COMMENTARY | Martin Luther King Day is today and the South Carolina primary is just around the corner. We're about to celebrate the success of a great civil rights activist and follow it with a vote in which Mitt Romney leads the race, according to Reuters. South Carolina residents should ask themselves if they really want to vote for a man whose religion tells him black people are dark-skinned because God cursed them.
According to LDS.org, the Book of Mormon says God blackened sinners' skins until they repent and that the curse is inherited their children. People might find it offensive to be told their skin color is God's punishment but that if they repent God will magically change their skin to make them less loathsome. Mormons might be taking the Biblical equivalence of being sinless and being white as the driven snow a bit too far.
I doubt Joseph Smith held a postgraduate degree in genetics. Maybe those words were the best explanation he could come up with regarding skin color and the results of mixed-ethnicity childbearing. Smith's writings certainly reinforced racial bias within the Mormon faith regardless of the cause.
This all comes from a religion with a history so bizarre it gets lampooned by outlets as goofy as Seth McFarlane's cartoon Family Guy and the Miami Herald questions whether Romney's faith will be a problem during his campaign.
I suggest black-skinned Americans vote for a candidate other than Romney. Helping elect a man whose holy book tells him all black people are sinful and that their skin color is a curse from God might result with less-than-favorable treatment of people of color. As president he'd be in position to influence national policy. The risk he'd let his religious background guide his decisions is important to consider before casting a ballot.
Remember, civil rights activists fought hard to win equal rights for people regardless of their ethnicity. Martin Luther King Jr. might have had a dream, but it's unlikely it was about a quest to repent and turn white.
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