I am sorry. I have been and still am part of the problem. I used to believe in a religion that is inherently racist.

I believed that a man named Joseph Smith divinely translated a set of ancient golden plates containing

the records of the Native American people. This translation is what is known today as the Book of Mormon.

This book teaches that the Native Americans originated from people who traveled to America by boat from Jerusalem.

When they arrived, they were split into two groups, the Nephites and the Lamanites.

The Nephites were righteous and followed God's commandments.

The Lamanites were wicked, so God cursed them with dark skin.

The Book of Mormon says this curse was to make the Lamanites less appealing so that the Nephites would not, quote, mix their seed with them.

Not only is that concept obviously racist, the book itself is in and of itself racist.

By this I mean the book is known to all credible scientists, historians, and geologists, etc., to be patently false.

This book is not a true representation of the people of ancient America.

The Book of Mormon is a fabricated history of Native Americans written by a white man.

To believe a white man's version of Native American history instead of their actual

lived experiences, culture, and history is racist.

It's telling Native Americans that their history is not accurate and places the words of a white man as higher authority than the Native Americans themselves.

The Pearl of Great Price, which is another book of LDS scripture, teaches that Cain was cursed by God with dark skin for murdering his brother Abel.

It says Cain's descendants will also carry this curse because they are of his blood lineage.

This scripture was used as the basis of the teaching that black people were not as valiant as white people in the, quote, pre-existence,

and therefore they came to earth with dark skin.

This is also the basis of the reason black men were not granted the

priesthood and black families couldn't enter the Holy Temple until 1978. When I

was a number, I believed these scriptures were real. I actually believed that God

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