I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A few days ago, our prophet, Russell M. Nelson, released a statement in which he spoke in regards to the George Floyd affair (though he did not mention Floyd by name) and the protesting that has grown out of it.
It took a few days before the significance of what President Nelson had done sunk in on me.
As members of this church, we believe in the Book of Mormon. It repeatedly tells accounts of the people becoming wicked and of God's prophets calling them to repentance.
In many ways, in today's world, the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ repeatedly call the world to repentance. Every General Conference, they call us to repentance.
But, there perhaps is added significance when the prophet looks at the events of the nation and takes the pulse of what is going on, and diagnoses it as wickedness. There is (to me), significance when he looks at those things and cries, "Repent!"
It reminds me of the stories from the Book of Mormon.
There are those who would deny that racism exists in America. They were abundant before George Floyd. Their ranks may be trimmed, but they are still out there.
But, the prophet would not be telling us to repent of racism, if there were no racism to repent of.
Let's read the first three paragraphs of what President Nelson said.
"We join with many throughout this nation and around the world who are deeply saddened at recent evidences of racism and a blatant disregard for human life. We abhor the reality that some would deny others respect and the most basic of freedoms because of the color of his or her skin.
"We are also saddened when these assaults on human dignity lead to escalating violence and unrest.
"The Creator of us all calls on each of us to abandon attitudes of prejudice against any group of God's children. Any of us who has prejudice toward another race needs to repent!"
Just as in times of old, a prophet has looked at the sins of the nation, and called for the nation to repent.
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