Everyone was converted, both the Nephites and Lamanites. It no longer mattered what their cultural background was or what their old prejudices were because they were all one. There were no -ites.
American culture today is different than this Zion society. Pollsters can predict which political candidates are likely to win because they collect data showing that a certain percentage of a particular age group or cultural group will vote a certain way. These stereotypes are not always helpful. I worry that the American people are essentially breaking down into separate identity groups. Instead of people thinking of what will benefit everyone, they are plotting how they can elect a candidate who will do the most for their minority or private interests. That is a problem, and it leads to contentions and disputations. Verse 2 of this chapter mentions that “there were no contentions and disputations among them.” This is a positive result which can come when people are no longer willing to look at one another as members of separate and irreconcilable groups.
Verse 15 explains “there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.” They were “in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God” (v. 17). Being born in the covenant entitles people to be heirs, and these people had achieved the state of having that blessing of being the “children of Christ”— “children” in the sense that they would not receive their inheritance and their rights as a disconnected gift, but as an entitlement growing out of a relational heirship.