Are LDS Racists? Part II

Are LDS Racists? Part II

Has there been a historical case of racism among the Mormons?

Continued from: http://clinchitsoonerorlater.blogspot.com/2018/06/are-mormons-racists-have-they-been.html

If you happened to have read the last post issued posing the question based on summaries and points regarding racism during the 1800s and the LDS Church, you may note that I mentioned baseball.

For the continued review of "Are Mormons racist, or have they been racist historically?" we will proceed to share thoughts and facts, beliefs and precedents from each decade of the 1900s until the 1930s. We will start by addressing the very American subject of its historic pastime, baseball.

Going into its second hundred years as a nation, now solidified with generations of post-slavery former owned and owners, and with a newly formed international footprint (post-Spanish-American War), the United States of America was a melting pot of multiple ethnicities. However, the top three ethnic groups to that point were more or less established as ethnically British, German, or African-American, and by far most of them tended to be Protestant.

The 20th century brought a whole new diverse influx of more ethnic diversity; linguistically, religiously, culturally, the United States grew in complexity with large waves of immigrants who were not the traditional white of Britain or Germany or the black African-American heritage from the legacy of slaves. There were Irish Catholics, Italian Catholics, east European Jewish and other Catholics and Eastern Orthodox from Poland and the Balkans. Asians from the Pacific were coming to the United States, and settling, like Chinese and Japanese; Latinos were finding themselves on the US side across the border from Mexico. Even native Americans were integrating into the larger US context of the American people, groups that had been marginalized were to some degree welcomed into the greater growing society, with far flung natively strong Alaska and Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa incorporating into the land of the free, extended to all.

Baseball became the quintessential American sport, uniting most peoples, at least in the northeast of the country. However, it is well known that blacks were excluded, that they had their own leagues that were not as popular or lucrative as the top league for whites and non-blacks in the original founding 16 US cities of the northeast.

For much of the United States throughout the 20th century baseball indicated normalcy and acceptance. Anyone who wasn't black had a fair shot, at least until it became all integrated by the late 1940s. Then it truly became the fair parameter for judgment across the races. But it was not so in the first half the 20th century.

The Latter-day Saints and blacks both struggled for normalcy and acceptance throughout the early times of the 20th century. African-Americans made up large numbers in the South; millions migrated towards the industrial jobs in the north. Some made their way to the western cities and even agricultural areas of the West Coast, especially California. Mormons slowly spread in some areas to all parts of the country, also to California in larger numbers. Latter-day Saints went to foreign lands and saw significant growth in some areas of the world, including Canada, Mexico, Latin America, parts of Europe, East Asia, and the South Pacific.

I cannot speak from personal experience during the times in the early 1900s, because I was not born until the century was over two thirds over. Also, my ancestors were neither black nor Mormon back then.

However, based on my understanding of how things progressed the last 118 years, here are some impressions.

The 1900s.

With new statehood for Utah (1896), a Mormon state with a decent population, and other LDS settlements in the Inter-Mountain west, its somewhat different former polygamist membership was newly reaching out socially and politically to the rest of the country, and by default to the rest of the world. Latter-day Saints were becoming more racially diverse, but not much in the ways of African-Americans, based on exclusive priesthood and temple polices established by Brigham Young in the 1850s. Blacks were also expanding socially and politically in the United States, but there were obvious double standards in the country socially, economically, and because of inherently unfair de facto and other legal differences between whites and those of color, especially African-Americans (like the infamous Jim Crow laws).

Despite the racial segregation of America's sport baseball, this somewhat unifying institution brought together Catholics and Jews and Latinos, the formerly entrenched White Anglo Saxon Protestants all intermixing with people of all backgrounds, cheering on the new Yankees or Senators or White Sox, regardless of ethnic back ground. Poles and Italians, Jews of all backgrounds, were celebrated as well as the traditional WASPS since the nation's founding.
Granted, the US was a racist or racially divided place; Mormons and blacks fell into that American divide. They did not live close to one another, in general, and their spheres of influence over each other were not great. In sheer numbers, Mormons were pushing above a quarter million members while blacks in the US numbered over 8.8 million nationwide. That is a ratio of 32 to 1, while almost no black Mormons were among the church rolls except the small numbers who had crossed the plains in the original days of the pioneers, albeit minimal per the statistics of the tens of thousands who accomplished this feat. Over the 20th century, the ratio of blacks to LDS has shrunk, which is augmented by the later adoption of the Second Manifesto of 1978. And perhaps the higher  birth rates, longer living standards, and conversion rates of the Latter-day Saints helped in the shrinkage. Of this original 32 to 1 ratio.

Jack Johnson, an amazing boxing athlete and black pioneer who probably does not get enough due in US racial history one hundred plus years later, was an example of a black man who broke barriers in the early 1900s. The United States remained painfully segregated 50 years after emancipation (1863). The amazing multi-athlete Jim Thorpe was a native American who proved truly outstanding and gained world-wide respect. But white America was still very exclusive despite amazing athletes such as him. Meanwhile, a few Mormon athletes performed as Olympians, but none to a significant degree of fame or recognizable status. Part of being accepted by the country is becoming a part of the social and sports scene, which blacks were doing, like in the popular sport of boxing.

Conclusion for the 1900s: While the United States was gaining in some significant ways for the progress of newly stated Utahn Mormons and its periphery, and also notable progress was made for African-Americans as they continued to spread across the country, the two populations did not come in contact very much, and did not seem to influence the other much. The great newly codified sport of  baseball, while providing equal opportunity for Latter-day Saints in the West, was not existent as a major league sport past the Mississippi River, and neither were American minorities to have much impact in this "northeast sport". These two minorities were still somewhat isolated from "regular" American life, and baseball was indicative of that.

The 1910s:

The World War in Europe from 1914-1918 changed the United States (and the world), proving that America was a global power and that it played a large part in global affairs; that the dough boys were truly "all" Americans, no matter their ethnic origins. In this war it was proven that we all bled the same despite differences in worship and skin color.

