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Racist Doctrine in Come Follow Me Lesson Manual Already Distributed


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This is long but well worth the read. 

My Black Timeline.

1990’s. Provo, Utah.

My mom and dad’s interracial marriage was the scandal of the mormon century, and my whole childhood is full of people struggling with the belief that all these brown kids came out a white woman.

I remember going to the store with my mom, and people would stop us to ask her “Where did you get those black children??” and “How much did your children cost??”

I have an early memory of finding my sister screaming in pain, standing in the bathtub trying to bleach her skin so that girls at school would stop calling her “ugly” and “evil”. Another contributing factor to this incident was when our next door neighbor approached us in our backyard and she told us we “would never rid the devil of our black skin”. We were just 4 and 5 years old.

In Kindergarten, my principal tried to suspend me after a playground incident. I found my sister crying because a girl wouldn’t let her go down the slide. She stood at the bottom yelling “No brown girls are allowed on the slide!” I explained to my dad that I went down the slide anyway, she refused to move out of the way and my feet kicked her face. I don’t know what my dad said to Mr. Roper, but I was escorted back to class.

The only other physical altercation I’ve ever been in was when one of the neighbor boys called my little brother a nigger. I gave him a black eye and he smirked about that for weeks. I was 11 or 12 and I cried for days not understanding why this boy was happy that I punched him. My dad and I discussed alternative ways to resolve my anger about our neighbors.

It wasn’t long after that, that same neighbor boy tried to stab me repeatedly with a massive needle and he told me to die. I could outrun every boy in the neighborhood including him. I got away from him while bleeding from a pinhole scar 3 inches below my heart. When parents went next door to talk, they locked themselves inside and refused to answer the door.

For a lot of years people told me I looked like a boy. I would walk in a public restroom and white ladies would stare at me and say I was in the wrong bathroom and I needed to leave. They had never seen a little black girl with an afro I guess.

2000’s. Utah County.

When my youngest sister was playing outside, one of the younger neighbor boys threw a big rock at her face and ran away. She was bleeding around her eyes and almost needed stitches. My dad immediately went to their house to talk to their father, who was our mormon bishop. He was home, they were all at home. But they refused to answer their door. Again, and again and again they avoided confrontation and they have never been held accountable by anyone in our neighborhood.

When my baby sis was in elementary school, that same boy made everyone laugh with the joke, “Why does Beyonce sing to the left, to the left? Because black people have NO RIGHTS!” She cried for hours because she didn't understand why it was funny. He later gave her the nickname “Fatty Addy”, and he used it so often, it followed her to high school.

When I was in junior high, kids used to try and make their handprint in my afro, or try to make my afro bigger or smaller. Or stick pens or pencils in it and laugh behind my back. I had to carry around hair supplies to maintain my afro because people messed up my hair all throughout the day in my various classes.

In 9th grade, for an entire year, whenever I walked into a class one of my friends would yell “Look out everyone! There is a black person in the room!” Even my math teacher laughed.

Throughout college, while I was in the education program, the head of the department was a professor who targeted me for over two years. I filed complaints that resulted in an unsupervised meeting between her and I where she told me she would make sure that I never became a teacher. After I graduated I didn’t get my teaching license and it took me two weeks of calling UVU’s various departments before they traced the issue back to a written request to have my name removed from the list of graduates that year, signed and submitted by that same professor. I had to re-apply for and repay the licensing fees, and then I had to wait almost 6 months before I could be issued a teaching certificate and I couldn’t apply for any jobs until then. Everyone else from my graduating class found teaching jobs in their preferred areas.

I had 14 teaching interviews in Utah County, including a job interview at the high school I graduated from, where I had two siblings currently attending. I kept being told I wasn’t quite what their community was looking for but I was encouraged to keep applying for teaching jobs at other schools because I would “surely find the school that would be the right fit for me.”

One time I bought a filing cabinet at Deseret Industries, and the cashier nodded when I asked if I could use the dolly to take the filing cabinet out to my car if I brought it right back. I was stopped in the parking lot by a middle-aged white man in plain clothes, who told me he was security for DI, and a police officer for American Fork. He took me back inside DI and kept me in a room for 2.5 hours, interrogating me about my attempts to steal this rusty old dolly. He said he knew when I came in that I was there to steal, and he called me “a really horrible liar.” When the actual police arrived, the cashier eventually told them that the dollies are stationed next to the filing cabinets for that purpose, and then the guy had to let me go. That was the closest I have ever been to being arrested, I realized that I am the most privileged black person that I know.

