The Church is moving forward in Bayelsa State in the heart of Nigeria's Delta, or as it is called there the "South South". Here is an article from a local paper on the Church providing community service http://naijachurchnews.com/latter-days-saint-renovates-park-bayelsa/
Although it is not entirely clear from the article it appears that Akekere Jonah is that stake president. The stake was formed in May of this year (per www.ldschurchtemples.com) but the LDS Church news has not yet run an article on its creation, so I cannot at this time definitely confirm that President Jonah is the stake president. A District was formed in Yenagoa in December 2013, and it would not surprise me if President Jonah was also the district president, although I have no information on this matter.
He is an economists interested in inproving the lives of the people. He was the lead author of an article on maternal mortality in Bayelsa State, the trend of change in such rates from 2000 to 2011 and urging that more needed to be done to lower the rate even further in the state. That article was published in 2015.
I would love to see President Jonah become a general authority.
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Saturday, August 19, 2017
One of my favorite events I ever went to at BYU was a speech by WInston Wilkinson. At the time he was a part time faculty member at BYU in the law school and a member of the Salt Lake County Council. Wilkinson is an African-American man. He gave an overview of his life. One of the more interesting things he said was that when his generation died off we would see high rates of inter-racial marriage.
I think his general thoughts on the matter were postive, but have to admit that I still think he was unrealistically hopeful. Although since Wilkinson was born in 1944, and as far as I can tell still alive, maybe I am too quick to say his optism was too soon. The fact that in 2010 0.7% of married white men in the US had black wives My very limited and not at all broad perspective on changes since then suggests that the figure is probably higher today, although not as much as one would wish.
I think his general thoughts on the matter were postive, but have to admit that I still think he was unrealistically hopeful. Although since Wilkinson was born in 1944, and as far as I can tell still alive, maybe I am too quick to say his optism was too soon. The fact that in 2010 0.7% of married white men in the US had black wives My very limited and not at all broad perspective on changes since then suggests that the figure is probably higher today, although not as much as one would wish.
For the Cause of Righteousness
I have started to read Russell W. Stevenson's book with this title. It is not an easy book to read.
The full title is "For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013" but do not think for a second it is at all a sugar coated history.
I have not seen evidence that Stevenson quite lives up to his title. I am to page 95. So far Stevenson has focused on the following locations. The United States, although at times on Utah without producing any evidence that anyone involved in what he is actually quoting is a Mormon. While such maybe can be assumed for some parts of Utah, 1920s Park City and Price are not such places.
He has made a vague reference to LDS policies and African-Americans in the southern states mission in the 1940s, but LDS black relations in the south did not consume much of his focus. While his discussion of LDS blacks in the 19th-century seems comprehensive, other sources I have read have spoken a lot more of Green Flake and his role as a faithful black Latter-day Saint, and also of at least one post-Civil War black convert in the American south whose name I have forgitten.
There was also a black convert in South Africa who immigrated to Idaho where he was killed in sheep/cattle raiser infighting who is not mentioned at all. The discussion of the Church in South Africa is arguably too focused on the racial issue as a prisom to see what is going on. In fact I would argue the book is too focused on theology and thought, too little on action. It is definetely not the book I wish it was.
The book does delve into the Nigerians and Ghanaians who organized themselves, and some of whom even had authorization to act on behalf of the Church, granted by a member of the 1st presidency in a letter, even though at that point they had not been baptized. As is my general critcism of the book, I do not think Stevenson has taken a broad enough historical view, or properly contextualized what was going on in those two countries. He has given a generalized allusion to the Biafra Conflict, but considering how much this was a disruption to the growth of the congregations of people weeking baptism, and considering that he mentions at least two leaders of such congregations who were killed during the conflict, I think more background on it is needed.
Another flaw of the book is that it focuses too much on people who made statements without ever showing anyone cared about some. On the other hand, it ignores people like Florence Chukwurah, who was a key figure in the Church, served with her husband as he presided over the then multi-national Ghana Accra Mission, did much good as a nurse, and served as a member of the Relief Society General Board after she had moved from her native Nigeria to Salt Lake City.
Another example of an inadequacy is that the Genesis Group is according to the index mentioned on only one page.
An even bigger complaint is that the title of the book misleadingly leads the reader to belief that the book will focus heavily on events from 1978-2013. This is not the case at all. It is not until page 159 of the 201 pages of the historical narrative (as opposed to the section entitled "The Documents") that we get into a discussion of things from 1978 to the present. This is short shafting all things considered. In countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Ivory Coast and many others the only history at all is starting after 1978.
True, for the historian it is incredibly hard to write about very recent events, because of the fact that many oral histories are taken with time locks on them that make them not accesable, much of the foot work of gathering documents is done after the fact and so on. Also, for a writing on this grand scale, use of secondary sources is often neccesary, and thus the problems mentioned above become even more prominent.
However I have to say I dislike the short shafting of the recent. Maybe my approach would over emphasize the recent. On the other hand a book published in 2014 that does not, at least per the index, mention general authority seventy Joseph W. Sitati, who had held that position for 5 years when the book went to press, nor mention singing icon Alex Boye, but can find space to mention Randy Bott, needs to be chalenged as an objective history.
