So here’s a recent story that flew under the radar: The Church Donates US$2 Million to First Americans Museum in Oklahoma, an October 17, 2021, post at the Mormon Newsroom. [Update: That link was working this morning, but either the link is broken or the post was taken down at the site. It also appears the title to the post was, at some point, changed to or from “The Church Is Helping Native Americans Discover Their Roots.” Here is a link to the cached version of the post.] There are just a lot of strange angles to this story. Like who even knew there was a First Americans Museum in Oklahoma? (It opened its doors in September 2021.) Most museums aren’t exactly flush with cash, so you can’t blame them for accepting a two-million-dollar donation, but the official LDS view of First Americans and the various Native American tribes views of themselves and their history have very little overlap — not to mention the historical/scientific/anthropological view of First Americans and their origins. Just imagine, if you will, visitors to the museum from Utah going up to the information desk and asking, “Where are the exhibits on Nephites and Lamanites?” Let’s kick things around one paragraph at a time.
First Americans. So I guess that’s the new term to refer to the first homo sapiens to set foot in North America, twenty or thirty thousand years ago, and all their descendants. It seems like an amalgamation of the Canadian term “First Nations” and the American term “Native Americans.” When I speak “First Americans” in my mind, it triggers a mental playing of the David Bowie song “Young Americans,” but that’s just me. All things considered, it’s a nice term, given all the not-so-nice terms that have been applied to Native Americans over the years. You’ve probably heard the Atlanta Braves tomahawk chant a few times over the last week or two, as Atlanta was in the World Series this last week. By now, that chant sounds almost as offensive as LDS Primary renditions of “Book of Mormon Stories,” complete with various hand gestures and play-acting.
No More Lamanites. Here’s a term you did not encounter when reading that Newsroom article: “Lamanites.” I wonder if one of the museum officials cut a deal with LDS officials, something like this: “We’ll stop calling you Mormons if you stop calling us Lamanites.” Other terms that don’t appear in the story or the excerpts from remarks by President Nelson, President Uchtdorf, or their wives: Nephites. Children of Lehi. Hebrews. Israelites. So maybe LDS leaders are finally learning how to play nice with others.
The FamilySearch Angle. So if the money isn’t being used to fund a Nephite exhibit, what’s it being used for? To build a FamilySearch center. From the post: “The museum, which honors many Native American Indian Tribes, will use the gift to build a FamilySearch center and fill other needs.” Think for about ten seconds on why most Native Americans are going to do some genealogical investigation. It’s not so they can find a link back to Nephi or Laman or Lemuel. Ironically, it’s probably so they can find enough Native American ancestors to qualify as a member of this or that tribe (each tribe sets its own membership criteria) and qualify for payments made to members of the tribe or other benefits. Think oil money and casino money and casino jobs. And let me just say I am all for that. Every time I drive by an Indian casino, I think of how much money that brings in for the members of the tribe that owns the land and operates (or licenses the operation of) the casino and hotel and shops. Casino money has done more for Native Americans than the US government or the LDS Church has ever done. FYI, the polite term is “Native American gaming.” Maybe the tribes and casinos could pool enough money from gambling profits to buy the Atlanta Braves and rename them the Atlanta Baseball Team.
Money for Nothing? What does the Church get for this $2 million donation? Not refrigerators and color TVs. The Church gets good PR. For $2 million, the Church gets a nice story in local media and a good PR reference in any LDS leader’s talk about Native Americans for the next few years. You can buy a lot of good PR when you are sitting on a $100 billion bank account. Now the Church gets a lot of bad PR, so you can’t blame the leadership for buying some good PR when the opportunity arises. They throw around a lot of tithing money that way (no doubt quick to deny that it is tithing money if they can launder it through the various LDS business enterprises). Better the Church gives $2 million to the First Americans Museum than some right-wing political action fund that defends “religious liberty” by attacking gay marriage or LGBT initiatives.
What the LDS Leaders Said. There was a multi-state devotional for LDS folks living in Kansas and Oklahoma that was broadcast the afternoon of the donation ceremony. Speakers were President Nelson, his wife, President Uchtdorf, and his wife. Here are a few quotes or summaries features in the Newsroom article.
