Race
Unity and the Bahá'ís
BACKGROUNDER:
The Baha'i
Community of the United States: Working Toward Racial Unity
For over a century, the U.S.
Baha'i commitment to race unity has been expressed both
internally, by creating a diverse and unified religious
community, and externally through its efforts to achieve
racial integration and justice throughout American society.
Recently, the Baha'i national leadership called on Baha'is to
rededicate themselves to the elimination of the last traces
of prejudice and alienation from within their own religious
community and to spare no effort to become a means for
reconciliation among Americans of all races and religions.
Baha'is view racism as America's most challenging issue, an
issue that, to the degree that it is resolved, will have a
significant impact on establishing world peace. The
activities of U.S. Baha'is to promote race unity include:
- Race Unity Day. In 1957 the National
Spiritual Assembly inaugurated Race Unity Day to
promote racial harmony and understanding. Annual
commemorations on the second Sunday in June are
growing in popularity throughout the country.
- Handbook for
Hosting Neighborhood Dialogues on Race Unity.
This booklet, currently in production, will serve as
a tool for ordinary citizens to host conversations
about race in their homes and neighborhoods.
- The
Power of Race Unity (video).
This broadcast-quality program was the centerpiece of an integrated
media campaign to stimulate dialogue on race relations in
Atlanta in 1997. The program was shown on a local
cable channel and viewers were invited to contact
Atlanta-area Baha'i communities to participate in
race discussion groups. The program has been modified
to be broadcast as an integral part of a national
media initiative.
- Models of Unity
I and II. The first of these studies of
factors that have contributed to interracial
friendship and harmony was published in 1992 as a
joint project of the National Spiritual Assembly and
the Human Relations Foundation of Chicago. The second
study was conducted by the National Spiritual
Assembly in Atlanta and published in 1995.
- U.S.
Ratification of the U.N. Convention on All Forms of
Racial Discrimination. The National
Spiritual Assembly was a founding member of a working
group to organize support from non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) for ratification of the Race
Convention. In May 1994 Robert C. Henderson,
Secretary-General of the National Spiritual Assembly,
was one of four NGO representatives who testified in
support of ratification at a hearing before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Convention
was ratified in June 1994.
- Martin
Luther King Day commemorations. Baha'i communities organize
or are substantial contributors to countless Martin
Luther King Day observances throughout the country.
Two representatives from the National Spiritual
Assembly served on the MLK Jr. Federal Holiday
Commission for several years. Baha'is have also
supported the activities of the King Center in
Atlanta and have played a major role in King Week
festivities each year.
- Youth
dance workshops, local conferences, festivals and
walks. Dozens of youth dance workshops
across the country have made race unity a focal point
of their performances. Color Me Human Festivals are
held annually in Atlanta, Salt Lake City and other
cities. For the past eight years, the Chicago North
Shore Race Unity Task Force has organized an annual
walk and carnival games promoting race unity. Calling
All Colors Children's Race Unity Conferences were
begun by a then nine-year-old Baha'i in South
Carolina who was honored as one of President Bush's
Points of Light. The conferences are now held
nationwide to address children's contributions to
race unity.
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