By the beginning of the decade (1910) the LDS numbers hit almost 400, 000, which does include international numbers, many of whom would migrate to the US eventually. African-Americans had grown in size to approximately 9.5 million, based on averaging the twenty year censuses surrounding 1910. The ratio of African-Americans to Mormons had dropped below 25 to 1 in a decade.

Conclusion for the 1920s: Culturally and racially the United States became more diverse in the Roaring Twenties; military conflict led to new mixing of social groups previously not involved with each other. Religiously the country became much more Catholic and Jewish, and Mormons continued to expand their sphere of influence, which had some cross over with black populations, most likely in West Coast cities like Los Angeles and California. Did LDS have any influence over racist Jim Crow laws or other attempts at keeping blacks from having political rights? Probably not.

Did statements by former Church leaders like Brigham Young and its exclusive priesthood policy, sometimes in justification for the spiritual nature of "the Negro" not being eligible for priesthood and temple blessings help bolster other white segregationists across the US? Did it help keep African-Americans from integrating into normal American activities and acceptance like major league baseball? I think that the United States was already on this segregationist course regardless of Latter-day Saint practices.

1920 LDS Overall Membership: 525,000

African-American: 10.4 million
Ratio: Approximately 25 to 1 ratio African-American to US Latter-day Saints. (Again, much of that overall number of LDS are internal to the US, perhaps one fifth being non-American).

1930s: 

The time of the great Depression affected everyone across all ethnic lines in the United States and around the world. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members weathered the financial storms in decent fashion as an organization and as general members despite universal hardships; some might say that due to some inspired leadership and inherent industriousness of its stalwart members, by virtue of the existential nature of their ways, the LDS more or less did better than most other Americans during the long decade of penury and hardships.

For generations, since its inception in the 1830s until the time of the Great Depression of the 1930s (100 years, up to five generations of this newly founded people), the Latter-day Saints throughout the base of the Inter-Mountain West had come to by and large own their land, own their property, and to master it.

I surmise this conclusion  and the following general statements more in anecdotal logic than by quantitative proof: the line of reasoning of how land-owning agriculturalists (as many of the LDS of the 1930s tended to be) could be more protected financially than urban based laborers, is a thesis worth considering. In many ways Mormons in the 1930s, at least in the United States, were ready for this crisis of the stock market crash and job losses better than most. Certainly they were better prepared than the blacks of the United States in general, who were largely congregated in many urban areas, or residing in swaths in the US South where there was little wealth in their land ownership.


Having gone through the second most difficult economic crisis in the last 150 years as recently as 2008-2011, there are some corollaries that may be derived in order to analyze how people suffer and what wealth is at risk when economies "go south", or people lose their investments and jobs and chances to get ahead economically.


Despite Jesse Owens proving Hitler absurd in Berlin at the 1936 Summer Games, the United States was still painfully segregated, was unfair to the hopes and dreams of African-Americans among others, and was by definition, racist in the rough economic times of this decade. The United States deprived blacks of equal rights, hence the movements in the 1950s and the 1960s that would advance their and other causes.

The Church of Jesus Christ in the 1930s, like the country at large, the governments that ruled the majority of the states and the cities and communities, and many religious and other US social institutions like baseball, golf, and schools, was not inclusive in its policy towards African-Americans.  While this missionary-oriented church was attempting to reach out to more parts of the world in diversity, in practice in inclusion of all races (specifically black descendants from Africa).

The next decades would change things for the country and all diverse groups for the better. And the Church would adapt to its policies as well.

1930s: 
LDS Overall:  670,000 (possibly 500,000 US-based LDS)
African-American: 11.9 million
(Ratio ) Approximately 24 African-Americans per one LDS member, who were primarily white, minimal members that were black but without priesthood authority or temple access.

____________________________________________________________
BELOW: SAVED FOR PART III

1940s:
LDS Overall: 862,000
African-American: 12.7 million

1950s: 
LDS Overall: 1.1 million
African-American: 15 million

1960s:
LDS Overall: 1.7 million
African-American: 18.8 million

1970s:
LDS Overall: 2.9 million
African-American: 22.6 million

1980s:
LDS Overall: 4.6 million
African-American: 26.7 million

1990s:
LDS Overall: 7.8 million (about 4 million in the United States)
African-American: 30 million

2000s:
LDS Overall: 11.1 million (about 5 million in the United States)
African-American: 39 million

2010s:
LDS Overall (14 million, 6.1 million in the United States)
African-American: 38.9 million (black alone, not counting 1-2 million mixed raced)

 

Bryce One HR Short of My Favorite, Tim Raines

Bryce One HR Short of My Favorite, Tim Raines

I miscounted on my last blog post about the rank of the Bryce Bomber. He was not at 168 when I posted it.

He is now up to 169 total. Tim Raines, my favorite all time player, 1979-2002, hit a total of 170 home runs in a 23 year career. But Raines was a lead-off hitter, a speedy run scorer. He made the Hall of Fame last year, 2017. He was a dominant scorer.

Bryce can score, but he is more of a run producer; and with that production is the inherent power in his swing. This season Harper is hitting a disappointing .230, with a decent  on-base percentage (.385), which is what Raines did for his career. That is good enough for the Hall of Fame for a guy who gets on base. Moves the line. Wins games.

Now Bryce is moving up to 427 all time, in his seventh year. He is hitting home runs at a really good pace, but not getting enough hits. It seems his strike outs are up; not enough contact on pitches. The Nats are doing all right overall. His teams are usually winners.

