In two letters directed to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve in 1989or, George P. Lee lamented and critiqued the Church for phasing out the Indian Student Placement program:
The
question of “Do you think President Kimball approves of your action?” has been
asked of me by one of you and I would like to respond to your inquiry with the
following questions:
a.
Who terminated the BYU Indian Education Dept?
b.
Who terminated BYU Indian Special Curriculum which helped Indian Students
succeed in college:
c.
Who is phasing out BYU American Indian Services?
d.
Who is phasing out the Church’s Indian Student Placement program?
.
. .
24.
What about the thousands you might have injured as you cut off Lamanite programs
and as you downplayed the role of the Lamanites? (George P. Lee, Letter no. 1
to the First Presidency and the Twelve, c. 1989, pp. 2, 7, in Excommunication
of a Mormon Church Leader: Containing the Letters of Dr. George P. Lee [Salt
Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1989], 18, 23)
According
to the Lord Jesus’ definition the “remnant of the House of Israel” means
Lamanites or children of Lehi not all members of the church. I cannot be
a party to anything less than this. I cannot be a party to false teaching,
teachings which are man-inspired.
3.
You have taught that the Book of Mormon is not written to the Lamanites but to
the Gentiles in our day. You have come very close to denying that the Book of Mormon
is about Lamanites. You have cut out Indians and ^or^ Lamanite Programs
and are attempting to cut them out of the Book of Mormon. You are trying to discredit
or downplay the role of Lamanites in these last days and downplay their role
and importance and d in the building of the New Jerusalem. (George P.
Lee, Letter no. 2 to the First Presidency and the Twelve, c. 1989, pp. 16-17,
in ibid., 48-49)
For a very good essay on the
history of the Indian Student Placement Program, see:
James B. Allen, “The Rise and
Decline of the LDS Indian Student Placement Program, 1947-1996,” in Mormons, Scripture, and the
Ancient World: Studies in Honor of John L. Sorenson, ed. Davis Bitton
(Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1998), 85-119
The essay is a good refutation of
the common claim that the program was “cultural genocide.”
