Vai's View: 2 stories on LDS priesthood stand in contrast to each other

He's shared with me experiences where major publications set out with an agenda to write something derogatory about the church's race relations and when they come to meet him in his office and see that he's black, they either backpedal or drop it altogether.

I don't think that necessarily happened in the Courier Post story, but my sense is President Corbitt's position in the church and credibility as a church spokesman in the media capital of the world is a huge advantage for the church, especially because he's African-American.

Me, personally? Ahmad Corbitt would be my go-to guy if or whenever I might catch wind of a hatchet job like the Washington Post did on Tuesday.

Ahmad Corbitt is a walking, talking, breathing LDS stereotype-buster: He's black, grew up in inner-city Philadelphia, a teenage convert whose parents were Muslim (hence his name Ahmad Saleem), served a mission to Puerto Rico so he's fluent in Spanish and president of a large geographic and densely populated East Coast stake.

On top of all that, he's doctrinally and scripturally rooted, measured and a gifted orator — and he's already on the church payroll as a spokesman.