Hints of a Nephite Colonial Atrocity: A Reading of Omni

The story of how the Mulekites become Nephite in the Book of Mormon seems clean, but one interpretation suggests something more sinister.

This is the first in a series of literary essays informed by the growing conversation on coloniality and race in the Book of Mormon. I engage with Mormonism’s keystone text differently now as a former Mormon; I offer my interpretations to add to wider and more critical readings that — in and out of the church — are helping readers explore the text from fresh, honest, introspective perspectives.

Most Latter-day Saints will tell you that the Book of Mormon is written by an ethnonational group called the Nephites, living (for most of the book) in a country called the Land of Zarahemla. They identify as Jewish. Their relatives are the Lamanites. An initially familial feud causes centuries of racially charged bloodshed.

And the Nephites are the good guys. The Lamanites are bad. Very bad. The terms Mormons employ (respectively) are righteous and wicked. The Nephites (generally) keep the commandments, have prophets who call them to repentance when they don’t and get to ‘prosper in the land’ (see Helaman 3:20). The Lamanites don’t keep the commandments, are savage and basically…