Racial IdentityGrowing up Chinese-American in QueensWe lived in a home with several generations under one roof – but outside everyone was from different backgrounds.
Baha'i CommunityMeeting Baha’is in actionYou can be pulled in many directions at college – my Baha’i friends showed me that faith and action go together.
Baha'i Community BuildingBridging communities of color through serviceFirst Nations Baha’is offered community-building activities to their friends and neighbors – even the prayers were in Navajo.
Baha'i Community BuildingThe intersection of race, class and young peopleThe Baha’i junior youth program helps develop powers of expression – so that young people become aware of injustice and how to address them.
Racial IdentityA family’s legacyMy eighth-grade teacher taught us as if the eighth grade was going to be our last year of education.
Slavery in AmericaAn ancestor’s escape from slaveryMy grandmother’s grandmother ran and hid with her baby under a log to escape her captors.
Civil Rights MovementCivil Rights was just lifeWhen I was 14, I got all dressed up to see the national NAACP leader speak at the YWCA.
Racial UnityWorking for racial harmonyI am a black woman so I felt my duty was to talk about race in a positive way, not dwelling on what we have been through.
Baha'i Community BuildingPushing forward as Baha’isWhen Emmett Till was killed, many Baha’is said it was too bad, but we did not have the experience to address it.
Racial UnityShowing the way to surviveOnce you deal with people who are persecuted you never really stop.
Racial IdentityOn raising black childrenAs I get older, I find that my kids don’t need my opinion, they need my love.
Racism in AmericaLosing a voice, finding ChristI was hit by cars twice when I was growing up – the second time felt like the beginning of my spiritual journey.
Racial DiscriminationA society built for othersThe perceptions as that kids at my school wouldn’t amount to anything. But my peers had talents, abilities and intelligence that just weren’t being tapped by the system.
Baha'i FaithWinning a scholarship to BrownThe ACT was Goliath, and I was David, relying on the power of God to prevail.
Baha'i CommunityBecoming a Baha’i, 10% at a timeAt the end of my first year of university, I saw that I was doing more Baha’i things than other things and I was okay with that.
Baha'i Community BuildingTeaching math and spiritual empowermentI met a student and his mom at their home, and as soon as I walked in I knew they couldn’t afford $25 an hour for tutorials.
Baha'i Community BuildingRace and the twofold moral purposeI didn’t feel racism growing up in Memphis. But at university I learnt why – the racism in Memphis is invisible racism.
Racial UnityHungry for unityNew relationships are being built – forcing people to see each other as equals.
Racial IdentityA family of preachers and singersThe black church was a phenomenal spiritual education.
Racism in AmericaLearning from teaching about raceKids of color get suspended 5-6 times as often as white kids for the same infraction.
Racism in AmericaAccepting that racism is a systemLess than 10% of people on the planet control about 80% of the world’s wealth – and the majority are of European descent.
Racial IdentityHold on, just a little while longerI began to understand the oneness of religion after an old Czech woman told me she knew my grandmother in her heart.
Baha'i FaithFrom Christian to Baha’i – via ChristIn the Bible we’re told to watch and pray, that Christ will come again like a thief in the night.
Baha'i CommunityLearning to pray in a diverse communityWorship is an intimate act – you’re opening your heart to encounter the divine in the presence of others.
Baha'i CommunityFilling institutions with the spirit of onenessThe Baha’i teachings say it’s mandatory for our spirits and hearts to eradicate racism.
Baha'i FaithA fountain of lightBaha’u’llah says people of African descent are the “pupil of the eye” – it has caused me to reflect on my role in this world.
Racial UnityTaking the medicineIf we had prejudice before, we’re going to have it as Baha’is. The difference is we’ve agreed to work it out.
Segregation in AmericaThe only way to get to heavenMy church and community were so segregated that I was in high school before realizing the world wasn't mostly black.
Racism in AmericaA lack of diversityThe national conversation on race wasn't on my radar when I was growing up.
Baha'i CommunityA variety of racesWhat attracted me was the Baha’i principle to actively work for the elimination of prejudice.
Interracial RelationshipsGiving God a deadlineI met Suhail and it was mutual disinterest at first sight. But when he hugged me I thought, “I could get used to this.”
Baha'i Community BuildingThe opposite of love isn't hate - it's apathyIf truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues, what does it look like to apply that to eliminating racial prejudice?
