June 10, 2020 by Ofir Ramirez-Rios
I was a racist. I thought it was ok. I thought it was normal.
I was wrong. I hope you can forgive me.
I grew up in a society where labeling and humiliating others based on the color of their skin and the shape of their body was expected and applauded.
I was also raised in a racist religion that, from a young age, brainwashed me by telling me I was part of a “chosen kind”, that good people from old were “white and exceeding fair and delightful” and that people with a dark skin were descendants of lazy and evil people. We sang songs about it as kids; we read scriptures about it every Sunday. This is the same church that, until forty-two years ago, openly taught that black folk were lesser beings, undeserving of the full blessings of god.
I escaped that toxic society 12 years ago but disassociating myself from the mormon church and its shameful teachings took me decades...
