This was never God
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Referring to the Dec. 12 Pat Bagley cartoon, "White and delightsome." At the age of 19, I returned home to Salt Lake City from Vietnam, on special leave from the Army for extending my tour six months. I became engaged with my Tongan girlfriend while I was home.
Her dad, a very faithful Mormon, took my arm and said, "You were more righteous in the pre-existence than I was." I asked, "How do you know that?" He said, "Because your skin is whiter than mine." This is what he was taught my his Mormon leaders and he didn't question it.
Now we know, some of us always knew, that this was never God, but rather the white leaders of the Mormon Church who made this policy "white and delightsome."
Stephen Curtis Drabner
El Paso, Texas