The prophet dedicated the bulk of his address to helping Saints in the midwestern United States understand the Book of Mormon—what it is, what it isn’t, its truths and its origin story.
Imagine a summary that read like this instead: “President Nelson dedicated the bulk of his address to helping Latter-day Saints understand Native Americans — who they are, who they aren’t, their truths, and their origin story.” I imagine there are exhibits in the First Americans Museum that present the true origin story of Native Americans. Has any reader visited the museum yet?
Sister Nelson said that though many things are uncertain, one thing is for sure: One day we will each “have a personal interview with the Savior.” President Nelson’s general conference addresses are designed to help people prepare for that interview, she said.
Here’s a line you can save up for that interview: “My tithing dollars helped support worthy causes like the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma.”
As a boy, Elder Uchtdorf said, he enjoyed reading adventure stories about the old American West written by a German author who had never been to the United States. In these stories, he said, Native Americans were often portrayed as wise and noble heroes. Elder Uchtdorf said this shows that people worldwide “have more in common than we might suppose.” For example, all are children of the same God. “If we only would focus on this divine fact, and on the many other things that we have in common—life experiences and dreams we share—it should not be too hard to get along as individuals, communities, and nations, regardless of where we live, and what our backgrounds or life’s circumstances may be,” Elder Uchtdorf said.
President Uchtdorf gets a long quote because … Uchtdorf.
And here’s a quote from Sister Harriet Uchtdorf:
She said when she was young she attended an all-girls school. Her friends were either Lutheran or Catholic. “I wondered, ‘Should I tell them that I became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or should I just avoid the topic and be quiet?’” she said. “I decided to stand up for what I believed.”
So now just about every LDS member in Kansas and Oklahoma knows about the First Americans Museum and many will drop by for a visit. That should lead to some interesting conversations, don’t you think?
Let’s wind this up, and I don’t really have a good set of prompts or questions to throw out to the readers. The whole story is just so odd. I don’t know whether to applaud the Church for supporting a worthy cause, or see the donation as just compensation for various slights or falsehoods the Church has propagated about Native Americans over the years, or get all cynical about the propriety of the Church blatantly buying good PR with member tithing dollars. Take your pick or choose all three. And, if you have been there, tell me about your visit to the museum.
Wheat & Tares 
Good. I choose not to be cynical about this. It’s a substantial donation to a worthy cause. Two thumbs up.
Well, there was that $2 million donation to the Utah State Fairpark to rebuild the rodeo arena a few years ago. I don’t recall the fireside with the Upper Echelon when that happened.
The Church seems to be making an effort to make up for past behavior directed towards minority groups. RMN meets with NAACP leaders. The Church donates money to a Native American museum. There are other examples. These are good signs and we shouldn’t dismiss them.
But recognizing these good signs and also calling out the Church for its past behavior (and current beliefs) are not mutually exclusive.
Referring to Native Americans as “Lamanite” is much like referring to the people of the Dead Sea Scrolls as Essene. They are not the same. We know the Essene were celibate monks, and the people of the Qumran texts were family-oriented. Despite this clear historical fact, people still think they are one-in-the-same. (Rachel Elior, Who Wrote Dead Sea Scrolls, https://youtu.be/wLit979B60Y).
When LDS refer to Native Americans as Lamanites, the historical evidence for for this arrives from geography and skin color. The idea that, “…these brown people must be descendents of the Lamanites,” is a reaching assumption. It’s almost like saying all Asian-looking people are Chinese.
Institutional racism can exist without racists, if belief systems still carry the racist contagion. The donation was a good thing regardless.
Two summers ago I was driving through northeastern Arizona which is part of the Navajo nation and bought local a newspaper in which the front page story was a vitriolic headline that read along the lines of Mormons leave us so called Lamanites alone. It really drive home that while well-intended, our missionary efforts and love for the “Lamanite” people is not welcome.
I’d guess that there were behind the scenes discussions about what strings were tied to the money. I don’t begrudge this donation. That said until a member of the First Presidency gets up and says American Indians aren’t Lamanites which can be a racist term, members will perpetuate the reference for many years.