427.	Bryce Harper (7, 25)	169	L	HR Log
	Ramon Hernandez (15)	169	R	HR Log
	Lloyd Moseby (12)	169	L	HR Log
	Pete O'Brien (12)	169	L	HR Log
	Alex Rios (12)	169	R	HR Log
	Enos Slaughter+ (19)	169	L	HR Log
	Ty Wigginton (12)	169	R	HR Log

These guys took longer to get here, ranging in careers from 12 to 19 years. Some were not necessarily power hitters, like Raines, who had some power but his specialty was getting on base and moving on the paths. Slaughter, a multiple-time MVP candidate with the Saint Louis Cardinals, would have likely had 30 to 50 more home runs if he had not gone into 3 years of military service during World War II. Talk about an athletic hero to emulate or honor! Winnington was a major league product of only the 21st century, as was Alex Rios, and almost Ramon Hernandez who became a major leaguer first in 1999.

Bryce Harper Moving Up---Makes 433 All-Time

Bryce Harper Moving Up---Makes 433 All-Time

Bryce Harper hit his 19th home run of his seventh season, yesterday, capping a win over the San Francisco Giants in DC, the friendly confines. It was a warm day. The winners of the NHL Championship held up the Stanley Cup, pretty unique. It was the superstar, Alex Ovechkin, and a couple teammates.

He is now tied with Jose Hernandez, a 15 year player who retired in 2006 at age 36. For Bryce to really have a good shot at becoming one of the top twenty elite all-time home run hitters, he will probably need to play until he is 38 or 40. But time will tell.

Recent players passed:

433.	Bryce Harper (7, 25)	168	L	HR Log
	Jose Hernandez (15)	168	R	HR Log
435.	Casey Blake (13)	167	R	HR Log
	Elston Howard (14)	167	R	HR Log
	Charles Johnson (12)	167	R	HR Log
	Gus Triandos (13)	167	R	HR Log
439.	Tony Conigliaro (8)	166	R	HR Log
	Larry Hisle (14)	166	R	HR Log
	Dwayne Murphy (12)	166	L	HR Log
	Bill Robinson (16)	166	R	HR Log
	Paul Sorrento (11)	166	L	HR Log

Only Tony Conigliaro had similar output in years played. He played famously with the Boston Red Sox until a serious eye injury in effect ending his career from taking a pitch in the face in 1971 at age 26. He tried coming back a few years later at age 30, but wound up playing only 21 games and retired.

Based on starting in the majors at age 19 and hitting 24 his rookie year, Conigliaro was destined for greatness, similar to Bryce now. Only the money and arguably the fame is much greater now. In 2007 the Red Sox dedicated a new section of seating to this former would-be legend; he is not forgotten.

I told my son today, discussing this event, that maybe if he had had the same injury in the 21st century possibly they could have fixed him up like they have done power hitter Giancarlo Stanton and others.

Our respects, Tony. You played the game great.

I hope Bryce gets a chance to know you. And the rest of us.

Keep it going Bryce!

168 and counting! Onward and upward, stay safe.

Are Mormons Racists? Have they Been Historically?

Are Mormons Racists? Have they Been Historically?

(Up till 1900) Part 1

 Published June 2018

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been around as an institution for almost 200 years.  It now has been forty years since the Church policy was introduced as Official Declaration 2; the public announcement of a change of Church policy that allowed all worthy males, regardless of skin color or ethnic heritage, in particular permitting those of black African descent, to have the priesthood and be endowed in the holiest rites of the Latter-day Saint temples.

Until that time in June 1978 there was a restrictive LDS Church policy that excluded blacks from the priesthood authority--more or less since the 1850s-- precluding black men or boys of African heritage from possessing the priesthood, which generally meant excluding all black people from the opportunity of the temple covenants that Latter-day Saints consider essential for eternal blessings and exaltation with God. Blacks could join the Church through baptism and be more nominal members, but they were not permitted to advance in the rites of power, ministry, or special sanction to advance farther in its precepts.

In the 21st century people deem this racist, or racially prejudiced, religiously or institutionally, which is fair to assess in the modern lens of scrutiny. But was it based on hate, or something else? Were there other factors at play? Were there any legitimate Godly reasons that this policy was put in place? There are racial and racist policies, practices, and behaviors to contemplate when it comes to the Latter-day Saint movement of the last 200 years. Some of it might also be qualified as prejudiced, exclusionary, elitist, or exclusive.
The answers are not available here in my thoughts, but there are things to consider.

This post will serve as a review of the accusations or considerations of what an institution or religious people like the LDS (Mormons) are in the way of being "racist", or perhaps not overtly racist like other groups that have been directly hurtful or are to be considered oppressive throughout their history. It begins in the United States during the controversial and debated times of African-American slavery in the US South, not to mention general attitudes of the maltreatment of the native Americans across the continent.

The 1830s and 1840s

The Latter-day Saint peoples, nicknamed as Mormons because of this new scriptural book that they declared known as the Book of Mormon, were officially established in April of 1830 in upstate New York. Joseph Smith Junior had a decade prior to this time while he was composing his ideas and formation of the faith, claimed as Restorational Christianity. Joseph Smith Junior said that this Church was the newly restored Church of Jesus Christ from the days of old. And thus the movement began, moving from New York to Ohio and Missouri, later Illinois and other surrounding states and countries until Joseph was martyred in 1844.

Joseph, the charismatic and authoritative leader of this new faith, himself in these times baptized and ordained male black African-Americans, freemen, with the priesthood before he himself died, during those first 14 years of Church history. The Church members were heavily persecuted, even unto death, in most of the places that they settled and congregated. The suffering and hostilities were the worst in Missouri, a slave state, where Mormons were partially hated or distrusted for their lack of slave beliefs and lifestyle.

On these two counts alone, the LDS faith could not be accused of being racist against blacks from the 1830s and most of the 1840s, the time of its inception and hold on the lands where it was founded.

