Brooks argues that prophetic infallibility and claims of continuity with the founding church helped institutionalize white supremacy and racial exclusion. She contends that ending the restriction did not end the assurances of racial innocence that shielded members and leaders from responsibility, and calls for historical reckoning and repair.
- Joanna Brooks, “The Possessive Investment in Rightness: White Supremacy and the Mormon Movement,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 51, no. 3 (2018): 45–81.
- Joanna Brooks, Mormonism and White Supremacy: American Religion and the Problem of Racial Innocence (Oxford University Press, 2020).
The possessive investment in rightness has stood in the way of engagement, conflict, and searching that lead to continuing revelation.