Baha'i FaithResolving racism for the good of all humanityThe Baha’i writings say if we don’t address racism then the world will have nowhere to turn during its great turmoil.
Baha'i CommunityA choice for the agesMy grandparents could have passed for white – but they were proud of being African-Americans and were active in Civil Rights.
Racial IdentityCommitted to the truthMy fourth-grade teacher referred to First Nations people as “savages” – my mother then told him to get his facts straight.
Baha'i CommunityFinding hope in a hopeless timeGrowing up in a Baha’i family in the 1960s gave me hope – otherwise I wouldn’t believe there could be justice for people of color.
Racial UnityWhat people think black people doI was an intellectual – my school didn't know how to handle somebody who wasn’t stereotypically black.
Racial DiscriminationTrading in white privilegeThe border official couldn’t believe my white fiancee and I were getting married. We had to show him the wedding dress.
Racism in AmericaMoving to the SouthLiving in Tallahassee was one of my most difficult experiences – I had never experienced racism in that way.
Baha'i CommunityLiving the integrated lifeThe Baha’i community in Nashville was a third black, a third white and a third Iranian. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
Baha'i CommunityHow Baha’i institutions can address raceA high number of African-Americans get elected to our Local Spiritual Assembly – and the majority of voters are Iranians.
Baha'i Community BuildingBeing the changeWe saw that more of our African-American brothers and sisters engaged as we educated ourselves about race in America.
Racial IdentityMothers of black sonsYou have to be a warrior to raise black children in America today.
Segregation in AmericaOne life with many namesGrowing up was not easy. There wasn’t anyone to nurture or love you or to make you feel special.
Racism in AmericaThe only black family in the neighborhoodWe were the outsiders. My mother was very concerned about how we were perceived.
Baha'i FaithPraying for a meaningful lifeI believed that if anybody could love me it would probably be Jesus Christ.
Baha'i CommunityVisiting the Baha’i House of WorshipThe first thing I saw was a white man hugging a black woman. And something was let loose inside me.
Baha'i CommunitySouth and NorthEven though I avoided lunch with some white Baha’is, my family was my Baha'i community.
Racism in AmericaKennedy, Medgar Evers, Biafra, Vietnam, MLK and Kennedy againThe difficulty for me was believing someone could hate someone else because of the color of their skin.
Racial DiscriminationLike climbing Mount Everest, only harderI had to always fight against that feeling of I'm not good enough.
Racism in AmericaOverqualified for ApartheidIn Liberia my sons saw black men who were black men without the weight of of racism pulling them down.
Racial IdentityRelying on Baha’u’llahI thought I would probably marry an African when I lived in Liberia. So I married a white man.
Racial UnityCulture shock – in AmericaMy mother-in-law held up her arms and said 'my daughter' and I just broke down in tears.
Racism in AmericaDark forces in AmericaWhen someone does a terrible thing like harming black people, that's a spiritual sickness.
Racism in AmericaThe kind of man that can live in this worldI thought, oh my God, I’m going to have a black child. There was so much fear that filled my heart.
Racial UnityTeaching a mixed-race child how to be blackGod loves laughter – and I had to laugh because my first two children were easy compared to this one.
Baha'is in IranBorn in Tehran, Born in North CarolinaFarzaneh Guillebeaux: My father’s brothers hired someone to kill him when he became a Baha’i.
Racism in AmericaDiscovering prejudice at a young ageJack Guillebeaux: They burned a cross within a block of our house when I was five or six years old.
Racial IdentityDeciding it’s good to be blackJack Guillebeaux: I thought I would try out hating white folk. And that felt like a lot of work.
Baha'i CommunityThe liberation of meeting the Baha’isJack Guillebeaux: The separation was entrenched and it was violent.
Interracial RelationshipsUnready to say yes – unwilling to say noJack Guillebeaux: There was something special about her and I told one of my friends that I'm going to marry that one.
Interracial RelationshipsLife as an interracial couple in 1960s North CarolinaJack Guillebeaux: The worst thing that could happen is for Fafar or I to show fear.
Interracial RelationshipsDreaming of the futureFarzaneh Guillebeaux: The news of our marriage was like a bomb in Tehran because it was just so rare.