Conclusion for the 1830s and 1840s: The  LDS Church was not racist towards blacks or any other ethnic group in these formative years. It did consider itself elite, however, disclaiming the authority of the priesthoods and authorities of other Christian faiths throughout the world. But, this elite stance did not affect how the LDS leadership or believers treated non-white people. White LDS members actually bore the brunt in large part by not upholding slavery, especially in Missouri. Smith proposed ideas of a political nature to free the African-American slaves before his premature death in 1844.

The 1850s 

Brigham Young succeeded Joseph Smith as prophet and Church president by 1847, famously leading the Saints from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake Valley that would later become Utah. This occurred after Smith and other Saints were forced out of many settlements and in extreme cases killed.  By the 1850s, Young's prophetic policy instilled on the followers was to not allow African-Americans to have the rights to the priesthood of God that the Church espoused. By the 1850s the practice of plural marriage was heavily practiced by many of the Mormon faith, therefore Washington DC and the United States had serious qualms and concerns with the LDS peoples concentrated in the Inter-Mountain West. Maybe this was more convenient for President and Governor Young, to maintain this type of exclusive (some interpret as hateful) policy in those times, maybe in order to not incur further minority ostracism as a "strange and peculiar people"?

Because of plural marriage among those Saints, Utah did not become a state; this unusual Western religious and social construct was deemed a "barbarous" practice, like slavery, by the rest of the well-minded United States. Polygamy was even compared in grave nefariousness to slavery; for political reasons the Utah territory was excluded from regular US involvement and consideration. Rather Utah remained a US federal territory with enough inhabitants to be elevated to a state, like Oregon or California, but the US congress would not approve of its people to have those rights.

Conclusion for the 1850s: The newly developing and transitional Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was exclusionary, implementing racial policies that in modern terms would be considered racist, because black people could no longer have lay priesthood leadership or inner covenant powers through the temple, intrinsic to being a Mormon. However, some of the original members of African heritage who were integrated and ordained by the earlier Church leadership (1830-40s) managed to cross the US plains, continued to be part and parcel of the LDS faith and its greater expansion across the US West, to include Salt Lake City founders. The Mormons fled the Midwest under duress, as well as international converts from Great Britain and the rest of mostly Northern Europe, most of whom were white. Mormons were known as non-slave owners, while they suffered the newfound stigma of polygamy, thus inhibiting their integration within the tapestry of the normal American people, slave owning or no.

The 1860s

The 1860s brought the slavery issue to a head in the United States, thus affecting racial policy for the whole nation. The LDS Church and its people actually benefited from the Civil War because federal troops that were occupying Latter-day Saint owned properties in the Utah territory were called back East to be deployed in the US's biggest trial to date, starting with the rebellion at Fort Sumter and ending at Appomatax. Meanwhile the Mormon crossing of the US plains came to an end, the LDS peoples of Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and other settlements of the West in Nevada and California continued to prosper. Brother Brigham was a savvy settler and leader. The boon of children from multiple wife families helped the growth.

But as the Civil War ended, the attention of the US government re-focused on these off-spurt Mormon westerners. Polygamy had become the rallying cry for US eastern based leaders to decry Mormonism. Again, perhaps LDS Church leadership thought that taking in black African members was too heavy an additional burden to bear . However, perhaps the idea of integrating black people it was not that "black and white", pardon the pun. The rest of the US was not that prone, like everyone in those times, to suddenly turn most things into shared mixed white and black environments, despite the emancipation and new-found freedoms of that decade.

Conclusion for the 1860s: The LDS faith became more entrenched into its physical habitats, as well as more solidified in its doctrinal practices, which included polygamy, which made it a pariah to outsiders. It fought heavily to maintain these gains, while blacks were not a large part of its concern. While the small minority of Mormons, mostly white, heavily European immigrants, in the US west fought to have their say, their lives established, create their Zion, aka utopia, the freed Africans in the East, some moving west but most staying east of the Mississippi, had their own gains to make. Racist? By default Mormons were not actively involved in most African-Americans' lives, but rather taking a different space of struggle. I think the LDS might be considered more isolationist than racist in the 1860s.

The 1870s

Brigham Young had passed on the mantle of leadership by the 1870s (by death); the British born Canadian-based John Taylor becoming the third leader of this outlier group headquartered in the Great Salt Lake. Numbers continued to grow as well as their influence. As stated, the numbers of Utah residents were sufficient for statehood like other states becoming so, but the US government could not accept polygamy. The Saints continued to grow, as we assume blacks freed across the United States were doing in much greater numbers. LDS missionaries were going out from Utah and elsewhere to places of "color", including Latin America and the South Pacific. Incidentally, since the early days of Joseph Smith, the LDS outreach to American Indian was always considered a priority. While making inroads among non-white populations, Mormons and most African-Americans were largely separate. When LDS missionaries would travel the US parts of the East, or Canada, they would not proselytize among black populations.

Conclusion of the 1870s: While the LDS Church maintained its policy of non-black inclusion of the priesthood and consequent temple rights, it was making attempts to diversify racially and ethnically both domestically and abroad.

The 1880s

The 1880s brought the polygamy issue to its climatic evolution of US controlled existence: it was abolished based on the pressures of the United States government's heavy  power over its sovereign lands, combined with the succumbing of the fourth LDS president Woolford Woodruff and the LDS Church to end the practice of plural marriage. Joseph Smith had, afterall, declared that the Church would abide by the laws of the land in which it was constituted. This decision ending plural marriage would lead to Utah statehood a decade (or 6 years) later. Much like the Official Declaration 2 of 1978, the 1890 manifesto created a large shift in Church policy towards normalizing socially to the rest of the Western world. This made Mormons more mainstream, but there was still much of its identity that made Latter-day Saints different. This social difference is part of what the faith attempts to achieve, like Biblical peoples of old: striving to achieve better, or higher standards, lived according to God and His leaders embodied in the Church hierarchy (the Brethren), so the people of God follow and obey Christ to achieve Zion.

