On March 14, 2015 four speakers shared their experiences on being a Mormon of color. Kalani Tonga, a Polynesian single mother of five, Terrell Wyche, a gay Mormon who is also black, Jennifer Gonzalez, an immigrants rights worker, and Mica McGriggs who is a biracial doctorate student at BYU.
You can view the program from this conference here:
2015 Theology From the Margins Final program!
Panel’s Speech, “Being a Non-white Mormon in America”:
Kalani Tonga is a lifelong member of the Church. Her life has been characterized by lots of seemingly opposite “halves”: she is a liberal feminist but also an active Mormon; she is half Swedish and half Tongan, she started her college career at the University of Utah but graduated from BYU.
Terrell Wyche is from Charlotte, NC. He graduated from BYU in 2011 with a degree in regulatory affairs in life sciences. He is a budding activist, passionate about equal rights for people of color, the LGBTQIA community, and women.
Jennifer Gonzalez is an information designer, immigrants rights advocate, and social entrepreneur. She is launching a non-profit called Torchlight Legal, which will pioneer legal innovation in defense of domestic human rights and in pursuit of social justice for vulnerable populations.
Mica McGriggs in a PhD candidate in counseling psychology at BYU. Her academic research focuses primarily on multicultural sensitivity in psychology. Her social justice interests are broad but can be expressed through the term “intersectional feminism.”