Like most of you, recent events have riled up swells of thoughts and emotions for me. I am deeply disturbed that someone the community entrusted to serve and protect it callously and coldly snatched the life of a non-violent man. I am pleased with the near unanimity in this nation’s repudiation of the repulsiveness of racism. I am disquieted by the determined efforts of the few to destroy the freedoms of the many under the guise of justice. I am alarmed that those we have voted into office to safeguard our rights have not only abdicated their responsibilities to preserve them, but also have discriminately vacated our ability to exercise them. With the juxtaposition of all of these things swirling within me and around me, I, like you, have wondered what I am supposed to think and what I am supposed to do. Two things have stuck.
First, racism is real. Generally, in the recent past, many considered racism to be something mostly found among those in white supremacist groups. Many imagine white men and women dressed in either white sheets or in Nazi garb to be poster children for this disgusting belief. Because of this distinguishable evil, it is easy to see why many of us do not consider ourselves racist. Yet, like many things in life, discrimination exists among us on a spectrum.
We readily recognize the range of love we feel for those around us. The way we love our parents is not the same way we love our siblings. The way we love our friends differs definitively from the way we love our partners and spouses. The way we love our children is discriminate to the way we love our neighbors. We consciously and subconsciously positively discriminate or make a distinction daily based on our perception of people’s affiliation to us. Since that is the case, is it possible that many of us (I include myself in this) negatively perceive others because of the way someone looks? My personal conviction based on experience and observation is that the answer to that question is “yes.”
Years ago, President Ezra Taft Benson gave a landmark talk addressing the sin of pride. He said—
The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.
We are tempted daily to elevate ourselves above others and diminish them.
The proud make every man their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. (CR April 1989, Saturday Morning, “Beware of Pride”).
In speaking to the church, the prophet Jacob admonished them because of their pride and their hatred for the Lamanites due to the the color of their skin (Jacob 3:5). He sternly stated “a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against [the Lamanites] because of the darkness of their skins” (v. 9). In recalling their preparations to preach the gospel to the Lamanites, Ammon reminded his brethren what others said to them about their venture—
For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers, as stiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the shedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning? Now my brethren, ye remember that this was their language.
And moreover they did say: Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us.
But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls. (Alma 26:24-26)
When Samuel the Lamanite preached repentance among his fair-skinned Nephite brothers and sisters, he told them that he knew that his race made it difficult for them to hear the word of God from him—
And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have cast me out from among you (Helaman 14:10).
My family moved from New York to Massachusetts when I was eight years old. When I was 12, we moved to a new town in the state. The first day of sixth grade at a new school, a girl sitting behind me, started flirting with me and playing with my leg. I didn’t know what to do or think about it. It was the first time that had happened to me. While I was trying to process it, I heard the words that still ring in my mind today.
The boy next to her said, “I can’t believe you like a spic.” I didn’t know what that meant but I knew that it wasn’t good. My research confirmed my impression. Throughout my youth, I heard racially motivated and derogatory things said to me and to others. As part of my personal repentance in seeking forgiveness for my own sins as part of joining the Church and becoming a covenant-keeping member, I asked God to forgive and bless those who said these things. I also pled for help in forgiving them as well. Last night, I was driving with my windows down in Bountiful Utah and two young men pulled next to me and shouted a racial slur at me. It didn’t anger me. It saddened me. I prayed for them that God would forgive and bless them.
At BYU, I had a friend who was from a place in the country historically known for racism. He told me that because his father was a “full on racist” he grew up one as well. When I asked him what they thought of famous athletes like Michael Jordan of the NBA, he said, “We say ‘he is a good boy and like the slaves of old is doing a good job for us’.” Keep in mind that this was coming from active members of the Church.
He then proceeded to tell me what changed his life and heart. Before his mission, he attended a prestigious university to play baseball. His teammates came from various backgrounds and races. As he spent time with them on and off the field, he said, “I realized that these are good people and not that different from me.” “They became some of my best friends.”
Acknowledging that we discriminate negatively as we do positively allows us to make changes in our lives. We call that repentance. Because we may have uncomfortable feelings about someone that is different from us we shouldn’t consider ourselves evil or bad. It’s natural. However, God doesn’t want us to be natural. He wants us to be like Him and His Son.