Interracial RelationshipsLooking for a legal way to marryFarzaneh Guillebeaux: Many of the townspeople showed up at our wedding reception to see if it was really going to happen
Racism in AmericaLaughing at the insanity of racismJack Guillebeaux: We have constructed a society that pretends to believe there is a religious, moral, social and ethical foundation to racism.
Interracial RelationshipsChanging hearts through grocery shoppingFarzaneh Guillebeaux: We were looking for somewhere to live and I told landlords, I’m white, my husband is African-American, is that a problem? They would bang down the phone.
Baha'i CommunityThe challenge of learning unity in diversityFarzaneh Guillebeaux: Learning about unity in diversity is a challenge, not just for America, but for the Baha’i community as well.
Racial IdentityFrom Michael to MasudI changed my name after discovering my father's surname was derived from an English slave captain’s name.
Racism in AmericaThe n-word and other lessons in prejudiceI remember being baffled by it and my parents telling me that's just the way of the world.
Racism in AmericaThe many forms of racismWe refuse to deal with the systemic nature of racism in this country — to face honestly who we have been.
Baha'i CommunityChoosing the Baha’i Faith over angerThere was something in me that pushed me to search out answers for myself.
Arts and Social ChangeJazz and the oneness of humanityWhen you become a Baha'i you haven't suddenly arrived at some mystical destination where you don't have to work on these issues.
Racial UnityLove is an action verbFar too often we have squandered so much human capital and potential because of racism.
Baha'i CommunityNotes on meeting the Baha’i communityWe have to be conscious of the message we send through what we say and what we do.
Racism in AmericaThe trauma of racism across generationsInstitutionalized lying has been used to justify evil behaviour. But Baha’u’llah said that “truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues”.
Segregation in AmericaGrowing up at a golden momentDesegregation of school districts was remarkably successfully – especially in the South.
Racial UnityA mother’s eyes on the prizeMy first black teacher was in second-grade – and both my grandmothers tried to get me transferred out of that class. My mother told them to go to hell.
Baha'i CommunityA brilliant stroke of parentingThe Baha’is in my town collaborated on Martin Luther King Day, they put on a Black History Month program. They were impressive.
Baha'i Faith‘Praise the Lord, here you are’It felt like Pentecost, when the disciples went out and they began to preach the word of Jesus after his crucifixion.
Civil Rights MovementAn act of GodBlack people in the South never forgot the promise of Reconstruction. The Baha’i Faith arrived in the US just as it was being stamped out.
Baha'i Faith HistoryThe sad story of Alonzo TwineSouth Carolina’s hospital for the insane was the kind of place where, if you weren’t insane already, it would do you in.
Racism in AmericaThe hard face of Jim CrowSegregation removed African-Americans from political power and kept them at the bottom of society.
Baha'i CommunityAbdu’l-Baha and Louis GregoryLouis Gregory, an African-American lawyer, tried to slip out the back door as a gathering of white guests arrived to see Abdu’l-Baha.
Baha'i CommunityA handful, a roomful and then a great gatheringIn the 1920s and later, had black Southerners been given the chance they would have responded to the Baha’i Faith in large numbers.
Baha'i CommunityLeaving the comfort zoneThe size of the American Baha'i community grew faster than anybody could predict.
Baha'i CommunityLiving through the century of lightThe 1960s and 1970s were the richest period that the Baha'i world community has ever experienced.
Baha'i CommunityThe most distinctive aspect of Persian cultureIranians fleeing trauma in their own country came to the US unprepared for the nuances of the racial situation.
Racial DiscriminationPraying for world peace – or to dieI was just wiped out by what I saw of what the Nazis had done to the Jewish people.
Racism in AmericaLosing a friend because of raceSegregation was evident across the South but it was a taboo subject.
Racial DiscriminationBuses, trains and unconscious biasesI sat by the African-American all the rest of the way to Washington D.C. because I didn't want to be put off the bus.
Racism in AmericaDeath threats and cross-burningsAfrican-American visitors would have to go through this gauntlet of angry white people all the way to our house.
Racism in AmericaStaring racism in the faceThis tall, raw-boned mountaineer came in, sat on my couch, and just looked at me with his hand in his pocket.
Racism in AmericaPlease don’t leave a tipWe walked through the all-white restaurant as an integrated group. Silence fell, and I thought, what have I done?
Racism in AmericaDreams of the future, flashes of the pastMy great-grandfather was born into slavery – and the slave owner was his father.