2011, Early Educator, Utah

I was attending a back to school AVID training in a conference room, and I was freezing so I put my hoodie over my head and stuck my hands in my pockets. A teacher at my school who I learned to be my local union president, yelled to me from two tables over “Hey Charlotte, take your hoodie off! You look like Trayvon Martin!” That racist remark when unchecked by everyone who knew about it until I finally confronted her myself, while we were at an anti-racist training that she had been forced to attend. She apologized in person and via email later that day. Apologies can be nice. But what would be really nice, is if we lived in a world where a black person can feel comfortable wearing a hoodie.

My first year teaching at Jordan high, during my first week of school, a student scratched “nigger” into my classroom door. The custodians had to sand it off my door.

My second year, I walked into my classroom one morning and found “LARTEY HAS EBOLA” written in large letters across all of my whiteboards.

Another time, I was called to my principal’s office during my prep period because I had sent him an email to let him know that he created a hostile environment in my classroom when he announced over the intercom “ATTENTION! “There is a group of HISPANIC BOYS who are tricking people into eating ghost peppers. These are dangerous and can send you to the hospital so if you see any of these hispanic boys, report them immediately!” He called me to his office just to yell at me for 25 minutes about the evidence that proves that he is not racist and all the reasons that he will not stand for me calling him a racist. I tried to get up and leave multiple times and he yelled “Sit down Charlotte! I am not done talking to you!” I thought for sure one of his secretaries would hear him and would come and let me out.. I felt trapped, but I had to sit there until he was done screaming at me, and when he was done I was not invited to respond, but I was excused to leave. So I did and I cried in between my classes the rest of the day.

2016- M.Ed from Southern Utah

For my master’s thesis I developed and conducted a research study on fostering resilience to close the opportunity gap for at-risk youth. I taught AVID and used our students as my subjects. It took a whole year to plan and write the first three chapters of my thesis and get it all approved from my school, guardians and SUU. When I applied for my last capstone class in the spring, I wasn’t approved to register and couldn't figure out why until my grades were released. We needed to maintain B’s to stay in the graduate program and my previous professor had given me a B-, at 79%. I was told to take the class again, and I would need to postpone my research project for the following school year in the fall. I was able to work out a deal with the professor, who agreed to raise my grade the 1% I needed, if I wrote 3 page papers to fully explain my writing process for each of the three chapters of my thesis. He said that my chapters were well written but he was not convinced that the writing process was mine, and it caused concerns about my “professionalism”, and my ability to conduct my own research study. I stayed up all night to write the papers that explained everything I read and all my thoughts about my own thesis chapters, and I turned in 9 pages the very next day. It still took him almost two weeks before he made the grade change and by the time I was approved and in my capstone class, I had an entire month less than everyone else in my cohort to complete and publish my thesis project. It was pushed so far, I defended my thesis to their board the day before my graduation ceremony. Which I didn’t bother attending because I could barely feel celebratory in this massive personal achievement, because I was overly consumed with the relief that came from finally conquering my last educational obstacle. I was so exhausted, I never celebrated earning my masters degree.

A few years ago in April, a friend of mine passed away. I left the hospital and drove home to Salt Lake around 3am and I was followed by a police officer for six miles before he exited the freeway with me, pulled up beside me, looked at me, slowed way down to get behind me, and then pulled me over right by Smith’s ballpark, just a half a mile from home. His first words were “Is this your car?” I was having a bad night, I was exhausted, and I had a lot of words for this *** of a cop, pulling me over in the middle of the night for no reason. But I remembered what my parents taught me. I left twenty minutes later with no ticket, and a warning to do something about my license plate not being visible in the dark.

Last year, one of my colleagues visited Rose Park Junior high in Portland and then came to find me just to tell me that I should go look for a job there because I'd probably fit in so much better in a school with more black people.

It’s 2020.

