Talk:Walker Lewis

Inter-racial marriage and the LDS Church

Removed line regarding inter-racial marriage being "discouraged" by the [LDS] Church. While some General Authorities of the LDS Church may have made statements in decades past regarding inter-racial marriage, today there is no official status of "discouraged."

A statement by an apostle in 1970 does not qualify as a current or an official church position. Even if that same apostle made the same statement today, it would not be an official position. If the Church itself has come out with a "discouragement," please correct me with a cited source. Cheers,--Rojerts 16:16, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Name

While his name may have officially been Quacko Walker Lewis, it would seem that he went by Walker Lewis. I believe placing a "Q." at the front is the best option to avoid confusion with his uncle while still recognizing the first name. Regards, --Rojerts 15:05, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

That's why the article is named "Walker Lewis". WP policy is to include the full given name on first mention. Snocrates 20:47, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Not that I have any reason to doubt (a canine), but I'm curious where that policy is located?--Rojerts 00:02, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(biographies)#Names. Snocrates 00:20, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks,--Rojerts 03:21, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

What is the earliest mention? Where does the Quacko come from? Why isn't this documented in the article? Lewis' baptismal record (8/20/1815) lists him as "Quack Walker of Peter Lewis". Jojalozzo 23:57, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Undue Weight

Given that the article is about Walker Lewis, it seems that much space is devoted to lengthy quotes by Young and others in the Mormon Church against black priests and interracial marriage. Couldn't this be summarized more simply? The statements about Lewis's reception in Utah are unsupported, so can deleted unless corrected.Parkwells (talk) 02:31, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

Agreed that the completely uncited Move section should be deleted since they still have no citation and without it certainly read as very POV. As it has been a year since this first was posted, removing. Also removed the section on the Priesthood ban as written the first part was entirely uncited like the Moves section and the second part contained only references to statements having no direct connection to Walker. It is unclear that any statements had any relation or reference to Walker or that his Priesthood status was ever affected. Other blacks were viewed as holding the Priesthood and ordained before and after this time period such as Elijah Abel and his descendants. If there is something pertinent to Walker perhaps someone can re-add in a more cited and NPOV fashion. 174.52.135.21 (talk) 08:56, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

While both the priesthood ban and Young's views of miscegenation are uncomfortable topics for some modern members of the LDS Church, both of these are directly related to Lewis. The quote by Young about miscegenation appears to be a direct result of Lewis son's marriage. Likewise the priesthood ban and general climate of racism at the time had a huge, direct impact on Lewis, causing hm to leave Utah. Removing this material smacks of apologetic whitewashing. -- 208.81.184.4 (talk) 17:29, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

I agree that the ban is very relevant to Lewis, since he was one of very few black priesthood holders at the time, and the uncited section "Attempt to live in Utah" implies that racial attitudes caused him to leave the LDS Church. I'm not sure there should be an entire section on it since:

1. We have no material discussing the ban in Walker's life. How was he told about the ban? How did he react to the ban? Did he ever make any statements about it? Was he permitted to continue acting in his priesthood office? Was the ban used against him? Do sources even exist relating to these questions?
2. The ban was not specifically directed at Lewis himself, but at black people in general. If the ban was directed toward any black person, it was likely William McCary. I'm not aware of any historians that link Lewis with the creation of the ban, especially since Brigham Young is quoted as having a high opinion of Lewis during that time.
3. I don't think the Brigham Young quote is relevant. Enoch Lewis was married by 1847 in Massachusetts and the condemning quote from Brigham Young was given in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in 1863, 16 years later. And he gave no indication that he was thinking of Lewis, his son, or William Abbleby. And this quote condemns interracial marriage, and doesn't say anything about priesthood or temple restrictions. Both are racist but the condemnation of interracial marriage was a separate issue directed toward all black people, both inside and outside the church.

So I think the ban should be mentioned because it might have impacted Lewis's standing in the church or the community, or because the ban reflected changing attitudes toward black people in the church, but do we have much else to go on? ——Rich jj (talk) 18:45, 11 December 2013 (UTC)