Baha'i CommunityLosing then finding his religionI noticed within the Baha'i community there were African-Americans, whites, Filipinos and others all working together.
Racism in AmericaExperiencing racism for the first timeSome white students told my white roommate to never be seen around African-Americans – or they’d harm him.
Racism in America"I don't have a racist bone in my body"If you don’t smoke but you go where everybody is smoking, that stench will be in your hair and your clothes and on your skin.
Interracial RelationshipsThe rewards of an inter-racial marriageIt may have been easier to marry someone of our own ethnicity. But this is one of the best ways to break down barriers.
Baha'i CommunityOffering an African-American spirit to the Baha'i faithWe would sing for hours and then deepen ourselves on our responsibilities as Baha’is.
Slavery in AmericaFrom Harriet Tubman to the fieldsBarbara Talley: I experienced a lot of what slavery could have been like in my own childhood.
Racial IdentitySay it loud: I’m black and I’m proudBarbara Talley: I hated Black History Week – they didn’t show us with any dignity.
Baha'i FaithBy any means necessaryBarbara Talley: I always had this question: why are there so many religions?
Baha'i FaithGirl, you ain’t no Baha’iBarbara Talley: I had read others saying that black people are cursed, and here was a religion calling us noble.
Baha'i CommunityLove isn’t something to be scheduledBarbara Talley: I dealt with lots of racism – but I met these Baha’is that didn’t treat me like a color.
Racial UnityRace unity from Texas to TennesseeBarbara Talley: There was a perception that if you talk about race, it creates the issue. We’re just sharing our stories.
Racism in AmericaA few white men on the other sideBarbara Talley: The second time I ran into the Ku Klux Klan was at a wedding outside a firehouse.
Baha'i Community BuildingSpiritual reparationsBarbara Talley: The Bible said the last shall be the first, and the meek shall inherit the Earth. This is it.
Baha'i FaithSome people pretend to be asleepBarbara Talley: Maybe we weren’t brought here. Maybe we were sent here.
Racial UnityLove and hate: a poemBarbara Talley: On my way to heaven we stopped, and took a detour through hell.
Racial UnityLearning about how it feelsMy mother took me to a black Baptist church and told me to go to Sunday school.
Racism in AmericaTeaming up with Santana, Ricky Martin, Common, Sarah McLachlan and B.B. KingA lot of people in Los Angeles said – do we really still have racism in America?
Baha'i Community BuildingLove and Faith Community CafeA white woman complained to me about the African-American kids we’d invited to have free ice cream.
Baha'i Community BuildingSincere friendships and boots on the groundWe must have sincere friendships if we want to include everyone in our community.
Racism in AmericaFighting oppression with loveThe president of AT&T’s best friend was an African-American doctor – his heart broke when he heard how he was treated.
Racism in AmericaGrowing up during white flightAnthony Vance: Suddenly the managers of our housing project didn't care about it anymore.
Baha'i CommunityFinding a new religion through white Baha’isAnthony Vance: My father was impressed by how he was treated by white Baha’is.
Baha'i FaithThe pupil of the eyeAnthony Vance: The Baha’i writings say that black people are “like the pupil of the eye” through which the light of the spirit shines.
Slavery in AmericaSacrificing differences to commit to unityAnthony Vance: The legacy of slavery in the US had a parallel with imperialism in Africa.
Baha'i CommunityEmbracing diversity to overcome residential segregationAnthony Vance: 7 out of 10 white Americans have no close black friends, and 4 out of 10 African-Americans have no close white friends.
Racial IdentityFrom North Carolina to the University of PennsylvaniaMichael Penn: Like so many of the African-Americans, we moved from the South to the North and we became New Yorkers.
Racism in AmericaA punch to the soulMichael Penn: A group of locals surrounded me, seven young white boys, and everything went blank.
Baha'i CommunityYe shall know them by their fruitsMichael Penn: I started to cry, but I wasn’t sure why I was crying.
Racism in AmericaThinking ourselves freeMichael Penn: My wife is a white American – it’s startling to see how comfortable people are with her.
Racism in AmericaAddressing racism through constructive resilienceMichael Penn: In addition to dismantling destructive processes, we have to build what we think is right.
Baha'i CommunityA spiritual assemblyMichael Penn: I was moved by the sweetness, the humility, the frankness and the love that they had for me.