My black timeline is not over yet because I have lived a privileged life with two extraordinary parents, and access to educational opportunities. I have been equipped with a variety of protective factors that allow me to thrive in this world of racial intolerance. I have had to become a master of my own emotional regulation, stress resilience, conflict resolution, and interpersonal communication skills as if my life depends on it, and I do believe my black life depends on these things. My black students today, are still being called niggers at school and on the bus, they are still being discriminated against by their peers, their teachers, and by our educational system. My black timeline expands 30 years but I have changed a lot more than our world has.

THE BLACK TIMELINE is a history of painful experiences, obstacles, intolerance and injustice that started over 400 years ago and it continues onto today, tomorrow, and every day hereafter.

For so many of my brothers and sisters, this black timeline has been ripped apart and cut way too short.

For so many of my brothers and sisters, this black timeline might as well be cut short because we never asked for this plague of difficulty, disparity, death and consistent grief.

I think people forget that the end stage of grief is the feeling of hope. The problem is that hope gets lost in the depths of the black timeline. Even though I know how important it is to have hope, I have to dig really, really deep to find it. And I have to try even harder to convince the younger generation that it exists, and that I know it’s there, even though they can’t see it and I can’t show it to them. And I have to try even harder to convince myself that I don’t have to feel it all the time to know that it’s there, I just have to believe it is. My black timeline makes it really difficult, but I mean, it has always been this way.

 
 
 
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16 hours ago, Dan McClellan said:

Yeah, and there's a ton of racism involved in how we treat Asian folks, too. They have the additional problem of the model minority myth, too, so the expectations regarding Asians is much different. Can't forget Hispanics, either, though, when talking about California. This is many years after the founding of our country, though. 

Lots of people have offered lots of solutions. President Obama's recent online town hall featured a list of eight principles that research suggests could reduce police violence by 72%:

https://8cantwait.org/

For real systemic change, though, we've gotta correct for discriminatory housing practices, we need to fix the school-to-prison pipeline, we need to adequately fund schools based on something other than property taxes, we need prison reform, we need books, television, movies, and the media to give power over to POC to tell their own stories instead of using them to punctuate white-centered stories with stereotypes. A good place to start learning what we can to do combat systemic racism is here:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Antiracist-Ibram-Kendi/dp/0525509283

Sorry does not ship to Mexico. Perhaps you can give a summary of how to be anti- racist?

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I guess I don’t understand why some people seem unwilling to just sit with this and just listen to our brothers and sisters of color who are hurting. Why get defensive and come back with “yeah, but...”. They are asking to be heard. They have tried it quietly, and now a bit louder. Are we really listening to find out what we can do to help make the situation better, or are we content with the status quo?

Edited by Peacefully
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I guess I don't understand either the appalling judginess targeted at fellow Saints, or the permissive attitudes towards this particular brand of politics. Hard to understand rules so arcane.

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27 minutes ago, USU78 said:

I guess I don't understand either the appalling judginess targeted at fellow Saints, or the permissive attitudes towards this particular brand of politics. Hard to understand rules so arcane.

Yes, where the topic of solving, and many of the touted solutions to solve racism have been secularly politicized, judginess is extremely easy. Where charity faileth, also. So I vote for the politics and economics of Zion.

I also think that governments were instituted of God, and that the light of Christ often shines through inspired scholarship, assisted by advancements in technology and the sciences. I think members have an obligation to pursue that kind of advancement in knowledge which improves everyone's life.

Human nature can't help absorbing the traditions of the fathers, and each generation is just as fallen as the one before (this is why they persist). It shows me that the Lord worked with just about anyone to ensure the keys and other essentials were restored first and that enough people got the Holy Ghost and the covenants, and from there we can see -- perhaps slowly but it is hastening -- the Lord preparing a people for His return.

I read Alma 8 today and was impressed with how the Lord judges people in light of the traditions imposed upon them unawares. I suppose this is why the Church doesn't offer apologies (just improvements) or seek apologies from others (just redress when called for). As awareness improves, so will improvement in behavior, and ironically perhaps, in getting redress.

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31 minutes ago, USU78 said:

I guess I don't understand either the appalling judginess targeted at fellow Saints, or the permissive attitudes towards this particular brand of politics. Hard to understand rules so arcane.

Systemic racism transcends party and mere politics. It seems to me from experience here that political-proximate topics can be appropriate as long as they remain apartisan.

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4 minutes ago, Meadowchik said:

Systemic racism transcends party and mere politics. It seems to me from experience here that political-proximate topics can be appropriate as long as they remain apartisan.

