As some of you may know, I was raised on Chicago’s South Side and attended a multiracial Mormon ward (congregation) for 15 years where many of my leaders and teachers were black. Our ward was also full of people across the political spectrum so I guess it is about time the NY Times caught up with the racial and political diversity among the LDS population. After all, it has been a reality in my faith and in my life for decades now. I see this attention as a very healthy development in the Mormon moment of 2012. (I would also note that a majority of those interviewed are planning, like me, to vote for President Obama.)
Wow, small world, I happen to know Marguerite Driessen. Last saw her when she and her family visited my daughter and son-in-law in hospital at the birth of their first child, in 2010. Their family was a mentor and friend to the two of them. She and her family have just moved to the DC area where she is working for the Dept of Justice.
As an black Mormon, I was excited for Mr Romney’s candidacy in 2008. In the recent election, as others have noted, I felt he tried to bend to whatever audience he was speaking in front of. It was after his departure in 2008, I turned my attention to then Sen Obama. I have never looked back. That decision has strained friendships, and makes for restraint because my husband serves in our stake presidency. It is sad that so many of my sisters and brothers buy into the half-truth that they hear disseminated, and fail to do any real research.