Are There Black Mormons?

In the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, a few media outlets reinforced the public perception that Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) were mostly white. Jimmy Kimmel asked on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, â??Are there black Mormons? I find that hard to believe.â? Reporter Jessica Williams from Jon Stewartâ??s The Daily Show interviewed five black Mormons, calling them â??mythical creatures, the unicorns of politics.â? She asked whether or not the five Mormons she met comprised the entire population of black people in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Susan Saulny, a reporter for the New York Times, similarly speculated that there were only a â??very small numberâ? of black Mormons, a â??couple of thousand maxâ? or somewhere between â??500 to 2,000.â? All three broadcasts revealed a public perception problem for Mormons in the twenty-first centuryâ??that they are too white.