I've just finished watching a fascinating documentary on DVD that attempts to tell the story of black Mormons, who - according to the liner notes - "have been a continuous presence in the LDS church from its earliest days." The creators bring an insider's POV - but don't flinch from grappling with Mormonism's racist past - and I applaud their effort and welcome the Mormon conversation it has engendered.

That said, it wasn't the film's treatment of historical injustice that provoked me to write this post, but rather what the clip below reveals about an ongoing and very present cause for concern.

First, a quick synopsis to set up the clip:

00:00:00 - Faithful young Mormon couple, parents of nine

00:00:55 - Their encounter with racism inside the Salt Lake Temple

00:01:13 - "You speak such good English!"

00:01:25 - This worthy Mormon family is apparently not appropriate for LDS church media? Good enough to tithe, to attend the Mormon Temple, but not good enough for Mormon magazine covers? What is it with NOM the Mormon church and its addiction to artifice and actors?

UPDATE: Backstory: I bought the DVD and grabbed 3 minutes of the documentary figuring that posting such a short clip together with commentary was a safe move under "fair use" ... Long story short, the video works again, but it's only 1 minute long and it's not hosted on my YouTube account. All apologies for the service interruption.

And here it is, a short excerpt from Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons ...

For the record, I have no association with the folks who created Nobody Knows.

I'm too busy with my own documentary project (and I could probably use some help with the title, because it seems a bit long) ...

"Everybody Knows Except the Mormons Who Never Got Told: Why a religion so rigid that until today it's still grappling with the meaning of interracial marriage in its own church culture decided to bankroll a nationwide campaign to define marriage for the rest of the country."