With the rest of America, we have watched the events of recent weeks with great pain. The pain isn’t new; it’s been with our country, in one form or another, for hundreds of years.
Here in Montgomery County and across the country, Bahá’ís are working on initiatives to address and tackle the persistent racism that plagues our country. Our other community-building activities, including local study circles, devotional meetings, and youth groups, are all focused on reshaping our society to reflect the inherent dignity and equality of all people. There is a lot of work left to do.
Bahá’ís believe that the United States has a glorious destiny. “The American continent gives signs and evidences of very great advancement. Its future is even more promising, for its influence and illumination are far-reaching. It will lead all nations spiritually.” Those were the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the head of the Bahá’í Faith, when he visited the United States in 1912.
However, this destiny cannot be realized until we address our “most challenging issue,” racism. Racism, and the structures it supports, distort our entire society and everyone who lives in it. Every citizen has a role to play in confronting racism and removing its influence over our hearts and our nation.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the United States, the American Bahá’í community’s annually elected governing body, made this point in a statement it issued in 1991:
Racism is the most challenging issue confronting America. A nation whose ancestry includes every people on earth, whose motto is E pluribus unum, whose ideals of freedom under law have inspired millions throughout the world, cannot continue to harbor prejudice against any racial or ethnic group without betraying itself. Racism is an affront to human dignity, a cause of hatred and division, a disease that devastates society.
When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá arrived in North America from Ottoman Palestine (now Israel), he also witnessed and anticipated anguish like that which has gripped the United States over recent weeks. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was 68 at the time, and had spent most of his life a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire, much of it with his late father, Bahá’u’lláh, the Bahá’í Faith’s Prophet-Founder, because of their teachings.
During his 1912 visit, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá warned that America’s racial prejudice, if unresolved, would lead to violence, including race riots. He made it a point to demonstrate what unity looked like in action. In one famous incident, he flouted convention by seating a prominent black Bahá’í, Louis C. Gregory, beside him at a place of honor at a formal luncheon in Washington, DC. With ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s encouragement, Gregory went on to marry Louisa Mathew, a white Englishwoman, in the American Bahá’í community’s first black-white marriage.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s insistence on breaking artificial barriers is based on the Bahá’í principles that there is one God, and one humankind, strengthened and made resilient by its diversity. From the Bahá’í Writings: “Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.” “Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other.”
Seven years after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to the United States, racial violence swept American cities from June through December 1919. In Washington, DC, race riots started with four days of attacks by a white mob on black individuals and businesses, spurred by local media. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, back in Palestine, again stressed the urgency of race unity for the United States and called on the Bahá’í community to initiate race amity conferences. The first was held by Agnes Parsons, a white socialite in Washington, DC. Parsons had never organized a major event before, and while she accepted race unity intellectually her social circle was mostly white and indifferent to the issue. Nevertheless, she formed a committee of five women and organized the convention for May 19-21, 1921 at Washington’s First Congregational Church. Nineteen women from Parson’s elite social circle added their names as patrons, a Senator and two Congressmen agreed to speak and an Army general sent a message of support to be read at the convention. About two thousand people attended the opening session. Inspired by the tenor of the conference, one speaker after another abandoned their original speeches about particular problems to promote the vision of racial harmony. The conference had a great influence on the hosting Bahá’í community, which was forced to evaluate its own views and actions related to race. The success of the Washington, DC conference inspired a series of others.
As the events of recent weeks make clear, we still have a long way to go. But we also remain confident in our conviction that America has not yet fulfilled its glorious destiny. We stand beside all who are helping to bring it about.