Baha'i Community BuildingCreating the world – or destroying itMichael Penn: Embodying spiritual qualities is part of the process of creating racial unity.
Baha'i Community BuildingMaking communities betterMichael Penn: The junior youth said they were concerned about the way their mothers were being treated.
Baha'i Community BuildingLearning to readMichael Penn: If we’re going to overcome prejudice, we have to become the kinds of people who are prejudice-free.
Racial IdentitySuper minorityMy school was whittling our classes down to math, reading and gym – so my mom switched me to a rich white school.
Racial IdentityFeeling like an outsiderI just wanted a sense of belonging – so I thought I’d become a Christian. But then I went to Baha’i youth groups.
Baha'i Community BuildingBelieving in race unity demands workToday’s world influences our thinking in terms of race and class – even if we already believe in unity in diversity.
Baha'i CommunityStanding up for the wellbeing of allBaha’is are supposed to be champions of justice – to stand up for humanitarian issues.
Baha'i CommunityA devotional cultureAfrican-Americans know how to come together to pray – they can offer this to Baha’i communities.
Racial DiscriminationIncarceration, race & class as a careerLabelling young people as irredeemable doesn’t help them to come out of prison and to contribute to society.
Racism in AmericaThe spiritual roots of racismHopelessness comes from not knowing how to change root problems – the Baha’i writings have the power to transform our hearts.
Baha'i Community BuildingMeaningful conversations that address racismBaha’i activities in gentrifying Brooklyn help us to build friendships with people from different backgrounds.
Baha'i CommunityDiscovering diversity and spiritual solutionsMy downstairs neighbors were Baha’is. We talked for three days and then I was one too.
Racial UnityFinding and eliminating prejudicesI had no idea of the reality of what it meant to be black in the United States of America.
Baha'i CommunityLearning to pray from African-AmericansThe Harlem Baha’i teaching institute didn’t do anything until they had properly prayed up the room.
Racial IdentityPutting African-Americans in the centerWe had a race unity workshop where white people surrounded African-Americans and listened to their truth.
Racial UnityJust undo itWe got a grant from the Mayor’s Stop the Violence fund to run race unity discussions.
Baha'i CommunityA new Harlem generationI was horrified that so many Baha’is in Harlem were white – but then I saw they were reaching out to their neighborhoods of color.
Racism in AmericaPrejudice in Iran, prejudice in AmericaHussein Ahdieh: Race is a most challenging issue that the American community is facing.
Baha'is in IranFrom mobs in Iran to the Ku Klux KlanHussein Ahdieh: Our dog was stoned outside our front door in Iran because we were Baha’is.
Baha'is in IranComing to AmericaHussein Ahdieh: I always thought “aliens” came from another planet, I didn’t know it applied also to human beings.
Baha'i CommunityReforming education in 1960s HarlemHussein Ahdieh: Harlem Prep was the most rewarding and colorful period in our lives.
Baha'i CommunityMore stories from Harlem PrepHussein Ahdieh: There was a kid at our school walking around with a gun in his hand.
Baha'i CommunityTalking to Malcolm X about the Baha'i faithHussein Ahdieh: I met Malcolm X at a Baha’i event where he talked about horrible white people.
Racial IdentityGrowing up with changeTavoria Kellam: I don’t identify in terms of race, but because this is America, I don’t have a choice.
Baha'i CommunityFinding the Baha’is through 1970s soft rockTavoria Kellam: 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.
Baha'i CommunityBlack, white, Persian and everything elseTavoria Kellam: The Baha’i community was very diverse – it was miles ahead of anything I’d been exposed to.
Racism in AmericaSigning up to fix racismTavoria Kellam: Racism is a toxin in the air, it’s in the water, we all grew up with it.
Baha'i Community BuildingTeaching kids to serve their communitiesTavoria Kellam: People I’d have never imagined are engaged in doing the work of addressing racism in America.
Segregation in AmericaHow race and class intersectTavoria Kellam: Our Baha’i Center is in a neighborhood of a certain class, it doesn’t always attract people from uptown.
Racial IdentityDebunking color-blindnessTavoria Kellam: In the real world, the most salient thing about me is that I am black.
Baha'i FaithPurifying character to uproot racismTavoria Kellam: I’m done with reading about the Central Park Five, or Tamir Rice, because I know already.
Racial DiscriminationA loving community surrounded by dangerGrowing up in Boston, you didn’t go into Irish or Italian neighbourhoods. You’d be taking your life into your hands.
