In another thread, RfM poster “generationofvipers” wrote the following that pained me to the core:"My wife has studied the manual on Ezra Taft Benson this year and read all the Sherry Dew crap about him. But as she was looking into his life, she came across this image, with the name of the supposed 'apostle of Jesus Christ' proudly written across the top:“This one image was infinitely more disturbing to her than all the history and doctrinal points I've ever mentioned to her. She was especially horrified by the exaggerated features and the bloody severed head. We had a good talk afterward, very open and frank. No major breakthroughs but a very open discussion on both sides.”(“The Picture That Might Break My Wife's Shelf," by “generationofvipers,” on “Recovery from Mormonism” discussion board,” 3 February 2015, at: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1504151,1504151#msg-1504151 While the sins of my fathers aren't on my head, the desire to apologize to others for those sins is in my head and in my heart. So, I'm going with both. Somebody needs to. My grandfather isn't around to confess his White supremacist wrongdoings and to ask for forgiveness. I'm his oldest grandkid. In his behalf and in behalf of all the people he hurt and hobbled with his hate, I'll do the asking for forgiveness for the Bensons' bigoted non-prophet patriarch of so-called "white-and-delightsome" Mormon racial purity. Besides, nobody else in the clan seems willing to--at least not at this point, I've simply decided that it's up to me to do what's right by acknowledging and apologizing for this blight of Mormon white-makes-right. It's time to stand up and condemn this diabolical disease of racism from within the Benson family circle, as a long overdue act of contrition for the words of a man who is dead and who probably never would have been willing to admit that he was deeply and horribly wrong. Benson family PR be damned._____--Bigoted Ezra Taft Benson and That Bigoted Mormon-Praised BookThis gawd-awful book with its screaming White Supremacist title smeared across the top of its vomit-inducing racist cover--“THE BLACK HAMMER: A STUDY OF BLACK POWER, RED INFLUENCE AND WHITE ALTERNATIVES"--contains a foreword authored by my racist grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson It represesnts a nauseating reminder of historic Mormonism's track record of "prophet-revealed" racism. It forever remains a disturbing and revolting image that today's mop-up crews for the LDS Church don't want anyone to see, ever.Yet, incomprehensively, there are Mormons today who vainly seek to rationalize away Ezra Taft Benson's racist views--as epitimized by that racist book, “Black Hammer”--even while reluctantly admitting that he harbored "problematic" attitudes toward Blacks. Ya think?? On a website dealing with his life and times, one Mormon poster struggles (quite ineffectively, as the record will show) to defend my grandfather's stridently racist views by striving to minimize them, while at the same time accusing me of evidencing a bad attitude when it comes to laying out the actual historical record. This apologist starts out potentially promisingly, but quickly turns defensive in robotically rationalizing the morally indefensible (corrected for misspellings):“[It's] [h]ard to believe that such a 'respected' religious leader would write the foreword to a book like this.” The poster's pathetically out-of-touch response?: A simple shrug and an “Ugh.” Despite such graphic evidence, he proceedds to dismiss the Ezra Taft Benson-endorsed book as proof of racism on Ezra Taft Benson's part:“Regardless of the shock value of the cover, the text of the foreward seems to be unavailable anywhere. A cursory search for the above shows that the person making the biggest deal of this was Benson's grandson, Steve Benson--who (reading his other writings) seems to have quite the chip on his shoulder regarding his grandfather. He advertises his stance against the LDS Church and just about anything associated with it. I don't think this trivia rises to the level of inclusion in this article. To illuminate: When reading the old quotes of E.T. Benson as noted by by Steve Benson, it quickly becomes clear that most (if not all) of these statements are taken out of context and pieced together for a more inflammatory effect. The bulk of them come from a talk given in 1967. When read more critically than a cursory glance looking for buzzwords, you see that the talk is more about communists than black people. In that very talk, E.T. Benson qualifies his statements thus:"'First of all, we must not place the blame upon Negroes. They are merely the unfortunate group that has been selected by professional Communist agitators to be used as the primary source of cannon fodder. Not one in a thousand Americans-black or white-really understands the full implications of today's civil rights agitation. The planning, direction, and leadership come from the Communists, and most of those are white men who fully intend to destroy America by spilling Negro blood, rather than their own.'“While not very PC language, the intent is obviously *not* advocating violence against African-Americans. E.T. Benson was a noted anti-Communist and in the 1950s and 1960s, such conspiracy theories abounded at every level of society and government; And he uses the vocabulary of that time to express his views. But using today's PC-paintbrush to color him as a racist isn't clearly representing the person. And throwing trivial (out-of-context) factoids out there doesn't do justice, or give perspective."