I wonder how Dave or any of us really knows the source of the money the Church used to make this contribution. The Church must have a convoluted accounting system including tithe-based and numerous investment accounts. Tithing money? Who knows for sure? In any event, it is a positive thing that the Church is telling the world past biases and practices are changing and are no longer in vogue And, it is good PR.
This contribution leaves me almost speechless. It is beyond ironic.
In the mission field in the 1960’s, we gave out BoMs with a note in the front that said it was a history of the American Indians. (Not to mention the truly bizarre illustrations by Arnold Friberg.) The note had apparently been added by BRM.
My neighbor who is Hopi, performed with the Lamanite Generation at BYU. A Navajo friend was part of the Indian placement program and ended up in LA. He had to be baptized before he was placed.
The BoM is overtly racist, despite efforts at denial and apologetics. Early Utah history of dealing with the local tribes was hardly spotless.
Besides trying to buy forgiveness, we need to get right with Native Americans, Blacks, etc.
A good rule of thumb is that if they wear crocs and sweats, and hang out in Dairy Queens, they’re probably Lamanites.
Thanks for pointing this out. Fascinating stuff. I’ll tell you that around my family’s dinner table (in-laws as well) that conversations about Native Americans are very sensitive. For one, because of the Mormon tradition that insists, just insists, that they are descendants of Lehi’s party and the Jaredites, but mostly the former. If you venture too far into the history of Native Americans being in the Americas over 4,000 years ago you’ll get passive-aggressive remarks about how we don’t know everything and how we’ll find out about these things in the afterlife (those petroglyphs are probably dated too far back by biased anti-Mormon secular archaeologists, or they probably came from other planets that God used to create the earth, you know, just like dinosaur bones). Second, if you talk about Native Americans too long, you might venture into the taboo topic of their victimhood, and then you’ll get passive-aggressive remarks about how all lives matter, the Native Americans complain too much and their problems of racism against them would just go away if they stopped talking about it, everyone has their troubles, and how no one talks about the victimhood of the whites.
The link didn’t work for me. When I search for the article on the newsroom site the search lists the article in the results but it’s another dead link.
The two million is for a FamilySearch center? Was that the museum’s choice or a stipulation to qualify to receive the donation? It just that it seems like an odd choice for a museum that has no preexisting ties to the church to make. I imagine they were steered towards using the donation in that manner.
I’m sure a FamilySearch center will be a benefit to the museum for the reasons you cite but in the, “What does the church get out of their donation?” section you forgot to mention, “Mine the data people enter for names for temple ordinances.”
Not to be overly critical, I just found using the money on a FamilySearch center to be an odd choice. Ordinarily I’d say that a “gift” of money could be spent any way the recipient wishes to spend it. Again, not to be overly critical or cynical; maybe the FamilySearch center was a nice gesture by the museum, their way of saying thank you.
My gaslighting prophecy: Not too far in the future, maybe 10 to 25 years, there will be a BYU religion professor who will refer to the First Americans as Lamanites and he will get fired for teaching it as church doctrine. The church will say they have no idea where the racist folk teaching came from. They will be mystified. That ex-professor will have to track down Randy Bott and talk about it over a root beer.
plvtime, The Randy Bott episode is one of the most poignant events in my move away from the church. Absolutely disgusting the way he was thrown under the bus. Outright evil.
I have to assume that from the perspective of the Museum (and hopefully Native Americans and their leadership), this is a positive step towards building a better relationship than has existed in the past. I am trying to see the bright side here.
In spite of the overall positive aspect to this story, it embarrasses me that I belong to an institution (self-proclaimed as the only true and living church on earth) which has put itself in a position of being second-guessed on its motive. How in the world did the true Church with Jesus Christ as its head get here? (Rhetorical question, I know how we got here).
I seriously doubt any Church leaders are thinking this is for reparations, repentance, apology, etc. They are patting themselves on the back, thinking “Look how good we are to give sacred money to these Lamanite, branch of Israel, Lehi’s children (their labels, not mine) cultural leaders and descendants.”