Racial DiscriminationHard times and harder questionsThirty of us were among the first American-Americans to go to Massachusetts University – they called us the “Dirty Thirty”.
Baha'i Faith HistoryMr Gregory’s legacyMy grandmother was a mother of her church – and she was very happy for me to investigate the Baha’i faith.
Racism in AmericaSupport on one side, dismissal on the otherMy teachers put me into a box – I had an aptitude for language but they said I couldn’t take Latin and that I wasn’t college material.
Baha'i CommunityRacism and constructive resilienceAfrican-Americans have always understood that it’s very hard to simply become racist in response to acts of hatred.
Baha'i CommunityCreating the Black Men’s GatheringI didn’t see enough African-American men active in the Baha’i community and I began to ask why.
Racial IdentityHomelands of the ancestorsPeople of African descent were asked to be a source of encouragement to Baha’i communities in Africa – so we went.
Baha'i CommunityA Liberian reunion in GhanaWe walked in and there was an uproar at the back – a group of young men said “We know him!”
Baha'i Community BuildingOvercoming injustice through service not contentionThe Baha’i writings forbid conflict – we must oppose oppression by falling in love with people of other backgrounds.
Racial IdentityNo easy boxes to checkIf you lined my family up we’d look like a little United Nations.
Baha'i CommunityA hotbed of political activityMy sense of how to be a person and a Baha’i moved me to leave a legacy behind.
Racial DiscriminationPushing back against mediocrity and racismA lot of artists had great careers because they slept with the right people – I had to decide what kind of person I wanted to be.
Baha'i CommunityAmerican Baha’is & heavenly trainingAbdu’l-Baha came to the United States at the turn of the 20th century – like a first responder.
Baha'i CommunityThe behaviors needed for changeThe Baha’i writings defined “implicit bias” 70 years before Harvard came up with the idea.
Racial IdentityRacism at home and abroadSouth African Baha’is of different races would meet and be visited by the police.
Racial UnitySpectrum racismPeople like to gang up on the worst offenders – but dealing with racism requires spiritual qualities.
Racial IdentityBorn in the Midwest – and in the Far EastMy parents were sometimes told to go back where they came from – I would always try to defend my parents.
Racial DiscriminationTurning anger into searchMy interest in social issues and injustice was my soul searching for answers and the truth.
Baha'i CommunityUnity in diversityNature understands it – there’s so much diversity just in plant life but it all works together.
Slavery in AmericaFacing up to a legacy of entitlementI was impressed when Baha'i friends from European backgrounds weren’t afraid to acknowledge their own slave-owner ancestors.
Baha'i Community BuildingA realization at Wounded KneeRace unity dances weren’t enough – I saw that we have to help communities deal with the problems they’re facing.
Racial IdentityUnapologetically blackJames Brown, Civil Rights, the assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK, the Black Panthers, were all ingrained in my personality.
Racism in AmericaEducation instead of warWe had no role models and I became a high school dropout – but I wanted to avoid Vietnam.
Racial UnityLearning then sharing the good newsBlack people were the most downtrodden in the world – I was all for anything that encouraged us.
Baha'i CommunityFinding a husband and a new religionThis handsome young lad introduced me to the Baha’i faith – I was overjoyed when I became a Baha’i.
Racial IdentityHome and school – two different worldsI lived in an African-American community and went to a white school – you lose your sense of identity.
Baha'i Community BuildingMaywood, near ChicagoFour young people recently took their lives in our community – these are spiritual problems that need spiritual solutions.
Racism in AmericaRacism and how to overcome itI’ve gone through hardships but I wouldn’t do it any other way – people like to feel that you’re passionate.
Racial IdentityWhere are African-Americans going?The Baha’i writings compare us to the “pupil of the eye” – I find it amazing to share that with young people who are in despair.
Racial IdentityNashville via Iran, Palestine and Black Wall StreetMaya Mansour: They built a highway straight through my mom’s thriving black neighbourhood in the Midwest.
Racial IdentityThere is something exceptional about black peopleMaya Mansour: The Baha'i writings compare black people to the “pupil of the eye”.
Racial IdentityIdentifying with the black and immigrant experiences in AmericaMaya Mansour: People get thrown when I say I am Persian because they don’t expect Persian people to be black.