Conclusion of the 1880s: After fighting mightily for its own existence, having its lands confiscated, leaders and polygamists arrested, and its underpinnings questioned at the highest levels, the LDS Church capitulated to the United States law of monogamy and continued to exist. Some members chose to flee the country to Canada and Mexico in order to salvage or maintain their way of life, which also encapsulated their families, their wives and children. The majority of Saints simply stopped the practice of plural marriage. While becoming less isolationist in this major regard, Mormons were still no closer to integration racially with African-Americans.

The 1890s

The 1890s was a new period for LDS integration into the United States and the world. It was now westernized as most Christian peoples, upholding monogamy as the highest virtue, which also had everything to do with temple marriages and family togetherness, known as "sealings". Blacks were still not privy to this invitation, noted. With Utah statehood came the struggles for the Latter-day Saints to be accepted as true Americans. This process would gradually occur, with the election and later acceptance of LDS Senators in Washington DC and across the country.

Meanwhile, African-Americans were going through many of the same struggles for rights and citizenship within their homeland, albeit with heavier tolls to pay. They, the majority of African-Americans, were coming from hundreds of years of true institutional racism under the awful auspices of bondage. Mormons, to this point in their existence, were if anything a help to American and other blacks in many ways. How?

1. Joseph Smith himself was friendly and even equitable to African-Americans from the get-go, later proposing a political solution for slavery that might have influenced Abraham Lincoln and others. Smith died at age 38, long before he could introduce or enact further emancipatory or other radical ideas that he had developed as a young revolutionary type, vastly different than the status quo that lead to the US Civil War, that he had predicted would begin in South Carolina.

2. The US Federal government was distracted by Brigham Young and the Mormon settlers before and during the Civil War, perhaps deflecting some of the unwanted attention that some US people used against slaves and freed slaves. Did any of these distractions, plus the constant opening of the non-slave "free" Western US, tip the power of anticipated power to the side of the abolitionists? I would argue yes. Mormon prosperity and expansion favored the entire nation, especially the enslaved African-Americans looking to the future of widened parameters of a new life, a new world.

3. Latter-day Saints developed and prospered through sacrifice and trials in much of the inter-mountain west, blazing a way for all Americans to take advantage of the abundance of prosperity available to all. Blacks likewise needed to expand past their agricultural confines of the South; Mormons were among others who showed that this was doable. California did not seem so hard after other interior portions of the US were becoming flourishing communities. California, Oregon, and other parts of the new America (won from Mexico in 1848, including the noble Mormon Battalion that marched in the longest US military march in the country's history, sacrificing while under duress of the crossing of the plains for the sake of the same government and peoples that had chased them, or at times not defended them, across the continent since its inception in 1830.)

4. The federal struggles against Mormon polygamy were in a sense much like what blacks were striving for: their own place, which was different than the standard white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, in an emerging American identity of a mixed soup of identities.

Conclusion of the 1890s and the 19th Century: The LDS Church drastically changed its founding practices of plural marriage in order to conform to US law and custom, and to be part of the rest of America. Similarly, freed African-American slaves were a generation into their own attempts at integration, acculturation, and normalization, or the lack thereof into US society. Both populations did not share much of the same space in the country, but both were trying to be fully American after distinct denials at those attempts. The new national sport of baseball, a northeast-US dominated movement, learned to segregate the players by race, thus entrenching a "separate but equal" tendency in US society as a whole.

Leading up to the year 1900, the United States had grown and developed into a superpower, evidenced by the Spanish-American War, the territorial gains and advances by the turn of the century, and its economic might, due in many parts to the labors of blacks and Mormons. Minorities across the spectrum were amalgamating into the United States and elsewhere. LDS practices and membership had taken hold in the South Pacific and Latin America, and also in parts of Europe where economically or politically hungry Italians, Irish, eastern European Jews, and other minorities began their influx into the land of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, inviting the tired and poor masses to its vast shores.

The United States had become a land of opportunity and a bulwark of hope and freedom for the entire world. It would prove this fact in the century to come. African-Americans and Latter-day Saints had to prove their part in this land and elsewhere, but they both had been a part of this amazing process for decades, even centuries in the case of African-Americans. The policies of the LDS Church and its members would eventually see how this great experiment of mixing and combining strengths would transpire, especially in regards to those of black African descent.

Statements of a Believer in 2018

The ideas and impact of Jesus Christ, and later Mormon leaders aspiring to His teachings in this the modern age, has ever been expansive and grand.  The freedom and power of God have been promised repeatedly and assuredly to the children of God throughout the ages, from Adam and Eve until the present. The message has never changed, but the standards and policies have evolved.

It is worth reflecting on the trajectory and development of all the earth's peoples of every shade and hue, of every tongue and belief. God's plans are vast and mysterious. Has the movement, now global, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helped all of humanity? Has it hated some, and only favored some others?

At a certain point, in a certain time and age, God has promised that we will all be one. All human kind, bond and free, white and dark, no matter our outer shell or description. As one humble chronicler of the human condition, I choose to see how these threads and tapestries weave together to make us who we are becoming and we ultimately wish to be.

It's exciting! It has been hard and tragic too often, but as many say, this road of human existence has been worth it. God has a Plan, we maintain; things are on course by way of our faith in that Plan, and we His creations, His children, must learn how to understand and accept it.

Reflect on.

See Part II: 1900 to the 1930s.

Where is Bryce Now? List of Greats

Where is Bryce Now? List of Home Run Greats

It's been a while since I have logged the stats of this still young star.

I was consistently chronicling his home run totals, comparing him to the others players of major league baseball who had stopped (more often than not retired) at their home run totals.

I am now updating where he is on the list. Notably, he is close to surpassing my favorite all-time player Tim Raines Senior (1979-2002), who was inducted into the Cooperstown Hall of Fame last year (2017). Rock Raines was not a home run hitter as his primary talent. Raines was known for his hitting, on base percentage, and his speed. One of the best of all time.