(“Talk: Ezra Taft Benson,” at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AEzra_Taft_Benson This abject excuse-maker for mind-boggling white Mormon madness doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. Sadly, some members of my own family have come to Ezra Taft Benson's indefensible defense when confronted with his undeniably racist attitudes, employing the argument that he was, like everyone else, an imperfect human product of his times and, therefore, it should not be surprising that he harbored racist sentiments. I find this kind of “logic” to be bizarrely curious, completely unpersuasive and simply intolerable, since the unavoidable conclusion follows that if Ezra Taft Benson was a genuine prophet of God expressing God's divine will, then the Mormon God himself is a racist. (Perhaps this also means, in the mind of a true-blue LDS defender, that this Mormon God is also a product of His racist times and thus can't be faulted for His unholy bigotry).If, on the other hand, Ezra Taft Benson was "speaking only as a man" and not as a heaven-inspired prophet of the LOrd on High, then what is the point of having a prophet to convey God's divine plan of action from the pulpit when what this "prophet" does is merely speak humanly like every other mortal? Additionally problematical for Mormonism's true believers, if Ezra Taft Benson was merely expressing his personal racist views and not the mind and will of God, then, according to Mormon doctrine, God would not have allowed him to lead the Mormon Church astray as one of its specially-designated "prophets, seers and revelators." Yet, he survived to age 94 and never repudiated his racist views. Attempts to grant him an undeserved pass on his racial prejudice by insisting that he was merely a product of his racist era in a society where prejudice and bigotry against Blacks was common and accepted is an essential admission that:a) Ezra Taft Benson was an uninspired, high-ranking, racist leader of the Mormon Church;b) the Mormon God was Himself a racist; andc) the Mormon God tolerated/condoned contemporary societal racism by allowing His "prophets, seers and revelators" to spew bigoted racial hate without divinely intervening to stop it.And please don't give me the "we-don't-fully understand-God's-will-and-purposes" line. I know racism when I see it and Mormon scripture and teaching is full of it, so to speak. Such desperation pretezeled positioning in defense of rank racism is not only absurd; it is unprincipled--and I have told my family that when some of them have resorted to such fallbacks._____--Ezra Taft Benson's History of Anti-Black RacismI submit that Ezra Taft Benson remained in good standing within Mormon Church highest leadership circles for as long as he did precisely because he loyally and unquestioningly towed the LDS party line--a line which included (and still does) in the canonized "sacred" writ of the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price) God-commanded devotion to racial discrimination based on skin-color punishment imposed for supposed wickedness.In this context, it is entirely appropriate--and absoluteley necessary--to lay out the historical record, so that Ezra Taft Benson's attitudes and actions on the racism's toxic front can be seen for what it was and is, within the larger view of his life in service to Mormonism.Warning: The picture isn't a pretty one.(see "ETB vs. MLK--Mormonism's Prophet, Seer and Race-baiter [3 Parts],” by Steve Benson, “Recovery from Mormonism” discussion board, 20 January 2014, at: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1142572,1142572#msg-1142572 _____--But Back to That Bigoted BookViewing its revolting cover reminds me of when I first came across it several years ago. The book's front is emblazoned with its capitalized title, "THE BLACK HAMMER: A STUDY OF BLACK POWER, RED INFLUENCE AND WHITE ALTERNATIVES." Here's the first inkling of its clear Mormon Church connection: The book is dedicated to "all the Elders of the California North Mission for their interest and prayers" and warns of "well-defined plans for the establishment of a Negro Soviet dictatorship in the South."The book's foreword features a condensed version of my grandfather's fiery anti-communism 1967 speech, "Trade and Treason," which was reprinted in the booklet with my grandfather’s permission, as indicated by the book's authors expressing gratitude for the fact that Ezra Taft Benson "has generously offered this address as the basis for the introductory remarks to 'The Black Hammer.'" In addition, his name, "THE HON. EZRA TAFT BENSON," is prominently displayed on the top of the booklet's front cover. Additionally, the same address has been entered into the "Congressional Record" by the notorious segregationist senator from South Carolina, Strom Thurmond.One observer described the book's sordid history as follows:"Now we go back in time to 1967, when Ezra Taft Benson thought about running for President of the USA. Thousands of promotional packets were sent out."In 1967, the infamous 'Black Hammer' book was published. The full title was: 'BLACK HAMMER: A STUDY OF BLACK POWER, RED INFLUENCE AND WHITE ALTERNATIVES, FOREWARD BY THE HONORABLE EZRA TAFT BENSON.' Benson's foreword discussed the Civil Rights movement as a Communist program for revolution in America. Benson praised segregationist theories of Hargis and others. The cover of this racist book featured the decapitated and bleeding head of an African-American man."As a result of the 'Black Hammer' and his popularity in the Birch Society, Benson tried to link up with George Wallace, a Southern segregationist (and well-known 'racist') who declared his bid for the presidency in February 1968. Benson flew to Alabama to discuss Wallace's candidacy and promote himself as a possible running mate. Wallace sent a letter to President McKay in February requesting that Apostle Benson be allowed to be the vic-Presidential candidate in Wallace's third-party bid. McKay refused and sent a denial letter to Wallace."