability to show a lot of emotion and rhythm.

I think you might want to phrase this as some Black culture communities use emotion or rhythmic music in their expression more than typical white culture communities.  Or something similar.  
 

You are being careful not to say Blacks are more emotional but better at expressing emotion, but remembering how much I loved getting labeled as emotional because I am female, I think it’s best to step it even further away from being some sort of personal racial attribute and point to cultural community differences instead. 
 

And there may be a better way to say it than I did as I am not a bright light today, but half asleep.

As far as the GA goes…making a joke about a guy pretending to be an African slave?  He was implying it seems to me that if the guy was just better at singing, at imitating a slave singing, it would be okay.  It wouldn’t be though.  There are a couple of other reasons I find it problematic, but that’s is the one that jumped out at me first. 

Or maybe this makes more sense…it became more than a “white guys can’t jump” joke when he brought in ‘No, I’m an African slave, is what I am, and I’m singing ‘Suwannee River’”.  You got a white guy pretending to be black as part of a joke.

Edited yesterday at 02:43 AM by Calm

[theplains]

I don't think an apology was ever issued for this October 1960 General Conference sermon by Spencer 
W. Kimball either:

"The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now 
becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite 
missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos; five were darker but equally delightsome.
The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters
in the hogans on the reservation.

At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little 
member girl — sixteen — sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was 
several shades lighter than her parents — on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to 
the same sun and wind and weather. There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had 
an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother 
just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing 
to whiteness and to delight-someness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion 
were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated".

[Tacenda]

15 hours ago, Calm said:

I think you might want to phrase this as some Black culture communities use emotion or rhythmic music in their expression more than typical white culture communities.  Or something similar.  
 

You are being careful not to say Blacks are more emotional but better at expressing emotion, but remembering how much I loved getting labeled as emotional because I am female, I think it’s best to step it even further away from being some sort of personal racial attribute and point to cultural community differences instead. 
 

And there may be a better way to say it than I did as I am not a bright light today, but half asleep.

As far as the GA goes…making a joke about a guy pretending to be an African slave?  He was implying it seems to me that if the guy was just better at singing, at imitating a slave singing, it would be okay.  It wouldn’t be though.  There are a couple of other reasons I find it problematic, but that’s is the one that jumped out at me first. 

Or maybe this makes more sense…it became more than a “white guys can’t jump” joke when he brought in ‘No, I’m an African slave, is what I am, and I’m singing ‘Suwannee River’”.  You got a white guy pretending to be black as part of a joke.

Thanks Calm, I always need a sound voice! 

I get it now, before I just thought of Gladys Knight and her mentioning we needed to up the beat in our hymns, but don't quote me.

So those were the lines I was going on. I did admit not knowing exactly what happened and so glad you commented, half awake or not, it's much better than my explanations on things. ETA: my spelling on Knight was night for crying out loud. Lately I can't remember how to spell or words, dang it. 

Edited 10 hours ago by Tacenda

[Calm]

16 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Thanks Calm, I always need a sound voice! 

I get it now, before I just thought of Gladys Knight and her mentioning we needed to up the beat in our hymns, but don't quote me.

So those were the lines I was going on. I did admit not knowing exactly what happened and so glad you commented, half awake or not, it's much better than my explanations on things. ETA: my spelling on Knight was night for crying out loud. Lately I can't remember how to spell or words, dang it. 

It didn’t register with me that he “reenacted” his friend’s singing the first time I read it, I think because I would not expect that in anything but a casual conversation or comedic routine.  It’s easy to miss stuff because of our expectations.  I try to remember to read things twice before reacting, but sometimes I have read things several times and still missed something crucial. 

I find my spelling is sloppy these days, too much reliance on autocorrect.

[bluebell]

On 6/15/2026 at 7:24 PM, Tacenda said:

I've not done my due diligence on reading all the posts thoroughly, my take was different. My take is he made fun of whites not blacks because blacks or African Americans have the ability to show a lot of emotion and rhythm.

Please correct me if I'm really not getting it.

This morning I played pickleball with friends that are in his ward in Kaysville and they brought it up and were disappointed too.

That's how I read his comments as well.  That he was attempting to make fun of white people but really messed it all up.