Bryce is no slow poke, and his OBP is probably much higher than Raines due to the fear of the power he has and the amount of intentional and unintended walks he draws.

Harper is now at 165 career homers, tied for 443 all time in his seventh year. He is currently also tied with a contemporary hitter, Colby Rasmus, who is in his 10th year. 

Nationals are hoping against hope that Bryce does not sign with the New York Yankees or anyone else in this, his last contract year as a seventh year player. 

Here is a portion of the list Bryce is located at, with others that he passed up going back to the top 500 of all time. 

He is going into today's Interstate rivalry with Baltimore leading the majors in home runs with 16. His batting percentage is down but he is still getting a lot of walks for high OBP.

443.	Jose Cruz (19)
	Bryce Harper (7, 25)
	Jacque Jones (10)
	Colby Rasmus (10, 31)
447.	Hank Bauer (14)
	Alex Gordon (12, 34)
	Chick Hafey+ (13)
	Jim Lemon (12)
Rank	Player (yrs, age)
	Andy Seminick (15)
	Al Smith (12)
	Melvin Upton (12)
	Andy Van Slyke (13)
	Claudell Washington (17)
456.	Don Demeter (11)
	Damion Easley (17)
	Ken Keltner (13)
	Bill Madlock (15)
	Roy Smalley (13)
461.	Pedro Alvarez (9, 31)
	Clete Boyer (16)
	Yoenis Cespedes (7, 32)
	Andre Ethier (12)
	Jonny Gomes (13)
	Corey Hart (11)
	Keith Hernandez (17)
	Aaron Hill (13)
	Terry Steinbach (14)
470.	Juan Samuel (16)
	Kyle Seager (8, 30)
	Rickie Weeks (14)
473.	Alvin Davis (9)
	Jeff Francoeur (12)
	Bill Melton (10)
	Brandon Moss (11)
	Tony Phillips (18)
	Henry Rodriguez (11)
	Pete Rose (24)
	Frank White (18)
	Roy White (15)
482.	Marlon Byrd (15)
	Donn Clendenon (12)
	Jim Hickman (13)
	Ben Zobrist (13, 37)
486.	Chris Carter (8, 31)
	Khris Davis (6, 30)
	Brian Dozier (7, 31)
489.	Nolan Arenado (6, 27)
	Alex Gonzalez (16)
491.	Juan Encarnacion (11)
	Ken McMullen (16)
	Bob Meusel (11)
494.	Ed Bailey (14)
	Kelly Johnson (11)
	Sherm Lollar (18)
	Davey Lopes (16)
	Doug Rader (11)
499.	Jeff King (11)
	Ryan Ludwick (12)
Rank	Player (yrs, age)
	Carlos Quentin (9)
	Bill Terry+ (14)

Colby Rasmus, now with the Orioles, is in his 10th season (started in 2009) and is tied with Bryce all time. But not for long. At age 31 he is not getting much playing time on a poor team, has zero homers so far, and only hit 9 last year. Mr. Rasmus may be looking at the tail end of a big league career if things do not change for his status.

Jose Cruz played a long career (1970-1988) but never hit more than 17 home runs in a season. His overall longevity and productivity allowed him to arrive at 165. 

Jaque Jones managed 10 years of play with the same home run tally, playing from 1999-2008.

Some notable active players slightly behind Bryce's current HR total that are powerful players with comparable home run numbers:

Alex Gordon (12 years), age 34:    164 career homers

Pedro  Alvarez (9 years), age 31:   162 career homers

Yoenis Cespedes (7 years), age 32:162 career homers

Kyle Seager (8 years), age 30:        161 career homers

Ben Zobrist (13 years), age 37:       159 career homers

Chris Carter (8 years), age 31:        158 career homers

Khris Davis (6 years), age 30:        158 career homers

Brian Dozier (7 years), age 31:       158 career homers

Nolan Arenado (6 years), age 27:   157 career homers

Manny Machado (7 years), age 25  153 career homers

Of the ten active players close in totals behind Bryce, eight are already in their thirties and will not go much further in doubling those numbers, being lucky if they make it to career 300 home runs. The other two, namely  Arenado and Machado, could compete with Bryce Harper for the next decade plus as they are young like him.

All three might push each other to reach 300, 400, 500, and beyond in career homers.

Aaron Judge and a few other power hitters are the current de jeur home run hitters of the league. Judge, for one, is very new. ( Less than three years in the majors, age 26, 70 total home runs).

If Bryce ever does become the overall home run king, he will have to maintain his health, for sure.

For the end of May 2018, tied for 443 all-time is pretty good for age 25.

If he continues at a solid pace this season he could reach 352nd  all time by October (about 195 total). Not too shabby for a 26-year-old.

But the watch continues....

Tales of a Fourth Grade Something

A few memories about grammar school for the kiddos:

( I last wrote this/created this circa 1 October 2017.)

Kindergarten. We had one little toilet area behind a wall with no door. We all shared it, boys and girls. Good thing I only attended kindergarten in the morning, because I did not use it all year long. I did not have confidence that I had enough privacy. And privacy was paramount for me!

First grade. I collected a few acorns outside during recess and put them in my pencil box in my desk. They sat in there all year long. At the end of the school year those acorns had white maggoty weevils in them; I had to hide them to avoid being caught with these gross little invaders.

Second grade. We did a field trip to one of our classmates' home on Ballantine Drive, about 5 blocks from school. On the way home we all tried piling into a station wagon car, instead walking back as we must have arrived; the battery was died and could not budge. Our second grade teacher Mrs. Wade was very upset with us at the end of the day, holding us over at our desks after school ended. I can't recall the point of the field trip. Cooking?

Third grade. Mrs. Swinford was pregnant a bit of the school year, we did some copying of photosynthesis notes, which was quite an exercise. We worked a lot on our times tables, up to 13. I got to my 12s.