So ... am I to understand that, so long as one toes a particular party line, the permissible one, one's judginess of others is not judginess but rather mere observation, and one's politics is not impermissibly partisan but rather permissibly apartisan?

Neat trick.

Edited by USU78
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10 minutes ago, USU78 said:

So ... am I to understand that, so long as one toes a particular party line, the permissible one, one's judginess of others is not judginess but rather mere observation, and one's politics is not impermissibly partisan but rather permissibly apartisan?

Neat trick.

Of course some people do make systemic racism a partisan issue. But, here, there is a difference between discussing systemic racism--a topic that is deeply connected to the church and impacted by the gospel-- and framing systemic racism in a partisan way. 

I could start a thread on veganism and scripture, btw. And of course someone could make it a partisan issue if they want and start pointing fingers at political parties. But that framing is off limits here.

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2 minutes ago, Meadowchik said:

Of course some people do make systemic racism a partisan issue. But, here, there is a difference between discussing systemic racism--a topic that is deeply connected to the church and impacted by the gospel-- and framing systemic racism in a partisan way. 

I could start a thread on veganism and scripture, btw. And of course someone could make it a partisan issue if they want and start pointing fingers at political parties. But that framing is off limits here.

Could you please provide me with a useful definition? I'm afraid every one I've heard of thus far has failed in actual practice to tell me what the pesky beast actually is. Deuced inconvenient.

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16 minutes ago, USU78 said:

Could you please provide me with a useful definition? I'm afraid every one I've heard of thus far has failed in actual practice to tell me what the pesky beast actually is. Deuced inconvenient.

I think the appropriate meaning to "partisan politics" in this context is the explicit support or opposition to an actual political party. Just my opinion, of course. 

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2 hours ago, Peacefully said:

I guess I don’t understand why some people seem unwilling to just sit with this and just listen to our brothers and sisters of color who are hurting. Why get defensive and come back with “yeah, but...”. They are asking to be heard. They have tried it quietly, and now a bit louder. Are we really listening to find out what we can do to help make the situation better, or are we content with the status quo?

The status quo is one of the reasons things have been so slow to change. I’ve been thinking about what I would have done had I been there when George Floyd kept saying “I can’t breathe!” Would I have risked being arrested or even physically harmed by the police in order to save his life? I hope so. It's easy to claim a course of action in retrospect, especially when the likelihood of being in that situation is so small. What about other situations that are more likely? When somebody says something racist, will I pretend I didn’t hear it or will I call that person out? Will I risk being thrown out of a business establishment in the fight against racism? Will I risk losing friendships or family relationships in the fight against racism? Will I risk my reputation or employment in the fight against racism? Will I be passive or active in this important battle?

Being passive allows those who are actively racist to keep doing what they are doing.

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31 minutes ago, Meadowchik said:

I think the appropriate meaning to "partisan politics" in this context is the explicit support or opposition to an actual political party. Just my opinion, of course. 

I think intentional ideology is important also, when addressing "a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy (copied from online dictionary)" such as racism. I use the adjective "intentional" because so much ideology is visceral and unrecognized (not that those are inherently bad in and on their own), and we need to be able to articulate where were are coming from when we discuss potential systemic (and not personal) solutions. We are talking about systemic things, even though they affect emotional beings in a personal way. This is a highly charged, emotional topic (as well it should be), so intentional communication I think is essential and would be a valuable feature in our political system of discourse.

Edited by CV75
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1 hour ago, Meadowchik said:

I think the appropriate meaning to "partisan politics" in this context is the explicit support or opposition to an actual political party. Just my opinion, of course. 

I meant racism, but thanks for that.

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32 minutes ago, USU78 said:

I meant racism, but thanks for that.

I think it is an ideology and/or system where a correlation between "humanness" (including human pursuits, accomplishment,advancement and contribution to the whole) and skin pigmentation is observed, cultivated and/or enforced on any scale.

Of course in various contexts it can take on a more specific definition, and denying the humanity of any of God's children for any reason is a problem.

ETA: I'm using "humanness" and "humanity" as synonyms...

Edited by CV75
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7 hours ago, provoman said:

don't bother, seriously don't bother, just ignore the post

I didn’t realize he was said to be the driver, I thought he was with someone else and sitting as a passenger in the car. I am glad she posted it. 
 

