In Alma 55:4-9, we read the following:
And now it came to pass that when Moroni had said these words, he caused that a search should be made among his men, that perhaps he might find a man who was a descendant of Laman among them. And it came to pass that they found one, whose name was Laman; and he was one of the servants of the king who was murdered by Amalickiah. Now Moroni caused that Laman and a small number of his men should go forth unto the guards who were over the Nephites. Now the Nephites were guarded in the city of Gid; therefore Moroni appointed Laman and caused that a small number of men should go with him. And when it was evening Laman went to the guards who were over the Nephites, and behold, they saw him coming and they hailed him; but he saith unto them: Fear not; behold, I am a Lamanite. Behold, we have escaped from the Nephites, and they sleep; and behold we have taken of their wine and brought with us. Now when the Lamanites heard these words they received him with joy; and they said unto him: Give us of your wine, that we may drink; we are glad that ye have thus taken wine with you for we are weary.
Such seems to support the claim among many LDS apologists and scholars that, contrary to the understanding that the Lamanites had literal black skin and the Nephites had literal white skin, as per the (ethnocentric) reading of 2 Nephi 5:21 and other like-texts, that such is more symbolic than “literal.” In this passage, Moroni caused there to be a search among his people for a descendant of Laman, and this fellow, also called Laman, with a group of Nephites, tricked Lamanites into believing they were fellow Lamanites.
If it were a case of Nephites being white-skinned and Lamanites being black skinned, there would not have been a need for Moroni’s search—Laman would have stood out like a sore thumb. Furthermore, the Lamanites, in this reading, would have spotted the white-skinned Nephites as imposters.
For more on the nature of the "skins" in the Book of Mormon, see