Fourth grade. Mrs. Key was older and considered a bit of a crusty one, but she was fair. One lasting impression is that we would watch these weekly film strips about world events. Some of those stories and images stayed with me.

Yes, fourth grade. Who wrote "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing"? Judy Blume? Yes, of course. I looked it up in Wikipedia. Some of those writings set the stage for the aplomb to follow.

She made it famous, noteworthy. And I, little Eddie Clinch from 1026 Manor Road, was a Fourth Grade Something.

FOURTH GRADE 

A pivotal time in any youth's upward sojourn.

I was a fourth grader, too; I had achieved it. I was living the life of the story books.

I guess I wish to make a special note about Judy Blume. My older sisters owned a number of her books, at least one of such was treated in high regard, almost reverentially (Are you there God? It's Me, Margaret) . This author amounted to being the chronicler of our times. By making that grade, achieving the status of fourth grader myself, I was then among the notable people that were celebrated in art and literature. But unlike the protagonist's statement of nothingness, I was fairly confident that I was "something".

Life was good.

My elementary school Elm Heights had only one fourth grade class. Some of our colleagues were held back in 3rd grade, maybe three or four. I remember Nicki Houston as one of them. She and her family were members of my church who lived a few blocks away on the other side of Bryan Park. Another was Shea Holden (how do I remember these names from nigh forty years ago?). Shea was red headed, like her older brother, who lived in an impressively large house up Maxwell Street from Jeremy Houston, some five to six blocks away. There might have been a third or fourth held back by Mrs. Swinford, also girls, but I cannot recall specifically. I recall being slightly mortified by the prospect of not advancing after a whole year of class. During the course of my fourth grade year, and later in 5th grade, I looked back at those young ladies, observing that they seemed to morph into the ages with which they were assigned.

Not me: onwards and upwards to "somethingness".

Fourth grade! I was the last of the three Clinches to make my rounds through our august 1926 two story brick building. I was living the dream.

I suppose one way to break down the fourth grade class was by boy and girl. Most of our girls moved on from third grade, across the hall, namely: Dalia Rosenfeld, of course.  She was one of my best friends in third grade; we sat next to each other much of the year. There was Marnie Ward, a girl I suppose I had been crushing on since at least first grade. I was jealous of my friend who lived closer to her house when they would walk home together after school. Marnie was close friends with Angie Mitchell, who was bussed in the from the country, like about one third or a fourth of our fellow alumni. They came from miles outside of Bloomington, as my dad would call "the Boonies", or the country kids themselves would joke as the "Boondocks".

Another girl from the country was Kim Marsh. She plays a special role in fourth grade sometime around Valentine's, I guess. There was a girl who lived on Woodlawn (the main road leading from my house to the school), named Leanne Coons. I had a special penchant for her in third grade but that did not last as long as the Marnie thing. What other girls? My mind drifts across my home neighborhood in south central Bloomington, but no others come to mind now. Molly Gleason? Yeah, maybe her. She lived really close to the aforementioned Jeremy.

Then there were us boys. Four of us decided not to participate in the fourth grade choir, and we were: myself, Lance Allen, Ross Dinnsen, and Peter Hoff. We thought we were kind of cool for that. What made it sweeter was that we got extra time to hang around our nice student teacher Miss Lachman; I thought she was fantastic and pretty, in that order.

Seems girls and ladies play a part in matters, huh? But I admitted to no one that I had these crushes, and spent most time and matters with the guys. Lance and I became football buddies during recess, and recess was a big deal. Highlights of days and weeks. Pete and I lived close to each other, he being a couple blocks passed Bryan Park on Hawthorne; he moving in that school year, so we played a lot and were pretty good friends.

Oh! Just past him was Ballantine, where maybe David Backler was held pack in third grade, too? Is that what happened? I think so. Wow, the memories may be percolated! It wasn't all girls.

Then there was Patrick Lumbley, living on the other side of Bryan Park, Jacob Smith, the aforementioned Jeremy Houston, Michael Chapman, Mike Martin, Andy Hamilton, Danny Baugh,  Evan Thomas, Mike Playford (aka Squeaky) and Thomas Matthew. Jonathan Murray, a close neighbor friend, had moved  with his family to Bethesda, Maryland, I think after third grade.

Was that it? Maybe so for fourth grade. I guess we still had Danny Halpern, who had not moved to California yet. Oh, and Elizabeth Noyes. She lived closer to the Indiana campus and the school.

Could that have been it? I need to look back on photos. Paul Lowengrub! Of course! And Chris Rollins and Frank Pershing. Were we all jammed into one fourth grade class with Mrs. Key? Apparently so.

Angie came from the country, and Darcy McCune (a church member that had been a kindergarten buddy after school), and Kim Marsh were the girls bussed in. Mike Martin, Danny Baugh, Andy Hamilton, and Playford also came on that bus into town every day. The majority of us were townies. Philip Rogers was hard to count because he was sent to Howe Military Academy, I think.

And there we were: the Elm Heights lone fourth grade class! Although, upon further reflection, maybe what had happened was that there was a special 3rd/4th grade class established for the lower achievers of my third grade class "held behind" combined with the smarter 3rd grade students who had just finished 2nd grade downstairs. Yeah, that sounds right!

So Nicki, Shea, David, and maybe Michael Playford, or Chris Rollins and Frank, if that was truly  them, were not as retrograded as I was thinking. Good for them, good for all of us. And then newcomers like Leora Baude and maybe Mollie Gleason, were advanced into 5th grade later...

Back to my fourth grade class.

Kim was a nice girl, but I was not particularly interested in her. Good thing, because when she gave me a secret Valentine's card with a picture of her running on the beach, maybe in the Bahamas or somewhere exotic like that, I was pretty sure that there would be no subsequent actions taken on my part. It was awkward, as fellow students tried to encourage me to do whatever, acknowledge that it was her, "go" with her, who knows. She got the picture that I was not going to move things forward, and that was fine. Nothing gained, nothing lost.