In fact, if the book was really seeking a globalized history of blacks in Mormonism, it would have mentioned Edward Dube. His call in April 2013 was not too recent for inclusion, since the book includes an except from the First Presidency authorized Church publication "Race and the Priesthood" which came out in December 2013. Even before he was made a general authority Dube had been the moving force behind LDS growth in Zimbabwe. He was called a modern day Wilford Woodruff for his force in moving the Church forward in an ensign article before he was called as a general authority. Stevenson is too narrow in his coverage.
The full title is "For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013" but do not think for a second it is at all a sugar coated history.
I have not seen evidence that Stevenson quite lives up to his title. I am to page 95. So far Stevenson has focused on the following locations. The United States, although at times on Utah without producing any evidence that anyone involved in what he is actually quoting is a Mormon. While such maybe can be assumed for some parts of Utah, 1920s Park City and Price are not such places.
He has made a vague reference to LDS policies and African-Americans in the southern states mission in the 1940s, but LDS black relations in the south did not consume much of his focus. While his discussion of LDS blacks in the 19th-century seems comprehensive, other sources I have read have spoken a lot more of Green Flake and his role as a faithful black Latter-day Saint, and also of at least one post-Civil War black convert in the American south whose name I have forgitten.
There was also a black convert in South Africa who immigrated to Idaho where he was killed in sheep/cattle raiser infighting who is not mentioned at all. The discussion of the Church in South Africa is arguably too focused on the racial issue as a prisom to see what is going on. In fact I would argue the book is too focused on theology and thought, too little on action. It is definetely not the book I wish it was.
The book does delve into the Nigerians and Ghanaians who organized themselves, and some of whom even had authorization to act on behalf of the Church, granted by a member of the 1st presidency in a letter, even though at that point they had not been baptized. As is my general critcism of the book, I do not think Stevenson has taken a broad enough historical view, or properly contextualized what was going on in those two countries. He has given a generalized allusion to the Biafra Conflict, but considering how much this was a disruption to the growth of the congregations of people weeking baptism, and considering that he mentions at least two leaders of such congregations who were killed during the conflict, I think more background on it is needed.
Another flaw of the book is that it focuses too much on people who made statements without ever showing anyone cared about some. On the other hand, it ignores people like Florence Chukwurah, who was a key figure in the Church, served with her husband as he presided over the then multi-national Ghana Accra Mission, did much good as a nurse, and served as a member of the Relief Society General Board after she had moved from her native Nigeria to Salt Lake City.
Another example of an inadequacy is that the Genesis Group is according to the index mentioned on only one page.
An even bigger complaint is that the title of the book misleadingly leads the reader to belief that the book will focus heavily on events from 1978-2013. This is not the case at all. It is not until page 159 of the 201 pages of the historical narrative (as opposed to the section entitled "The Documents") that we get into a discussion of things from 1978 to the present. This is short shafting all things considered. In countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Ivory Coast and many others the only history at all is starting after 1978.
True, for the historian it is incredibly hard to write about very recent events, because of the fact that many oral histories are taken with time locks on them that make them not accesable, much of the foot work of gathering documents is done after the fact and so on. Also, for a writing on this grand scale, use of secondary sources is often neccesary, and thus the problems mentioned above become even more prominent.
However I have to say I dislike the short shafting of the recent. Maybe my approach would over emphasize the recent. On the other hand a book published in 2014 that does not, at least per the index, mention general authority seventy Joseph W. Sitati, who had held that position for 5 years when the book went to press, nor mention singing icon Alex Boye, but can find space to mention Randy Bott, needs to be chalenged as an objective history.
In fact, if the book was really seeking a globalized history of blacks in Mormonism, it would have mentioned Edward Dube. His call in April 2013 was not too recent for inclusion, since the book includes an except from the First Presidency authorized Church publication "Race and the Priesthood" which came out in December 2013. Even before he was made a general authority Dube had been the moving force behind LDS growth in Zimbabwe. He was called a modern day Wilford Woodruff for his force in moving the Church forward in an ensign article before he was called as a general authority. Stevenson is too narrow in his coverage.
Reflections of the wanderer
I have realized my enjoyment of visiting new wards and branches and meeting new people often comes at the cost of not developing truly deep connections to those I know. It is also not helped by having to juggle my work schedule at Kroger, which has often caused me to have little time to attend activities when I could really get to know people.
Still, I am very glad I was able to be at Sterling Heights Ward last Sunday and meet the new couple where the husband is from Nigeria.
I am a little saddened though that I have not made it out to Southfield Ward more. I am also sad that I have not seen some of my friends there much of late. I hope they are still coming out, and just were not there on the Sunday's I was.
I should make a greater effort to go to Southfield Ward, but have to admit getting myself to meetings starting at 9:00 is at times a big struggle.
Still, I am very glad I was able to be at Sterling Heights Ward last Sunday and meet the new couple where the husband is from Nigeria.
I am a little saddened though that I have not made it out to Southfield Ward more. I am also sad that I have not seen some of my friends there much of late. I hope they are still coming out, and just were not there on the Sunday's I was.
I should make a greater effort to go to Southfield Ward, but have to admit getting myself to meetings starting at 9:00 is at times a big struggle.
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