And I sort of hope they don’t see it as I do because a blissfully ignorant, Mormon-Kool-Aid-drinking leadership is more tolerable to me than one that is fully aware and consciously choosing racism, then abandoning the practice only after social pressure, then choosing to rewrite its history or motives, and then choosing to avoid real responsibility by throwing money around to make the past sins be forgotten.
Sorry this one was a bit more negative. Didn’t know it would hit me like this.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Fred VII, you are right: the link is now dead, although it worked this morning. As noted in the update I added to the post, the title to the post was also changed at some point to or from “The Church Is Helping Native Americans Discover Their Roots.” Again, I’ll bet plenty of Native Americans would love to see a post titled, “Native Americans Are Helping the LDS Church Discover Their Origins and Ancestry.” Anyway, here is a link to a cached version of the post:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LzeSaroCbvQJ:https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-americans-museum-donation+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Counselor said, “I have to assume that from the perspective of the Museum (and hopefully Native Americans and their leadership), this is a positive step towards building a better relationship than has existed in the past. I am trying to see the bright side here.” Yeah, nothing says we care more than signing a $2 million check. I’m sure the museum is happy so yes, we can give the LDS leadership the benefit of the doubt on this one.
The release is an excellent example of how the church just cannot get out of its own way. Tone deaf as per usual. Even when they do something seemingly generous, the PR has to include so much extra commentary for the faithful that foot invariably enters mouth. Just painful to read.
I didn’t watch or read any October 2021 general conference so mostly reading the press release I am puzzling over what “extraordinary” and “unprecedented” measures I’m supposed to be taking to “turn my back on the world” (like the world that museum is in?). Agree, weird press release.
Glad the church is donating money. Agree it is all complicated.
This is tangential to the main topic at hand, but…
“Sister Nelson said that though many things are uncertain, one thing is for sure: One day we will each ‘have a personal interview with the Savior.’ President Nelson’s general conference addresses are designed to help people prepare for that interview, she said.”
I don’t know why, but this really stood out to me. An “interview?” I can think of few ways to make Jesus sound more remote and inaccessible than to describe him as someone who would condescend to grant us an “interview.” Not an embrace, not a reunion, not a late night heart-to-heart by firelight—a PPI, a temple recommend renewal. As if the purpose of all our church meetings is to help us attain an afterlife of more meetings, starting with our very procedural final judgment in a bishop’s office. And they wonder why religion is losing its appeal.
This seems like a wonderful gift. I don’t really understand the cynicism about it.
Honestly, donations toward making it easier for people to connect to their ancestors and heritage technologically really hit a sweet spot for me. I agree that donating to a museum, particularly with our colonialist attitudes toward the so-called Lamanites, initially struck me as out of left field, but honestly, I’m down for this type of investment wherever the Church wants to make it. Genealogical innovation is something we can be proud of that should continue to unite the human race and help erase issues of racism and nationalism the longer these ventures continue. (Instead maybe we can divide over cilantro tolerance and whether our earlobes are detached or not). Will the Church use the information to drum up temple work? I mean, maybe (?) but I don’t have super deep feelings about that one way or another. Maybe just an eyeroll emoji. There is, though, IMO, some great good for humanity in helping people find connections and learn how we really are just one human race.
The bigger question… why is it a common thing now to have the wives speak? This was never done in the past. Or do we no longer believe the words in the bible? “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.” 1 Corinthians 14:34
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Bob, even most Jewish people, even most observant Jewish people, don’t quote “the Law” (the Jewish Bible) as a guide to modern life or as establishing firm dos and don’ts for how one should live in 2021. Why a Christian or a Mormon or an atheist or whoever would do so just makes no sense. I highly doubt you actually do this — I think you’re just trying to get us riled up. I doubt you quote the Jewish Bible in other contexts for controlling guidance. I doubt you even really object to women speakers in LDS contexts.
As for why wives who accompany GAs to events often get to speak now, as in the article where two wives got to speak — well, it seems like a step forward that we hear more women speakers, but at the same time a dismissive approach because these aren’t women who are called and given their own authority (as RS and YW General Presidencies sort of enjoy) but just get some sort of derivative authority by being “wife of a GA.” But on the whole it seems like a net positive development, so I’m okay with it.
While I would prefer to have 50 percent of LDS speakers be women, I don’t see the need for the wives of GA’s to speak.
