Mormon Prophets' Push to Erase Racist Past | Ep. 1963

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent the final decades of the twentieth century perfecting a particular public relations maneuver. Faced with growing scrutiny over its century-long priesthood ban against Black members, church leaders chose a strategy of general condemnation rather than specific accountability. They would decry racism in the abstract while carefully avoiding any mention of the specific doctrines that had labeled Black skin a curse, barred African Americans from temple ordinances, and taught that Black members had been "less valiant" in a pre-mortal existence. This approach,