Was he actually the driver?  Was there someone with him who could drive?

What it the policy for drunk/drugged drivers?  Always arrest or are other options available (taking keys and calling for someone to come get them perhaps).  Anyone know? 
 

I can see reason to take him into custody if he was the driver and appeared under the influence. 
 

Passing a counterfeit 20$ when he was not known to be intentionally involved in the production and spread, take his info and let him come down to station on his own imo. 
 

People should be taken into custody when a danger to themselves or others or when there is certainty of a significant crime that did or will significantly harm others and reason to believe they will flee jurisdiction (neither of the last two conditions seem to exist in this case).

However, massive care should be taken when assuming custody even for a known criminal. It may appear silly at times, but simple things like making sure their head doesn’t hit the car when being placed into it makes sense. Using a dangerous knee to neck restraint does not. 

Edited by Calm
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1 hour ago, USU78 said:

I meant racism, but thanks for that.

There have been other posts here which went into systemic racism already, but you can also find some books on it. In fact, learning Black history in America is very important for understand what is happening right now. Here's a free book, Stamped from the Beginning - The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Ibram X. Kendi, that is available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6PzcVM8Z1GMqeGlMBQ6ikX

Here's a short video describing some layers of systemic racism, although it occurs in many more contexts than the video specifies including law enforcement: https://www.facebook.com/NowThisPolitics/videos/2471083903114363/?v=2471083903114363

1 hour ago, CV75 said:

I think it is an ideology and/or system where a correlation between "humanness" (including human pursuits, accomplishment,advancement and contribution to the whole) and skin pigmentation is observed, cultivated and/or enforced on any scale.

Of course in various contexts it can take on a more specific definition, and denying the humanity of any of God's children for any reason is a problem.

ETA: I'm using "humanness" and "humanity" as synonyms...

Rather than "skin pigmentation," it is more like lineage and perceived lineage. 

 

 

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5 hours ago, rodheadlee said:

Sorry does not ship to Mexico. Perhaps you can give a summary of how to be anti- racist?

 

5 hours ago, Dan McClellan said:

 

His problem is some stuff can’t be opened in Mexico, so this video may or may not have the same issue that he can’t view it. 

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16 minutes ago, Calm said:

I didn’t realize he was said to be the driver, I thought he was with someone else and sitting as a passenger in the car. I am glad she posted it. 
 

Was he actually the driver?  Was there someone with him who could drive?

What it the policy for drunk/drugged drivers?  Always arrest or are other options available (taking keys and calling for someone to come get them perhaps).  Anyone know? 
 

I can see reason to take him into custody if he was the driver and appeared under the influence. 
 

Passing a counterfeit 20$ when he was not known to be intentionally involved in the production and spread, take his info and let him come down to station on his own imo. 
 

People should be taken into custody when a danger to themselves or others or when there is certainty of a significant crime that will significantly harm others and reason to believe they will flee jurisdiction (neither of the last two conditions seem to exist in this case).

However, massive care should be taken when assuming custody even for a known criminal. It may appear silly at times, but simple things like making sure their head doesn’t hit the car when being placed into it makes sense. Using a dangerous knee to neck restraint does not. 

I am not sure of the motivations were for the Police  to have shown up. If he was the driver and appeared to be drunk or under the influence, then I can see a reason for police to show up and assess the situation. Counterfeit money is Secret Service jurisdiction, so I agree get the identifying information and pass it along to the Secret Service. 

 

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13 minutes ago, provoman said:

I am not sure of the motivations were for the Police  to have shown up. If he was the driver and appeared to be drunk or under the influence, then I can see a reason for police to show up and assess the situation. Counterfeit money is Secret Service jurisdiction, so I agree get the identifying information and pass it along to the Secret Service. 

 

You're probably aware already, but did you know that both worked in security at the same club? I wonder if the cop had it out for George Floyd beforehand.

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6 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

You're probably aware already, but did you know that both worked in security at the same club? I wonder if the cop had it out for George Floyd beforehand.

However, no name was attached to the call, so irrelevant to why the cops were there in the first place.  Possibly an effect on how he was treated once they got there. 
 

Iirc, the owner said their shifts didn’t overlap, but that doesn’t mean no encounters or no reasons (the issue might be a mutual acquaintance or something available to all shifts).

Edited by Calm
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