I'm often told that I should concentrate on my testimony and not get caught up in peripheral issues about anthropology, linguistics and non-doctrinal histories. I agree, but there are some things that weigh heavy on my heart, and I sincerely hope someone might shed some light on how to grapple with certain things Church authorities have said. The big Kahuna is a quote from Spencer Kimball in 1960 that I'm sure many of you are aware of:
"I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today.... The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.
At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl--sixteen--sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents--on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather....These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated."
Reading this makes me sad. Perhaps there is some context that I'm overlooking. Again, any light you can shed would be most welcome.
