My younger years took place in East Layton in a close-knit community where we were able to run free from dawn til dusk without any fear. My neighborhood was accepting of all people regardless of faith or skin color. At any given moment you could have one or six young boys running through your house. What I remember most is eating ramen or peanut butter and honey sandwiches in any home.
I recently moved back to my old neighborhood, and a few of the same people are there. I ran into the adults that helped raise me at the Republican caucus a couple of years ago. I, and my parents, were the only ones who spoke against their bigoted platform. These are the same people that welcomed immigrants escaping persecution into their ward with no question when I was a child, now fearful of the other.
I don’t have to wonder what changed. I lived through the church lobbying for Proposition 8. I’ve continued to live through the church’s silence as immigrants seeking Zion are demonized. If any meaningful change happens in Utah, it will come from the pulpit, but the silence from Salt Lake gives these Fox “News” addicts all the justification they need for their fear and hatred.
Jacob Hancey, Layton
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