Let's discuss Mormonism.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

What's really the deal with some of these charges of racism in the Mormon church and do you know of any present-day examples of racism in Mormonism?

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Ah, some questions that I feel completely comfortable answering. Thank you! And thank you all for easing up on the questions I don't feel comfortable answering. I know I came off as being heavy-handed earlier, and I apologize for that.

What's really the deal with some of these charges of racism in the Mormon church and do you know of any present-day examples of racism in Mormonism?

Well, it depends. Most Mormons wouldn't admit it, but as mainly white middle-class suburbanites, they generally subscribe to most of the stereotypes about minorities (y'know, "blacks=lazy" and etc), though excluding the members of their congregations/wards that are members of those minorities. At least in Utah, there seems to be a stronger bias against Hispanics (with the erroneous stereotype of Hispanics being mainly illegal immigrants), but that's slowly going away as the LDS Church itself takes a public and what can only be described as fanatically moderate line on immigration. Unfortunately, the white Mormon teenagers seem to retain old, bigoted racial attitudes at a higher rate than non-Mormon white teenagers. Good thing that the church is getting more Hispanic by the year.

I'm not sure about the Mormons who are minorities themselves, but from what I've observed of them, they seem to be much more accepting of others, and don't even believe the stereotypes that their ethnic group are "supposed" to believe (for example, don't certain populations of blacks and Hispanics have negative stereotypes about each other?). Minority Mormons are very tolerant.

There is one very striking and disturbing example of racism from the leadership, however. In one of the youth handbooks (I forget which), it still has a quote from 1976 which goes like this:

“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question”

To be honest, it's quite sad that we haven't removed that, since there are thousands of happy interracial LDS marriages, but it was never even close to being a commandment, and even now it's just cultural practice that's only done in the United States (because again, overwhelmingly white middle-class suburbanites). But things are changing, quite rapidly in fact. For example, one of the most recent famous Mormon athletes to appear on the national scene is Jabari Parker, a mixed Tongan-African American basketball player. And I think one of our newest Seventies, Larry Echo Hawk is half-Native American, half-white. So things are definitely changing, it's just that we were very, very white for the longest time, and we're very, very slow to change on just about anything.

Personally, I take incredible pains to not be racist, and I criticize racist jokes by my (LDS) friends frequently. I find racism disgusting, and I'm fully determined to experience different cultures and ethnic groups as best I can. God made us all, and he did not make one race inferior to another.

Has it ever been viewed as problematic for a top-ranked LDS official to be of, as most of them seem to be, extremely advanced age, for health reasons mental or otherwise for example?

I don't think most white middle-class suburbanites have racial attitudes like that.  Same for whites in general.  But anyway, I would agree with you that God didn't make one race inferior to another. 
I've got another question: what do Mormons believe about contemporary Christian music, dress/jewelry, and non-kosher meats?

Yep; we've made a few Apostles into Emeritus Apostles and removed their responsibilities and station, but that's only because of major health reasons and extreme age. Usually the church leadership waits until they die before calling (appointing, basically) forward a new guy. We also have ridiculously old Presiding Patriarchs (the bosses of the fellows who give special blessings); Eldred G Smith is sort of our current one (but is essentially retired), and he's 105.

And to be honest I kind of think the over-90 apostles should have reduced responsibilities. Their minds usually continue to work correctly (at least during General Conference, they don't seem to have a hard time speaking), but their bodies start falling apart. Heck, with the poor health that a few of the apostles have, I'm predicting that there'll be two deaths within another year (and I predict that there will be two Hispanic apostles to replace them, incidentally).