Congo! Heart of . . .

Note: this post was written by Margaret Blair Young.10978523_10205732907663604_8019387993902337906_n

 

A decade ago, I was writing historical novels about black LDS history. I was contextualizing the death of Mary Ann Adams Abel, wife of black LDS priesthood holder Elijah Abel, and reading newspapers of the day.   What stories were those at Mary Ann’s funeral reading in 1877—the year Brigham Young also died? The most interesting article (for me) was one published in the Deseret Weekly News on December 5, 1877—a week after Mary Ann’s death.

 

Stanley . . .has furnished the world with a complete map. . . of the Congo, down in Africa. A fresh field is opened to missionary labor. The benighted tribes of the wilds of Africa will not long be left without the knowledge of the world’s Redeemer . . .

 

“Stanley” refers to Henry Stanley. Earlier that same year (1877), Stanley had written, “This is a blood-thirsty world, and for the first time, we feel that we hate the filthy, rapacious ghouls who live here” (Reybrouck, p. 35 –link).

Twenty years later, Joseph Conrad would be the Congo, and would create the character of Kurtz, who wrote in his journal’s margin, “Exterminate all the brutes!”

In 19th Century Utah, Africa was a mystery, but the belief in humanity’s divine nature apparently persuaded Mormons that even “benighted” Africans could be converted.   There were already missionaries in South Africa—that mission opened in 1853—though the black population was not sought out.

The Victorian view of African blacks held them as almost a different species than whites. In LDS conversations and sermons of that day, speculations were repeated that some spirits had been “neutral” or “less valiant” in the pre-existence and were identified by black skin, or that they were judged according to their conduct in the pre-mortal world and sent either to “advantages” if they had been faithful or to “disadvantages” if they had been less faithful. The predominant idea in the Church was that “advantages” included birth into comfort and covenant.

When my co-author, Darius Gray, was contemplating past statements on race made by Mormon leaders, he was distressed and seeking understanding. As he prayed in August, 1998, he received a revelation .

He describes it as a “flood of knowledge,” during which he came to understand that “race”—that elusive division based on skin color and culture—was not a “curse” but a “calling.”   Darius, when presenting this idea, often acts out a scene in the pre-mortal life:

So, God calls me and tells me, ‘Darius, I’m going to send you to a people who have been misunderstood, oppressed, and maligned. You will be born into a poor family and at a time of great turmoil. Can you maintain the love of Christ in your heart? Can you live without envy or bitterness?’ And, fool that I am, I said, ‘Yes.’ Then God talks to you and says, ‘You will be born into what many will consider an advantaged position. You will have material wealth. Can you maintain the love of Christ in your heart and resist the temptation to think that you are better than others? Can you focus on charity rather than on your wealth?’ And you said yes.

Darius has been my mentor throughout the sixteen years wherein I have studied race issues in the LDS Church.   Before him, there was my dad, who showed me by his example how to treat others with unfeigned love, how to learn their languages and how to be unified with them.

With the life lessons these two men have given me, I plan on spending much of the rest of my life in the very place the Deseret News described in 1877. I will stand where Stanley and Conrad stood, but in a century when we recognize racism, or at least its symptoms.

I have already been to the Congo for initial filming of Heart of Africa  and found nothing “benighted” about the people there. Quite the contrary. I found them peace-loving, intelligent, and eager to see progress. They are fully aware that their nation is perhaps the richest on earth in natural resources, but that political corruption, some cultural traditions, and conspiring foreigners have kept the poverty level high.

I was born into wealth with all of its blessings and all of its temptations and distractions. As I near age 60 and look towards how I will wrap up my life, I happily accept the CALLING to provide access, help, and comfort in the Congo, in exchange for friendship, French teachers, manioc makers, and godly examples, which I know are plentiful there—even in some who have completely different concepts of this world, humanity’s place in it, and how we must interact if we are to leave our posterity with a hope for peace.

The “calling” is not to a particular place, but to a state of heart. It is a call to responsibility, to live at the core of pure religion—“to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep. . .unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). I find that the closer I stay to the core, the more willing I am to be gently led, and the more I see a heart of light in my fellow mortals.

 

 

 

11 comments for “Congo! Heart of . . .

  1. Aw, thanks Jean! Those novels were a landmark to where we’re heading now. And I don’t know how far the journey goes. I know that I have seen miracle after miracle, and I know that I get to be “BFF” with Darius Gray, which is a huge privilege. Great things are happening!

  2. Fantastic post, especially relating Darius’ experience. One of my all time favorite talks was by Elder Ashton along these very lines. Unfortunately lost my copy (a print out) from water damage and can’t seem to find it again. However in it Elder Ashton talks seriously, perhaps in reaction to the ideas of the time, that most of those we see and think they are blessed are actually cursed and those we judge cursed are actually blessed. He gives some examples of people who have it so easy living in suburbia and think they are blessed but that ease makes their progression harder. The idea was that struggle was key for our progression and that we often don’t have an eternal perspective. I’m positive he was reacting to the whole false doctrine of “fence sitters.” Not just in relation to the priesthood ban but the still common near Calvinist idea that riches are blessings.

    It seems to me, as you fantastic quote shows, that we’re called to act. The people who need to act are usually those who have to strive against great odds. The rich sitting in idleness are most likely not those “noble and great ones” the Lord has called. If our life is easy perhaps we should be more focused on lengthening our stride so that we accomplish more from an eternal perspective.

  3. No. That’s got a somewhat similar theme as do several other talks he gave at BYU. This one was explicitly about coming from pre-mortal life and judge our circumstances incorrectly. I can’t find it at BYU or LDS.org – believe me I’ve looked.

  4. I should note that I may be recalling the speaker wrong too. I’m pretty sure it was Elder Ashton, who’s long been one of my all time favorite GAs, but it could have been Ballard, Oaks or someone else of that era. The talk was given to me as a handout in one of my BYU classes in the early 90’s which sort of limits what talk it could have been.

    Good like with your project Margaret. Nice to have an authentic story of missionaries in Africa not biased by the South Park guys.

  5. Hi Clarke, the talk you are looking for reminds me of an article written by Eugene England, “Are all alike unto God?: Prejudice against Blacks and Women in popular Mormon theology”. I found this part thought-provoking: “If good earthly parents had a chance to send one child to a badly-run summer camp and one to an excellent one- and one child was sinful and troubled and the other righteous and a good influence- where would they send the troubled child? To the place the child could get the most help, I think the gospel would suggest, and most of us would believe. But that means, assuming God is such a good parent, that we who are born into privileged white Mormon families were likely those least valiant in the pre-existence and in need of help.” His reasoning is, that assuming the opposite was the case, God must be partial, racist and vindictive.

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