History
of Race Unity Day
Race Unity Day
was inaugurated in 1957 by the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of the United States (the national governing
body for the U.S. Baha'i community) to promote racial harmony
and understanding. It is sponsored annually, on the second
Sunday in June, by members of the Baha'i Faith throughout the
nation. Originally called "Race Amity Day," the
name was changed to Race Unity Day in 1965.
The purpose of this day is
to focus attention on what Baha'is believe is the most
challenging moral issue facing this country - racial
prejudice. Baha'u'llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i
Faith, made the oneness of humanity under God, and thus the
elimination of all forms of prejudice the central point of
His teachings. Expounding on this theme, the Universal House
of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha'is,
in its 1985 address to the peoples of the world, "The
Promise of World Peace," cites racism as one of the
major obstacles to achieving world peace:
"Racism, one
of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major
barrier to peace. Its practice perpetrates too
outrageous a violation of the dignity of human beings
to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism retards
the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its
victims, corrupts its perpetrators, and blights human
progress. Recognition of the oneness of mankind,
implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be
universally upheld if this problem is to be
overcome."
U.N.
International Day for the Elimination of Racism
The United Nations
inaugurated the celebration of the International Day for the
Elimination of Racism, which is celebrated annually on March
21 by people around the world. The U.N. has not officially
recognized the Baha'i observance of Race Unity Day.
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