I was still the same fourth grade something.

I just (May 2018) recalled, there were a couple more girls in that combined 3rd/4th class that I had not mentioned. One of them was a young lady that I cannot remember her name: she had probably moved in new that year of third grade, possibly along with a cousin that I also can recall less of. The first new girl was famous in my mind for her reply to my buddies Jake and Pat in third grade, when being pelted by their snow balls in an inauspicious corner of the building (away from adult eyes), she audibly emoted in righteous anger and spirit," Some people, can be so gross, without even knowing themselves. And that's YOU TWO." Jacob quoted it back later to me, and it in some degree perplexed and impressed us all.

The things that you remember!

Perhaps Michael Chapman also withheld from choir time like Pete, Ross, Lance, and I, and it was usually later in the day. So we numbered either four or five boy non-choir misfits. One of those times, trying to stay out of trouble and flirt with Miss Lachman, I was playing with a small stapler; I managed to inject a staple into my thumb. That was traumatic, to a degree.  I thought it was a reason for true medical attention. I went downstairs to see if the nurse had any proper treatment for such a mishap, eventually figuring out that I needed to carefully work its way out of my flesh. And I accomplished that more or less on my own, I think, perhaps with the coaching of the nurse. I can't recall if we had a nurse right then, maybe it was only the principal's secretary.

Life lessons of fourth grade, for sure.

I stayed healthy during fourth grade for the most part, unlike third grade when I contracted mono-nucleiosis, I had to remain indoors for weeks and and I got more serious about books and reading. I garnered a like and feel for football. Lance Allen was the primary root of that. It involved things that I fancied as cool skills: running, catching, and evading tackles. Out-running hits. Lance and I continued those dreams for a few more years.

Mrs. Daniels from the 5th grade at the end of the hall helped me publish my first book, an Easter themed classic known as "______________________" (ugh, I need to dig this out of storage like the rest of my past life and memorabilia).  The first book of at least two, with many more to come? In a life now of some 47 plus years? Maybe I did peak before middle school...

Also, it was probably the year (I think the spring) when we housed the brother and sister Joey and Sofia Avila, the second to last foster group that we took in from my elementary school years. Sofia was a fifth grader, so maybe she was down the hall at Elm Heights for those six weeks; Joey was a great surrogate brother for those six weeks, who might have been in seventh grade. Those were overall good times for me, maybe a little more trying for the rest of my family. Joey was a nice buddy friend to play with. We played all types of games, including darts and ping pong. And obviously this was not easy for them as their family was going through problems that placed them with us. We had added on to our house by then, so the rooms were a little better to share. Joey and I shared bunks beside each other. My sister Jenny had to share with Sofia, I think.

Finally, as perhaps my coup de grace of the fourth grade, I was able to be one of the selectees for our school Spelling Bee. I wound up winning second place, right after a fifth grade girl. No small feat. It was embarrassing that I messed up on "saxophone"; I think I forgot  the middle vowel altogether! However, I still earned second place for the whole school, I won a 15 dollar book certificate (I bought most of the Choose Your Own Adventure series at a downtown store), and I went across town for the Monroe County Bee as the alternate. I was not sure if I was going to compete or not that night, and I did not, but I was ready just in case.

Ahh, fourth grade something memories.

Being ensconced in a small room with my fellow spelling bee teammates proved impactful, perhaps. Exposure to mere college age and beyond words seemed to have enlivened my brain. The world is vast in prose and language. Just our English tongue alone.

Back then the international news stories involved the Solidarity Movement in Poland, the Pope from there, John Paul II, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the US hostages of Iran, and a myriad of other issues that I cannot specifically remember. But the stories and images of those black and white reels (which I managed to save when being disposed of) sit in my subconscious soul, even today, 40 years later.

The world is grand and complex, but pictures and stories make it comprehensible, in bite-sized chunks.

Fourth grade somethings are a part of this planet, and there are things to do and know that count for then and the future.

That is something that this former fourth grader can tell you.

For sure.

And then came fifth grade...

Doomsday for United States and the West

 Doomsday for United States and the West: World War III and the Awful Scenario

 It is hard to understand why whole nations would choose to go to war and put at risk their way of life, the progress that their peoples have made and to place in jeopardy their very existence, exposing their native populations to millions of deaths. Perhaps the threat of even greater loss would provoke them to act in dangerous and volatile ways.

But, here are some awful thoughts... Machiavelli, Sun  Tzu, Halford Mackinder,  realist strategists, combined with Stalin, Genghiz Khan, Tamerlane, and Salahuddine al Ayubi, world conquerors. 

Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, who have opposed the US and the West at most turns the last century, come to the conclusion that they wish to expand so that their peoples will thrive  beyond their current borders. They feel as though their current borders limit them too much.

Russia offers North Korea twice its size of territory in Siberia for their support; China is promised Mongolia, Laos, Cambodia (with access to ocean lanes), Nepal, parts of Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, eastern Kazakhstan, eastern Afghanistan.

Meanwhile Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia go with the new axis and are promised adjoining lands near them to include the rest of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, parts of India, Myanmar, and Malaysia. Indonesia would be given Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Islands, potentially parts of Australia, depending on promising results.

Russia and Iran divide up the rest of their former empires, securing more ports and power through natural resources, to include Ukraine and eastern Europe for Russia, and the Saudi peninsula and Mecca for the Persians.

While actively invading and occupying all those lands, the Axis of Russia/China/North Korea/Iran/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Indonesia would send huge contingents of troops to north central Africa to engage and distract the western World from their real targeted conquests. They would mostly be land based, and would ally with local and regional jihadi and other extremists of Africa, and distract the US and NATO troops from the land captures and occupations every where else, expanding their borders as intended.

Latin America would be cowed into stand-offish neutrality.

And the world became a very changed, scarier place.

Democracy took severe blows.