Melodie Jackson, who has been pivotal with the movement of Black Lives Matter to Christ, shared this statement about the petition on June 24, 2020:
"Some of my greatest leaders and teachers of liberation have been from the Indigenous community and especially the Indigenous women. I always try to keep in mind that my complicated relationship with this American land and water, both which I love so deeply because of my ancestors’ past with and in soil and water, is layered and built upon Indigenous history. My history on this land must consider and understand their history on this land. The same could be said within the LDS Church and its institutions. When discussing race within these spaces, you absolutely cannot ever exclude Native/Indigenous voices. It is a serious mistake. When walking BYU’s campus, you HAVE to also consider the institutional racism against Indigenous bodies. The campus is surrounded by colonized land and names. I often felt uncomfortable walking past the giant Massasoit statue in front of the library, standing so tall as to tell Native students that only this colonized remembrance of Indigenous participation in white existence and success was acceptable on that particular campus. In fact, it was my participation on the Repeak Committee to rename Squ** Peak that started and invigorated my call to reassess and confront BYU’s public memory in regards to black Latter-Day Saints. In a University that once boasted the highest/biggest Native student body in the country, you cannot examine race at BYU without including indigenous voices. Again, it is a serious, tone-deaf, and inexcusable mistake.
I am grateful for Farina King and all of the amazing Indigenous women that have improved and informed my activism and organizing. Even now, as I sit on Natchez land considering the history of black peoples in Mississippi, I know that my thoughts have been framed and shaped by Dr. King’s work, scholarship, mentoring, and friendship. She was influential in thinking about my grad school scholarship as I considered frameworks and topics that included both black and American Indigenous bodies in the LDS Church. Therefore, I am joining her in calling for BYU to reorganize their new race committee and include Indigenous voices-especially Indigenous women-in their considerations of how to dismantle institutional racism on BYU’s campus. Below I am sharing Dr. King’s essay on the topic and the petition for such change. I am inviting all of you to read the essay and also sign the petition. I plan on also writing a letter to Shane Reese, under whom the committee will meet to make these changes. Our histories are intertwined and I believe so deeply that so is our liberation."