QUOTE: “There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less.” -Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p. 61. [source]
QUOTE: “What should be our attitude as Latter-Day Saints toward negro and other dark races? … We cannot escape the conclusion that because of performance in our pre-existence some of us are born as Chinese, some as Japanese, some as Indians, some as Negroes, some as Americans, some as Latter-Day Saints. These are rewards and punishments.” -Elder Mark E. Peterson during an address at the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level at Brigham Young University Provo, Utah, 27 August 1954. [source]
COMMENTARY: The Mormon church has officially accepted blacks into the church now, but have they officially retracted the old racist doctrine? I think they should. But what do I know? I’m just another apostate.
UPDATE: The Church quietly published an essay on December 6, 2013, in the Gospel Topics section of their website in which they stated: “Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects unrighteous actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form.” [source]
UPDATED COMMENTARY: Looks like the Church today unequivocally condemns the racist comments and policies backed up by the first ten prophets of their church. All this time I thought that their position was that prophets could not lead the church astray. But what do I know? I’m just another apostate.