Also, I don’t have a problem with the $2M donation to the Native American museum/genealogy center. I just find it ironic given the Church’s past history with Native American.
The First Americans Museum is beautiful, really a world-class Smithsonian type museum. The 2M donation will fund an additional area for the Family History Center. Genuine friendships and relationships being formed. The museum director was able to visit the Family History Library in SLC prior. The donation ceremony was handled very well, with church leaders acknowledging the rich history of Native American beliefs and the tragedy of the dispossession of their lands. No proselyting or discussion of Book of Mormon. Just a desire to contribute to connecting people to their history.
In Oklahoma, people try to prove Native American ancestry in order to acquire tribal status for healthcare. Each Native Nation has its own requirements for membership (how far back your Native American ancestry is, maternal/paternal lines, association in the tribe, adoption or initiation processes or ceremonies, birthplace, etc.). But, proving native ancestry can qualify people for needed healthcare, dental, fishing/gaming rights, scholarships and diversity pipeline programs, and so on.
Public libraries in Oklahoma are busy helping people try to pin down their native ancestry. The church has actually been helping this work for decades. I’m glad that the church is ramping the effort up to help people connect with their native ancestry and with associated resources. It not only supports the various nations, but provides access to lifesaving resources.
For that reason, I am grateful to the church and applaud this work. That being said, the broadcast was a kick in the gut to the members. Here’s why.
Kansas and Oklahoma are joked to be “fly over” states and with the exception of the dedication of the KC Temple (when Monson flew into the big city for a weekend and didn’t spend time with the rest of the state) Prophets haven’t visited or paid any special attention to this area, despite its historical significance.
So it was a big deal when Nelson and Uchtdorf visited and addressed the Saints in KS and OK. Massive. Unprecedented.
The church history Department had collaborated with local stakes to create two composite videos of the history of the church in Kansas and Oklahoma. Both videos grasped for straws and ended up
going with a lot of generic “fill” about the area-like recent pics and membership/population stats. It didn’t feel like they captured the uniqueness of the church in either state. But, they get an “A” for effort. It’s obvious that the stake presidents didn’t reach out to the old timers for help in this. It’s also obvious that former Kansan Sheri Dew didn’t have time to brief her friends, the Nelsons, either. The nuggets they happened to dig up weren’t shared in time for the speakers to use in their talks. Not one story of miracles or importance or culture was shared by the GAs.
President Nelson talked about how we live in the center of the US (really? Wow! I sigh with sarcasm.) The “center” and “heart” became the predominant motif of the talk. It felt so lazy, superficial, and “no duh”. Everyone pulls that out of their pocket, along with flatness, tornados, and Oz. Yeah, there was effort to customize the talk, but I wondered if someone had misplaced the Google button or the telephone.
There has been almost two hundred years of epic struggle, miracles, work, and sacrifice since the first international mission of the church began here. People were called to tend this corner of the mission field, and it has never been easy. My family has been here for three generations and in that time, Saints have struggled to smooth tensions and build the kingdom in this place where the dust was shaken from feet long ago.
In between the impersonal nature of the talk and lack of detail and Nelson stumbling to say “Great Plains” (questioning of it was the correct application or term), It became obvious to me that we had been utterly forgotten by SL, they have neither been watching, or visiting, or aware of what’s happened here. If God weren’t involved, it would all feel for naught.
Kirkstall’s comment about Sister Nelson’s talk was spot on. The corporatization of Jesus and God as “interviewers” behind a desk at the judgement bar is gut-wrenchingly wrong and problematic for so many reasons. For anyone who has ever been screwed over by the corporate world (which is essentially everyone in the rank and file and most of rural America) likening Jesus (or God) to a CEO is pure spiritual poison. The CEO of Deseret Book, their friend Sheri Dew, might have come out of Western KS, but I assure you that she wasn’t “corporate” while she lived here, wouldn’t dare put on corporate airs visiting either. Rural KS and OK are anti-corporate (unless you are the Kochs).
So, yeah. I’m really glad the church helped this museum, and I would have been glad if they had focused 100% on native peoples instead of trying to connect with the members in that fumbled way (ooof!).