America's whitest city?
Perhaps, just perhaps, Salt Lake City's whiteness has something to do with the fact that it's predominantly Mormon owned/run/controlled, and because the Mormons, until the late 1970s, officially considered non-whites to be second-class people who could not hold the priesthood, amongst other things. Why? "[I]n consequence of their corruptions, their murders, their wickedness, or the wickedness of their fathers."
-- Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses 3:29
If you want an interesting story, look into how aggressively the Mormons have recruited blacks since 1978, including extensive trips into Africa (and one wonders how many of the black Katrina refugees in SLC ended up being Mormonized).
On the other hand, I've never met a devout Mormon who wasn't a really decent person and basically willing to give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed help. I'm sure total bastard Mormons exist out there somewhere (hey, is that a Mitt Romney response I hear?), but by and large, on a purely interpersonal level, I've rarely met a less objectionable group of individuals.
Perhaps, just perhaps, Salt Lake City's whiteness has something to do with the fact that it's predominantly Mormon owned/run/controlled, and because the Mormons, until the late 1970s, officially considered non-whites to be second-class people who could not hold the priesthood, amongst other things. Why? "[I]n consequence of their corruptions, their murders, their wickedness, or the wickedness of their fathers."
-- Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses 3:29
If you want an interesting story, look into how aggressively the Mormons have recruited blacks since 1978, including extensive trips into Africa (and one wonders how many of the black Katrina refugees in SLC ended up being Mormonized).
On the other hand, I've never met a devout Mormon who wasn't a really decent person and basically willing to give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed help. I'm sure total bastard Mormons exist out there somewhere (hey, is that a Mitt Romney response I hear?), but by and large, on a purely interpersonal level, I've rarely met a less objectionable group of individuals.
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