Racial DiscriminationLearning from incarcerated African-AmericansMaya Mansour: There's not a lot to do in prison. You're left with a lot of time for reflection.
Baha'i CommunityAfrican-Americans and Iranian Baha'is are both treated unjustlyMaya Mansour: Tahirih was the first woman to be incarcerated in Persia.
Integration came to the South years after it became lawKen Bowers: My grandmother’s grandfather was a veteran of the American Civil War.
Segregation in AmericaTranscending social pressure to segregateKen Bowers: It was a time of extreme apartheid between the black and the white races.
Racism in AmericaTaking a stand against racism – and violenceKen Bowers: My mother saw people getting into a pickup truck carrying shotguns and dynamite.
Baha'i CommunityGrowing up as a white Baha'i in a segregated worldKen Bowers: Growing up, everybody in our Baha’i community, black and white, was my family.
Racism in AmericaLearning how all races can come togetherKen Bowers: There are multitudes in this country who wish for America to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
Racism in AmericaSharing the burden of racismKen Bowers: America really is the story of struggle, horrific in many ways, and it needs to be acknowledged.
Baha'i Community BuildingBuilding community to achieve race unityKen Bowers: We're challenged to think consciously about the implications of justice and of building a united community.
Segregation in AmericaGrowing up in "black world"Van Gilmer: It was scary to participate in the Civil Rights Movement because we had no clue what would happen. I was arrested many times.
Arts and Social ChangeThe Black Church: a spiritual and musical legacyVan Gilmer: The minister talked about us being one family, and about loving one another. And that stayed with me.
Baha'i FaithMeeting white Americans and Baha'is – for the first timeVan Gilmer: I was scared to death because my first Baha'i meeting was in a white community.
Racial UnityWhite people were suddenly in my lifeVan Gilmer: I mean you hear the n-word now. But that was a regular word growing up.
Arts and Social ChangeIntroducing gospel music to the Baha'i communityVan Gilmer: Singing the gospel music brought to many of us, who are African-Americans, the reality of the Baha’i Faith. We knew it included everybody.
Racism in AmericaHow to talk about race in AmericaVan Gilmer: There were five of us, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Baha’i, who walked through a museum to see the history of slaves in America.
Racism in AmericaThe only way to eliminate racismVan Gilmer: My granddaughter went outside and saw a white noose hanging from a tree in her yard.
Baha'i FaithFrom South Carolina to MichiganMy church was filled with Civil Rights protestors – one of them said I should explore the Baha’i faith.
Segregation in AmericaA domestic, a laundryman & a professorMy parents sent me to an integrated school but I was too mischievous – so I returned to an all-black community.
Baha'i FaithLike a thief in the nightI was a fundamentalist black Baptist who believed in the return of Christ – but the Baha’i teachings blew my mind.
Baha'i CommunityLeaving homeIf you’ve been in a black church you know how dynamic it is – leaving it for an inter-racial community was traumatic.
Civil Rights MovementThree years of harassment and ostracismI was part of the vanguard of black students who integrated my high school – I rode in a police car to go to class.
Racism in AmericaThe Orangeburg massacreIt was so close – if I’d been standing on the front steps of my church at that moment I would’ve seen everything.
Baha'i CommunityGrowing up as a Civil Rights warriorThe Baha’i community taught racial unity and they also lived it – which was the goal of the Civil Rights movement.
Racial IdentityHollow options in the 1960sWe had friends who were Black Panthers – there was a lot of fronting with bullets and guns.
Racial IdentityBlack is beautifulThere was a deeply entrenched self-hate among dark-skinned African-Americans – it dated back to slavery.
Baha'i CommunityAbdu’l-Baha in AmericaThe head of the Baha’i faith visited the United States in 1912 and described blacks and whites as sapphires and pearls.
Baha'i FaithApplying Baha’i ideas to scholarship & academiaWhite students felt guilty and didn’t know what to do, and students of color would feel extremely angry.
Racism in AmericaUrban redevelopment and raceMy field, urban planning, has destroyed many African-American communities. I saw it as my charge to address that.
Baha'i Community BuildingBuilding new communities in the inner citiesWhat’s facing us now in achieving race unity is that some people are privileged – many others are severely disadvantaged.
Segregation in AmericaEnding residential segregation is not gentrificationBaha’i institutions say we must live among people of different races – and to show them hospitality and love.
