Somehow I never knew that former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver joined the Church in 1983. I just read about it this week. Growing up in the 60s and 70s during the Civil Rights age, I find it quite fascinating.

http://mormonmatters.org/2009/03/10/from-black-panther-to-mormon-the-case-of-eldridge-cleaver/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2013 11:30PM by Senoritalamanita.

He's dabbled in all sorts of spiritualities. Give him a few years and he'll move on.

A few years? 1983 to present, hmm. Guess he needs a few more years to get things straight :-P

HeStayedInMyHouse

Cleaver's purported ickiness has NOTHING to do with your rebellion against your mom.

You just don't dig old black dudes.

He passed away in 1998. Although he was not a very active member in later years, he never renounced Mormonism.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2013 11:51PM by Senoritalamanita.

Apparently, Cleon Skousen was instrumental in his conversion:


"While speaking with a Moonie anti-Communist organization Cleaver met Cleon Skousen; former FBI agent, former Chief of Police of Salt Lake City, popular Mormon writer, and founder of the Freeman Institute(now called the National Center for Constitutional Studies); an organization which tries to educate the public about what the Constitution means. Skousen asked Cleaver to speak at a few Freeman Institute meetings. The two become friends."

Source: http://www.ldsfilm.com/movies/Panther.html

Additionally, an LDS person by the name of Carlton Loeber claims to have introduced Eldridge Cleaver to Mormonism and says he was with Eldridge Cleaver the day he met Ezra Taft Benson at Church headquarters.

I would love to see a photo of that meeting.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2013 11:48PM by Senoritalamanita.

yes .. I was there at a "Know Your Religion" talk when Cleon Skousen came to the Stake Center on Allendale in Saratoga .. that was about 1981 .. I met Eldridge in 1968 in Ann Arbor at the Peace and Freedom Party Convention .. I later got in touch with him after he returned to the US and was living in Cupertino and working at the library at DeAnza College as part of his community service from the shot out on Oakland with police in 1968 .. if anyone wants more details you can reach me at carlloeber@yahoo.com .. I met Cleon in Isreal by chance in 1973 or 75 and later had him as an instructor at BYU .. I told Eldridge about the church in 1979 and he was at the time actively searching for the gospel and had read about Temple in Kirkland having the podium for the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthoods which he wanted to understand ..

I was with Eldridge at several Moon organization functions .. he was associated with the political arm ... they had a large home a few blocks from where we lived in San Jose at 295 South 17th Street near San Jose State..

The founder of the black panthers joins the mormon church....

how funny is that.

Anon for this post:

From San Jose, California:

The guy creeped me out. During the late 1980's my youngest sibling was on a LDS mission. At that time, my creepy, icky, horrid, despicable, controlling, negative and cruel mother didn't care a rats ass about her kids, especially her sons. For some distasteful reason, she took a liking to Cleaver and let him stay in a spare bedroom of our house. Mom was involved with the most crazy of ladies in our ward. Both ladies were ultra conservative, involved with nutty political causes, brainwashed TBMs and fighting the sex-ed crap in the public schools. When Cleaver lived in our house it made my skin crawl. I had to stay away from my parents as much as possible to avoid running into him. He didn't lift a finger to do chores, fix meals or do anything productive. He just got free room and board for his duration. Thanks mom. Just one more ick factor I wish to forget about.

Amigo is your family still in San Jose ? what is your name? How do you feel now ?

I wonder why he wasn't on the list of '8 Famous People Who Joined the LDS Church'?

But he was number 9, I'm sure....

Beaver Cleaver would have made the top 8.

Mormonism is a great safe haven for murderers and attempted murderers. I was creeped out when the church made such a big deal out of Cleaver joining, even having him give the main address at the Freedom Festival fireside in the Marriott Center.

But I was one of those people who started reading Ann Perry books just because she had converted to the church. Then it comes out in the 90s that she had served prison time for murder. But hey, by that time she was quite a well-known and prolific writer and nothing like a little murder in her past was going to make TSCC turn down that 10% pot-o-gold. So, of course, we'll leave it up to God.

Actually, it was in 1954. She's pretty old. She (Juliet Hulme) was convicted in New Zealand of murder for helping her best friend murder her best friend's mother. They beat her to death with a brick in a sock. The court convicted them as minors and they served 5 years. But you're right; my DW is all ate up with Anne Perry because she's a convert to Mormonism.

Yes, the murder was in 54. She joined the church in the 60s. Her name was changed when she was let out of prison. It didn't come out until the 90s that Perry was Hulme. I was a fan (because of the mormon thing) long before all that came out. In fact, it was even years after it came out that I heard about it. I never saw the movie or put the connection together.

Apologies, I had misunderstood what you meant. Still, to think of a kid using a brick in a sock to murder a woman is pretty horrifying.