http://www.septemberdawn.net/

 Washington Post

A 19th-Century 9/11

By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, May 3, 2007; A25

Opening Friday, a motion picture called "September Dawn" depicts a
brutal American massacre that has been forgotten. On Sept. 11, 1857,
in Utah Territory, Mormons slaughtered more than 120 California-bound
settlers from Arkansas. Retelling at this time the Sept. 11 carnage
of 150 years ago does not help Mormon Mitt Romney's presidential
campaign.

The basic facts of the Mountain Meadows Massacre are not in dispute.
Mormons mobilized Paiute Indians, accompanied by Mormons disguised as
Indians, to attack a peaceful wagon train. The settlers beat back the
attack but were left short of food and ammunition. They disarmed at
the request of the Mormons, who said they would lead the settlers to
safety but instead turned on them, murdering every man, woman and
child above age 8. All that is in doubt historically is whether this
was ordered by Brigham Young, president of the Mormon Church and
territorial governor of Utah. "September Dawn" says he was
responsible; the church denies it.

Today's Mormons, including Romney, cannot be blamed for those events.
Nevertheless, the candidate has followed the church's example and
ignored the movie. Romney will not comment on "September Dawn" and
indeed will not watch it. That follows his decision not to defend his
faith or actively fight religious bias that has impeded his candidacy.

I attended an April 11 screening of the movie at the Motion Picture
Association of America headquarters in Washington hosted by its lead
actor: Academy Award-winner Jon Voight (who plays a fictional Mormon
bishop). A conservative, Voight said this was no hit on Romney. "I
didn't even know he was running when we began this," he told viewers
after the screening. But he said this terrible story is important
considering America's war against terrorists.

Brigham Young -- played by the British actor Terence Stamp -- is
portrayed in the film as a 19th-century Osama bin Laden. Calling
himself a "second Muhammad," he insists on the "shedding of blood" of
"gentiles." He is seen fighting the United States, which was sending
troops to Utah.

The church has always accepted Young's plea that he had nothing to do
with the massacre. But Voight is certain that he did based on
research for the movie. "If any miserable scoundrels come here, cut
their throats," Young said in his "Blood Atonement Sermon" (which
concluded that he would not fight "unless they come upon us and
compel us"). The movie's researchers found in the church's archives a
generic threat against interlopers: "I will loose the Indians on
them, and I will slit their throats from ear to ear."

In response to this column's inquiry, a Mormon Church spokeswoman in
Salt Lake City said yesterday: "The weight of historical evidence
shows that Brigham Young did not authorize the massacre." She added
that "the church has no comment on the 'September Dawn' movie."

John D. Lee, Young's adopted son and the man who led the massacre,
was executed by firing squad 20 years after the killings -- the only
person punished. "I have been sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly
manner," he said after his conviction and excommunication. In his
autobiography, he said the attack was planned "by the direct command
of Brigham Young."

I knew no Mormons growing up in Joliet, Ill., and my first experience
with the church was watching the 1940 film "Brigham Young." It
depicted the Mormon settlers as persecuted and peaceful, and Young as
prudent and wise. When some Mormons complained then that Young came
across as vacillating, church President Heber J. Grant said of the
movie: "I endorse it with all my heart. This is one of the greatest
days of my life." He knew it could have been much worse.

Mitt Romney surely is not responsible for Brigham Young, but
questions about what kind of man Young was hurt his campaign. Romney
has been described by many Republican insiders as the perfect
candidate: magnetic, smart and with an excellent record as an
executive. His greatest liability has been religious bias against
him. He has never seized this issue, thinking it so wrongheaded that
it will go away.

Similarly, he has rejected efforts by the producers of "September
Dawn" to reach out to him. I made three attempts without success to
get his views of the movie. Neither watching it nor condemning it, he
may just hope that Americans will not include this bloody tragedy in
their spring and summer viewing.
 

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"Art has nothing to do with expressing oneself, but rather with emptying the Self." (Beurskens).