Maybe you could try talking to him and if he isn’t responsive, or gets defensive, leave this with him and encourage him to read it on his time.

But I really think this skin color thing was an attempt by the ancients to explain material things of which they had no understanding (genetics) using a spiritual perspective. It’s weird so God did it. However, their spiritual observations are still as valuable as ever.

But where it really gets offensive, in my mind, is when we apply the idea of a curse to modern day races. There’s no reason for that. It’s a flat lie.

I thought you were disagreeing with the idea of the curse itself, rather than how he talked about it.

I guess I agree that it would probably be better if we just kind of ignored those verses and never mentioned skin color at all, since it is so easy to give offense. But the problem is (1) it’s hard to get everyone to ignore it when it’s right there in the book, and (2) even the idea of dark skin as a curse at all can seem offensive, even if we talk about it in the best possible way.

For example, this verse in 2 Nephi 5:

24 And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey.

How would a dark skin do that? The curse was that they were to be separated from the Nephites and from God. The darkening of their skins was just a sign of that.

Then we have this from Alma 3:

6 And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men.
7 And their brethren sought to destroy them, therefore they were cursed; and the Lord God set a mark upon them, yea, upon Laman and Lemuel, and also the sons of Ishmael, and Ishmaelitish women.
8 And this was done that their seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that thereby the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction.
9 And it came to pass that whosoever did mingle his seed with that of the Lamanites did bring the same curse upon his seed.
10 Therefore, whosoever suffered himself to be led away by the Lamanites was called under that head, and there was a mark set upon him.
11 And it came to pass that whosoever would not believe in the tradition of the Lamanites, but believed those records which were brought out of the land of Jerusalem, and also in the tradition of their fathers, which were correct, who believed in the commandments of God and kept them, were called the Nephites, or the people of Nephi, from that time forth—
12 And it is they who have kept the records which are true of their people, and also of the people of the Lamanites.
13 Now we will return again to the Amlicites, for they also had a mark set upon them; yea, they set the mark upon themselves, yea, even a mark of red upon their foreheads.
14 Thus the word of God is fulfilled, for these are the words which he said to Nephi: Behold, the Lamanites have I cursed, and I will set a mark on them that they and their seed may be separated from thee and thy seed, from this time henceforth and forever, except they repent of their wickedness and turn to me that I may have mercy upon them.
15 And again: I will set a mark upon him that mingleth his seed with thy brethren, that they may be cursed also.
16 And again: I will set a mark upon him that fighteth against thee and thy seed.
17 And again, I say he that departeth from thee shall no more be called thy seed; and I will bless thee, and whomsoever shall be called thy seed, henceforth and forever; and these were the promises of the Lord unto Nephi and to his seed.
18 Now the Amlicites knew not that they were fulfilling the words of God when they began to mark themselves in their foreheads; nevertheless they had come out in open rebellion against God; therefore it was expedient that the curse should fall upon them.
19 Now I would that ye should see that they brought upon themselves the curse; and even so doth every man that is cursed bring upon himself his own condemnation.

In the case of the Amlicites, the mark of the curse was a red mark that they themselves placed on their own foreheads. Their skins didn’t become dark, but they were still cursed. Thus, the curse is not the dark skin, but the separation from God and his people and the consequences that flow from that.

wondering, I’m not saying there was no curse, or that the curse was not a dark skin, clearly it was.

The problem is the way that we talk about that. When you say that the curse is “the brown or red skin” you are applying the curse to modern racial stereotypes. That’s a problem, because whatever happened between God and the Lamanites in the BoM, it’s wrong to state that any such curse is still active today and has any application to modern Native Americans.

How about, “Hey Fred, I’ve been thinking a lot about your SS lesson from last week and wondered if we could talk about it sometime….”

Or were you not asking about initiating the conversation, but rather, about the content of your complaint? If only I knew which talk/article my SP had used!