The Savior taught the Nephites, “I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” (3 Nephi 12:48). Through the prophet Nephi, He also taught us—
He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.
Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men.
Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.
He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white. (2 Nephi 26:24, 27-28, 33)
The second thought that this current climate has confirmed is the need to be alert and vigilant concerning the words and actions of those who seek to curtail our rights to speak and worship. The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were inspired to commence the construction of the Constitution by consecrating the specific freedoms of religious worship and speech. This was done without reservation or apology. Why are speech and worship intertwined as expressions of a free people?
After his arrest in Gethsemane, “the chief priests and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death.” (Matthew 26:59). All of their witnesses testified not of what He did, but what He said. Eventually, it is what the Savior said about Himself that led these wicked men to kill Him.
The high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. (v. 63-66)
Throughout this world’s history, others, like the Master, proceeded to their death not because of what they did, but what they said and believed. In pronouncing capital punishment upon Abinadi, King Noah said—
Abinadi, we have found an accusation against thee, and thou art worthy of death.
For thou hast said that God himself should come down among the children of men; and now, for this cause thou shalt be put to death unless thou wilt recall all the words which thou hast spoken evil concerning me and my people (Mosiah 17:7-8).
After the prophet of the Lord told him that he would not recount what he said and believed, the king, fearing God, was about to let him go. However, his priests moved him to murder Abinadi.
But the priests lifted up their voices against him, and began to accuse him, saying: He has reviled the king. Therefore the king was stirred up in anger against him, and he delivered him up that he might be slain (v. 12).
Revile is another word for criticize. For being openly critical of the king and those who believe as he did, Abinadi lost his life. The people of Ammonihah murdered their neighbors for what they believed. If it wasn’t for God’s grace because of the missions Alma and Amulek still had to perform, they would have also lost their lives because they “had reviled against their law and also against their lawyers and judges” and “they had testified so plainly against their wickedness” (Alma 14:2-3).
Some will argue that we must legislate against hate speech because of the harm it causes others. Hate speech is harmful. I do not believe that the childhood phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is true. Words do hurt. They hurt bad. Our minds easily and quickly remember what people say to and about us. It’s understandable why we look to prevent that from happening.
The problem becomes who decides what is hate speech. The chief rulers of the Sanhedrin considered Jesus’ words as hate speech. King Noah and his priests judged Abinadi because of his hate speech. Alma, Amulek, and many others have been imprisoned for hate speech. James Madison, one of the United States’ Founding Fathers firmly declared—
Our First Amendment freedoms give us the right to think what we like and say what we please. And if we the people are to govern ourselves, we must have these rights, even if they are misused by a minority.
God wants us to be a free people. He wants us to be free to choose between love and apathy, faith and doubt, obedience and sin, heaven and hell. As we choose to love one another as He loves us, as we seek to speak kind words as He speaks them to us, as we work to walk with Him as He works to walk with us, we will find that we have “chosen the better part” (Luke 10:42). We will feel the peace, hope, and happiness that He has prepared specifically for each of us before our birth and this world’s creation.
One last concluding thought. In the midst of this tumult and trial, we may feel anxious about the present and the future and alone about what to do about them. As natural as it is for all of us to feel this way, we’re going to get through this together. On an especially trying day, after tearfully praying and pleading to God for His help with things in my life, I received a short text message on my phone from a wonderful friend who is not a member of the Church. I hadn’t heard from him in a while. His message simply said, “Hey John, how are you my friend?” At that moment, I knew that God knew that I knew He had inspired my friend to serve as my ministering angel. (CR, April 2020 “Spiritually Defining Memories”).
And now the year of my redeemed is come; and they shall mention the loving kindness of their Lord, and all that he has bestowed upon them according to his goodness, and according to his loving kindness, forever and ever.
In all their afflictions he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them; and in his love, and in his pity, he redeemed them, and bore them, and carried them all the days of old. (D&C 133:52-53).
I bare my witness that God our Father is aware of everything that is happening to us and around us. Because of His love for us, He sent His Son to save and not to condemn us. The Savior has restored His Church with prophets and Apostles, covenants and ordinances, priesthood and scriptures, the gift of the Holy Ghost and gifts of the Spirit, to prepare the world for the time when He rules as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Because He is at the helm, we have no need to fear, but to believe.