Black Mormon leaders received the statement with rejoicing. Because it was given during a sacred occasion, over the pulpit, by the “prophet, seer, and revelator” of the Church, it carried inarguable authority. It would encourage and support rank-and-file Church members seeking to uproot racism in their midst. But it framed racism as an individual moral problem. It did nothing to repudiate the Church’s own collective historical practice of anti-Black discrimination,
