Mormon Stories #1319: George Floyd Killing and President Russell M. Nelson's Reaction Pt. 1

When the Church Went Silent: Russell M. Nelson's Muted Response to George Floyd's Death

In early June 2020, as American cities erupted in protest following George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the Latter-day Saint community faced an uncomfortable question: where was the Church's moral voice? While other religious leaders issued urgent statements condemning racial violence, the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remained conspicuously quiet during those critical first days. The Mormon Stories podcast episode #1319, released on June 3, 2020, captured this moment through intimate conversations with Black Church members wrestling with institutional silence at a pivotal historical juncture. Understanding this episode and the circumstances surrounding it reveals important tensions between official Church doctrine and the lived experiences of its most vulnerable members.

The Historical Context: Race and the Mormon Church

The Church's relationship with Black members has been fractured since its founding. For 126 years, from 1852 to 1978, the institution maintained an official policy restricting Black men from holding the priesthood. President Spencer W. Kimball's 1978 revelation that reversed this ban was framed as divinely inspired correction, yet it left decades of doctrinal damage unaddressed. Church leaders had taught that Black skin resulted from divine curse, that interracial marriage was sinful, and that Blackness itself carried spiritual consequence.

By 2020, many hoped the Church had moved beyond these teachings. Yet as Jason Ball, Victoria Kimi Lin, Cecile Nugent, and Spencer Nugent discussed on Mormon Stories, the legacy of those teachings continued to shape their experience within the faith community. These guests brought personal stakes to the conversation: some had recently celebrated loved ones receiving priesthood ordinations and temple access after the 1978 policy change, celebrations made newly urgent by their proximity to George Floyd's death.

The Silence and What It Communicated