BYU 'deeply concerned' by remarks made by professor, church leader about race

by Daniel Woodruff & Hayley Crombleholme, KUTV

Tuesday, February 8th 2022

PROVO, Utah (KUTV) — Brigham Young University is commenting publicly about the remarks of a Latter-day Saint leader – and one of its own professors – about race.

Those remarks were made by Brad Wilcox, second counselor in the Young Men general presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, during a youth fireside Sunday in Alpine. Wilcox was talking about Black people and a church ban on them receiving the priesthood until 1978. He has since apologized for what he said.

After initially declining to comment Monday evening, BYU issued a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon about the controversy surrounding Wilcox.

“We are deeply concerned with the words recently used by Dr. Brad Wilcox. We appreciate his sincere apology & believe he is committed to learn from this experience. BYU remains committed to upholding [Church] President [Russell M.] Nelson’s charge to root out racism in our institutions,” the tweet said.

BYU further commented, “We are carrying out the guiding principles outlined by [University] President [Kevin] Worthen in evaluating and implementing the recommendations provided by the Committee on Race, Equity and Belonging, including the creation of a new Office of Belonging.”

In a video clip from the fireside that has been widely circulated on Twitter, Wilcox is shown saying, “How come the Blacks didn't get the priesthood until 1978? . . . Maybe we’re asking the wrong question. Maybe instead of saying, ‘why did the Blacks have to wait until 1978,' maybe what we should be asking is, 'why did the whites and other races have to wait until 1829?'"

During the year 1829, according to Latter-day Saint teachings, the priesthood was given to church founder Joseph Smith. The church was organized a year later. The ban on people of "black African descent" receiving the priesthood was instituted in 1852.

Wilcox's speech Sunday elicited sharp criticism on social media with many calling his remarks racist.

Wilcox apologized for his words, saying “what I hoped to express about trusting God's timing did NOT come through as I intended. To those I offended, especially my dear Black friends, I offer my sincere apologies, and ask for your forgiveness. I am committed to do better.”

The church leader, who teaches religion classes at BYU, has held his position in the faith’s youth organization since April 2020.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not commented on Wilcox's remarks.

2News spoke with Taran Trinnaman, who identifies as a member of the Church and a person of color currently living in Florida. They transferred from BYU in 2018, and said they’d like to see the university take steps beyond the tweets.

Trinnaman said they would like to see Wilcox and other professors who have made controversial statements in recent years let go from the University.

“That’s the only way I can see right now that BYU can show that they are actually committed to making BYU a place of belonging for all marginalized students," Trinnaman said.

Ethan Walker is mathematics graduate student at BYU. After seeing a clip of Wilcox statements, he wanted to see more.

“I went and I watched his whole talk that was posted on YouTube,” Walker said.

He shared his initial reactions with 2News.

“One of surprise, I would say - and there’s a couple of reasons for that," he said.

Walker said one reason was he felt the statements seemed to be outside of the “standard way” he said the church typically talks about Black members not being able to join the priesthood.

“I was also very disappointed at the rhetoric, because it’s not like it’s something that I haven’t heard before, but for it to be somebody who is in church leadership making a statement like this was disappointing to be to some extent," he said.

Wilcox posted an apology on Facebook Monday, saying, in part, that he made a serious mistake and is truly sorry.

“The illustration I attempted to use about the timing of the revelation on the priesthood for Black members was wrong," the statement read.

“The issue I draw with his initial statement and also with the apology is that it’s not about what he was trying to communicate. It’s not about this idea of timelines," he said.

Walker said with this topic, it’s important to discuss the experiences Black members of the church have had.

“I think it’s very important for us to understand and examine institutional racism, and that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, but it is something that we have to do," he said.

Wilcox said in his statement he offers sincere apologies to those who were offended, asked for forgiveness, and said he is committed to do better.