Sabbath Devotional :: More Than One Story and Our Part In It

This weekend we honor and commemorate Pioneer Day in our church and for some, in our state. And for many, this commemoration can be much more complex than we sometimes make it.

Pioneer Day seems to predominately celebrate those in the mid-1800s who migrated westward from the eastern United States or Europe to Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, and other states. We honor those who often saved and sold nearly everything they had to follow a prophet’s call to come build Zion and then to come west by handcart or wagon.

Recently, the church has made great effort to acknowledge other types of pioneers — the pioneers of today who still live across the world. They could be you, your parents, or your grandparents. But at its heart, in many forms and in many places, Pioneer Day seems solely to celebrate the great migration west. (See bottom of post for links)

That traditional pioneer narrative has forgotten a lot of people: the stories of Jane Manning and those of the three enslaved pioneers, Green Flake, Hark Wales, and Oscar Smith, who all came west with the first pioneer company. (Though the addition of the Pioneers of 1847 at This Is the Place honoring these individuals helps shine a light on these forgotten tales.) (See bottom of post for link)

The traditional narrative is the tale of pioneer “settlers” who “settled the west,” but this narrative disregards the existence of the great and rich culture of the Indigenous peoples. It also minimizes the displacement and harm and suffering that Indigenous peoples endured at the hands of the pioneers through raids, violence, and ultimately residential schools.

As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has powerfully said, we can be at danger of creating a single story when we talk of pioneers:

“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”

If we tell only one pioneer story, we’re at risk of creating a single story that eliminates the humanity of those mid-1800 pioneers (with all its goodness, messiness, difficulty, and beauty). And losing out on the stories of many more from across the globe and generations.

And we’re at risk of viewing the pioneer story as complete and final rather than as an ongoing and pressing and urgent one. Too often the pioneer story we tell calls only for remembrance and appreciation rather than for continued progress and reflection and improvement. And this prevents us from succeeding in what was their ultimate goal (and what should be ours) — building Zion.

When I think of the best way to commemorate and honor pioneers, the best way seems to be continuing where they left off — building Zion or creating the Beloved Community.

So how do we create Zion or the Beloved Community?

Zion is described in the scriptures as follows:

· A people of “one heart and one mind” who had “no poor among them.” Moses 7.

· “There were not rich and poor.” 4 Nephi 1:3.

· They “deal[t] justly one with another.” 4 Nephi 1:2.

· “Love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.” 4 Nephi 1:15.

· “No manner of -ites among people.” 4 Nephi 1:17.

Building the Beloved Community requires deep love. Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said:

“The end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is the type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. [. . .] It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. It is love of God working in the lives of men. This is the love that may well be the salvation of our civilization.” And, “Let us live together in peace and love in a beloved community.”

Andrew Teal, who spoke as part of BYU’s Beloved Community series, said:

“No one should be hurt or damaged on the Lord’s holy mountain [in Zion/the Beloved Community.] We cannot seek to exploit the vulnerable or collude with oppression or unkindness; we must especially safeguard the most vulnerable — those who need our help the most.”

It requires us to work to eliminate poverty and bigotry and violence. As the King Center notes:

“Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. [. . .] Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.”

Few societies have succeeded in creating Zion/Beloved Community. The pioneers tried.

In doing so, they left us a rich, messy, difficult, and heartfelt history. Ultimately, the call for us today is to find our place in the story and work to build Zion/ the Beloved Community in our communities. That’s where I see the pioneer spirit at its most vibrant today — those actively building Zion/Beloved Community. I hope to be counted among them, and I think it’s what my pioneer ancestors (distant past and more recent) would want.

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Photo 1: Pioneers of 1847 Monument courtesy of Brent Belnap (Posted above)

Photo 2: Left: Clarissa Dempsey, Right: Clarissa’s daughter, Betsy Jane Fackrell. Both emigrated to Utah with the Biglow Company in 1852. (maternal relatives.)

Photo 3: My ancestors, John Watkins and Margaret Ackhurst of the Martin Handcart company. (paternal relatives)

Photo 4: My grandma, Leda Baird, left with her twin, a modern-day pioneer.

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Links:

Modern-day pioneers: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/…/mongolia-steppes… and https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/…/pioneers-in…

Pioneers of 1847 monument: https://www.thechurchnews.com/…/the-story-behind-the…