This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The last time a black man was lynched in the American West was on June 18, 1925. The tree where Robert Marshall's lifeless body hanged is still standing in Price, a painful reminder of the longstanding racial tension in Utah.

Because Utah was a slave territory in its infancy, the culture it established was centered on a racial hierarchy. In 1959, a report by the Utah State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that "the Negro is the minority citizen who experiences the most widespread inequality in Utah."

That system has remained latent in our lovely Deseret. Over the years there have been small victories and exceptions. We have seen Utah men and women of color excel in a variety of fields and professions, including United States Congress.

However, these outliers do not change the reality of our status. When we look at our local leadership, it does not reflect our existence currently or historically in this community.

We have been actively engaged in the progress of Utah, along with the first pioneers who arrived and occupied indigenous land. Our people, both free and enslaved, trekked and built what we know and love today, all while knowing we were considered less than human. We have waited, listened, and held the hands of our white brothers and sisters along the Wasatch Front in hopes that one day their colorblindness would be healed and we would be seen and loved in the fullness of our melanin and not in spite of it.

What happened last week in our nation is tangible evidence of how we are viewed and how we are to be "handled." Many white Mormons ignored the pleas of fellow Mormons such as Mitt Romney and Sen. Mike Lee to take a stand against what Romney described as "trickle down racism" and hate mongering.

The treatment of black people by Donald Trump and many of his supporters is the equivalent of a modern-day three-fifths compromise, wherein some Americans are not only viewed as second-class citizens but can be treated in such a way. You voted for the continued and executively sanctioned invasion of our bodies, the suspicion of our existence and the erasure of our experience.

The consequences of Trump's America are already being felt across the country. Historically black churches are being vandalized with graffiti, brown school children are being told to go back to Mexico by classmates, LGBT individuals are being physically assaulted, Muslim women's hijabs are being ripped from their bodies, women are being verbally accosted by men mimicking the incoming commander-in-chief, yelling "grab them by the p——," and black teenagers are being told to return to the fields and pick cotton by their peers.

This is only the first week, and already Trump supporters have been emboldened by the results of the election. The first response of many Trump supporters will be, "I did not vote for this because I'm not racist." Trump's rhetoric on Muslims, Latinos and blacks for the past year have indicated how he — and thus, many of his supporters — really feel about racial, ethnic and religious minorities.

You may not have personally said any of these things, but voting for Trump has made you complicit in his and his supporters' actions. One cannot buy a car with dents in the side and believe one is only buying the rest of the car. The dents are included with the package. Basic human rights are being threatened by rumors to overturn legislation that has protected minority groups in the past.

This is your America. Over 90 percent of black women in America voted for Hillary Clinton. This is not on us, and yet we are left to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess. There is no coming together with people who question our rights and our very existence. There is no tolerance for the bigotry that has further revealed itself since Trump announced his candidacy. Our children and our communities are in danger from those who have been adamant about the dangers from within.

We will mourn the apathy and we will rise, as we always do. But we cannot continue to be expected to fight for any more causes that prioritize your comfort above our safety. This racism, this bigotry, this apathy: this is your mess. This is America. This is how it's always been. Welcome home.

Sincerely,

Friends of Jane and Elijah

Friends of Jane and Elijah are Mica McGriggs, Niecie Jones, Josianne Petit, Iola Wells, Devan L.Mitchell, Bryndis W. Roberts, LaTonya Smith, Antonio Henix, Winston C.G. Gates, Tinesha Zandamela, Tocarro Williams and Darron Smith. (Jane Manning James and Elijah Able were black Mormon pioneers.)