NEWS BRIEFS

Church leader to address NAACP

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ top leader has been invited to speak at the NAACP convention in Detroit, marking the latest sign of a burgeoning partnership between the two organizations.

The Utah-based faith said in a news release Wednesday that president Russell Nelson will speak Sunday. A lower-level church leader spoke at the NAACP convention last year.

The two organizations had their official meeting between national leaders in May 2018, calling afterward for greater racial harmony.

The religion barred blacks from the lay priesthood until 1978. That ban was rooted in the belief that black skin was a curse, and lingers as one of the most sensitive topics in the religion’s history.

Scholars estimate that black people make up about 3% of the 6.6 million church members in the United States.

— THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Founder of memorial to Holocaust dies

Mark Talisman, a leader, supporter and advocate of several Jewish organizations and causes as well as a founder of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, died July 11 at his home in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 77.

He had heart ailments, said his wife, Jill Talisman.

Talisman spent much of his early career as chief of staff to Rep. Charles Vanik, D-Ohio, and his most notable impact in Congress was in helping draft legislation aimed at removing official emigration barriers for Jews in the former Soviet Union.

After leaving Vanik’s office in the mid-1970s, Talisman became Washington office director of the Council of Jewish Federations, which represented Jewish organizations from around the country in dealings with Congress and the executive branch. In that capacity, he helped obtain grants to resettle Soviet Jews in the United States and Israel. The council is now called Jewish Federations of North America.

Talisman also served on a presidential commission in the late 1970s that recommended the creation of a national memorial to the Holocaust. After Congress mandated creation of a Holocaust museum, he served from 1980 to 1986 on the Holocaust Museum Memorial Council as vice chairman to Holocaust survivor, author and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.

— THE WASHINGTON POST

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