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next to two shuttered, storefront chapels sits a shining red brick building with a 50-feet white steeple piercing the sky.
In front, two Sunday-suited, pimply-faced missionaries well-armed with bibles, approach people walking by. Only 19-years old, Elder Bird is oddly fitted with the title "Elder" to mark his role as a teacher. He explains the church to passers-by,
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Elder Bird:
The work here is going really well, we had five baptisms in the church here last Sunday,
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Originally from Idaho, He is one of 26 white missionaries based in the Harlem church.
Frank Brown walks away from Elder Bird's pitch, and tells me why the Mormons don't belong in Harlem.
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Frank Brown:
They started out being prejudice, and they always will be prejudice. Because they're Prejudice. The're not a lover of black, black was not welcome into their church.
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The LDS church is facing up to its racist past. For over 150 years, Mormon leaders taught that Blacks were cursed with the Mark of Cain. They were not eligible to join the priesthood. For Mormons, that meant, you could not actively be a member of the church. In 1978, blacks were welcomed into the church. Amhad Corbitt , a black Mormon, celebrates this great turning-point.
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Ahmad Corbett
Based on Revelation, inspiration from the God that the priesthood would be extended to all worthy males, regardless of color. Prior to that time it hadn't been. And that was a momentous event for everyone. It became a watershed moment for the growth of the church among blacks in general, and African-american in particular.
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Corbitt is one of the few Blacks leaders in the church.
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But the LDS church is only one part of America's racism. Many other faiths and communities denied black basic rights. Many blacks feel the church's leaders need to recognize its racism and apologize. Darron Smith says that Priestly denial should be examined more closely to unify the church. He is a Black Mormon sociologist and author.
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Darron Smith
As if black people only have themselves to blame for not being able to participate. When blacks really have no control over that it was really dictated by White leadership. //
Because the church sees itself, as colorbind, but what that means is it that The church sees itself as white.
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Smith lives in Utah, in the lily-white Mecca of Mormonism. He says that, even today, he encounters other worshipers who tell him he is cursed because he is black.
Some estimate that as that there are as few as 5000 Blacks, among the 5 and half million Mormons in the United States.
Back on the streets of Harlem, Elder Bird is prepared for charges of racism.
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Elder Bird
We deal with it as it comes, we try to gives answers for, but we try to welcome everyone with open arms.
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Church officials point out over half the church members come from third world countries including many blacks and hispanics. And, that it just takes time for the leadership to be integrated.
Still, in the larger religious context, the LDS church is not alone. According at least one study fewer very few churches in the United States can be described as truly Multireacial.
For moroms and for most Americans. Sunday remains the most segregated day of the week
David Ressel Columbia Radio news.