Tavoria Kellam, originally from Baltimore, Maryland, became a Baha'i in the Washington DC area. She later moved to New York, where she became an interpreter, and where she lives today.
1.Growing up with change
I don’t identify in terms of race, but because this is America, I don’t have a choice.
2.Finding the Baha’is through 1970s soft rock
A man I didn’t know walked up to me and said, I bet you’re thinking about the Baha’i faith. And I was.
3.Black, white, Persian and everything else
The Baha’i community was very diverse – it was miles ahead of anything I’d been exposed to.
4.Signing up to fix racism
Racism is a toxin in the air, it’s in the water, we all grew up with it.
5.Teaching kids to serve their communities
People I’d have never imagined are engaged in doing the work of addressing racism in America.
6.How race and class intersect
Our Baha’i Center is in a neighborhood of a certain class, it doesn’t always attract people from uptown.
7.Debunking color-blindness
In the real world, the most salient thing about me is that I am black.
8.Purifying character to uproot racism
I’m done with reading about the Central Park Five, or Tamir Rice, because I know already.