(see Ezra Taft Benson, “Trade and Treason,” foreword of "THE BLACK HAMMER: A STUDY OF BLACK POWER, RED INFLUENCE AND WHITE ALTERNATIVES," by Wes Andrews and Clyde Dalton [Oakland, California: Desco Press, 1967], pp. 13-23; D. Michael Quinn, "The Mormon Hierachy: Extensions of Power" [Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books,1997] pp. 98-99; Quinn, "Prelude to the National “Defense of Marriage” Campaign: Civil Discrimination Against Feared or Despised Minorities," in "Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought," Vol. 33, No. 3, Fall 2000, pp. 34-35, at: https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/issues/V33N03.pdf ; and "Benson Brown and King--Power Struggles of a Prophet," by "bigcat_10@yahoo.com," 24 April 2001, at http://www.salamandersociety.com/foyer/prophets/ezrataftbenson Returning again to the book's bigoted cover: As noted, it depicts the thick-lipped, low-browed, severed, blood-oozing head of a Black man superimposed upon the symbol of the Communist hammer and sickle.Historian D. Michael Quinn describes the cover in all its grotesque detail and reports on how Ezra Taft Benson's endorsement wound up further soiling its already filthy pages:"In 1967, Apostle Benson . . . approved the use of one of his talks as the forward to the overtly racist book 'Black Hammer,' which featured the decapitated (and profusely bleeding) head of an African-American male on its cover. Subtitled 'White Alternatives,' this book warned about the "well-defined plans for the establishment of a Negro Soviet dictatorship in the South." In 1968, Apostle Benson also instructed BYU students about 'black Marxists'and 'the Communists and their Black Power fanatics.'"As another commentator notes:"It is a strange legacy that we inherit from a [Mormon] Church leader [Ezra Taft Bneson], who denounced the Civil Rights Movement. Can somebody please post some quotes to cheer me up?“'LOGAN, UTAH--Former Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson charged Friday night that the civil-rights movement in the South had been "formatted almost entirely by the Communists." Elder Benson, a member of the Council of the Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a public meeting here that the whole civil-rights movement was ‘phony.'” ("Deseret News," 14 December 1963)“'The Communist program for revolution in America has been in progress for many years and is far advanced. While it can be thwarted in a fairly short period of time merely by sufficient exposure, the evil effects of what has already been accomplished cannot be removed overnight. The animosities, the hatred, the extension of government control into our daily lives–all this will take time to repair. The already-inflicted wounds will be slow to heal."'First of all, we must not place blame on the Negroes. They are merely the unfortunate group that has been selected by professional Communist agitators to be used as the primary source of cannon fodder. Not one in a thousand Americans–black or white–really understands the full implications of today’s civil-rights agitation. The planning, direction, and leadership come from the Communists, and most of those are white men who fully intend to destroy America by spilling Negro blood, rather than their own."'Next, we must not participate in any so-called "blacklash" activity which might tend to further intensify inter-racial friction. Anti-Negro vigilante action, or mob action, of any kind fits perfectly into the Communist plan. This is one of the best ways to force the decent Negro into cooperating with militant Negro groups. The Communists are just as anxious to spearhead such anti-Negro actions as they are to organize demonstrations that are calculated to irritate white people."'We must insist that duly authorized legislative investigating committees launch an even more exhaustive study and expose the degree to which secret Communists have penetrated into the civil rights movement. The same needs to be done with militant anti-Negro groups. This is an effective way for the American people of both races to find out who are the false leaders among them.” (Ezra Taft Benson, "General Conference Report," October 1967; cited on "Mormon Worker" website, at; https://themormonworker.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/ezra-taft-benson-and-mlk/ Here's more on the connection between Ezra Taft Benson and the racially-biased "Black Hammer" book:"Alexander Zaitchik describes the book in his recent piece for the Southern Poverty Law Center on [Mormon Glenn] Beck's espousal of [close Mormon friend and associate of Ezra Taft Benson, W. Cleon] Skousen:"'Benson was . . . an advocate for Bircher-style conspiracy theories. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he saw the hand of Communism in every social welfare policy and fought them as both immoral and unconstitutional. A rabid foe of the Civil Rights movement, Benson . . . allowed one of his anti-civil rights talks to be reprinted as the introduction to a book of race hate called 'Black Hammer: A Study of Black Power, Red Influence, and White Alternatives.' The book's cover featured the severed, bloody head of an African American."("Glenn Beck Is Still In Denial About Martin Luther King's Progressive Leadership," by David Neiwert, at: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/glenn-beck-still-denial-about-martin *********If you can stomach it, take another look at that brainless, souless book's loathsome cover image and ask yourself: "Is this what so-called Mormon 'prophetic revelation' is all about?--and does it represent anything I would want to be even remotely associated with?"Take a hammer to Mormonism's ungodly, undeniable, unacceptable and uncouth history of racism in doctrine, policy and practice. As ex-Mormons, in particular, we owe it to the family of humanity--past, present and future.And, again, my deepest apologies for the racist rants of my grandfather. The devil made him do it--the Mormon one. And, besides, standing up as a Benson against the besmirching bigotry that he Mormon God-blessed is simply the right thing to do.Edited 16 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2015 10:08PM by steve benson.