In addition to being a giant money-making machine, Mormonism is quintessentially the reactionary religion of the settler colonial, and as such has been, with exceptions, a pillar of all retrograde movements. Field Secretary for the N.A.A.C.P., close associate for decades of Du Bois, and long-time fellow-traveler, William Pickens investigates the scriptural reasons for Black souls being being barred from heaven, and Black bodies barred from The Church.

‘The Mormons Help “God” Keep Negroes Out of “Heaven”’ by William Pickens from The Daily Worker. Vol. 5 No. 53. March 3, 1928

(Field Secretary, Natl. Assn, for the Advancement of Colored People)

We have heard a lot of excuses made by the white “brethren” for not treating the colored “brethren” as equals in their churches, but the excuse which the Mormons use and which has just been communicated to me in Salt Lake City, “takes the cake.”

“Are there any colored members in the Mormon Church?” we asked.

“Very few,” was the reply.

Negroes Not Good Enough.

To find out why, we inquired further and learned that no Negro, even though he be a member, is ever considered enough of a “saint” to be allowed to go into “The Temple,” the great semi-Gothic structure which is the head Institution and the architectural boast of the “church.”

And why are Negroes thus barred from full sainthood and entry into the holiest? Well, this is the cake-taking explanation: There was once a war in heaven, when one Arch-angel, whom Milton calls Satan, got so ambitious as to raise a rebellion to try to overthrow God and rule in his stead. In other words, Satan set out to raise hell in heaven.

According to the Mormons, God must have been pretty hard-pressed, for he sought volunteers and allies from every quarter of the known universe. The white people promptly sided with God; but the over-cautious colored brother, while not siding with Satan, proclaimed, as Bert Williams used to put it: “I am neutral!”

Well, Satan lost—thenceforth to be known as “The Devil.” God won—by the good help of the white folks, no doubt. Therefore the Negro cannot become a “real saint”; he is still somewhat “neutral.” He cannot enter the Temple and he cannot go to heaven. Yes, only one Negro has been known to get into Heaven in the history of creation, and he was the “Body Servant” of Brigham Young, the organizer of Mormonism.

You see, this Negro was a “good servant,’’ and Brigham Young, like all “good white folks,” was some- what partial to “his Negro,” and influenced God to let him in. This, of course, demonstrates the great influence which Brigham had with Jehovah.

From all reports this Mormon religion is a very “convenient” affair: If you are a member, in good-standing, paid up, you can do bust about do as you dern please without losing your sainthood.

One of the original principles of Mormonism was that a man could have as many wives as he could support—or rather as many as were needed to support him. That must have been an inducement to persuade men to come out and people this desert. Only some extraordinary inducement could ever have persuaded them to cross the Rockies and settle in these salts and wastes.

And yet Joseph Smith, the original “prophet” of Mormonism, said: This is the only true religion.

“That’s what they all say.”

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924. National and City (New York and environs) editions exist.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n053-NY-mar-03-1928-DW-LOC.pdf