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The Vision Of Race Unity
America’s Most Challenging Issue
A Statement by the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Bahá’ís of the United States
The persistent neglect by the governing bodies and the masses of the American
people of the ravages of racism jeopardizes both the internal order and the
national security of the country.
From the day it was born the United States embraced a set of contradictory
values. The founding fathers proclaimed their devotion to the highest principles
of equality and justice yet enshrined slavery in the Constitution. Slavery
poisoned the mind and heart of the nation and would not be abolished without
a bloody civil war that nearly destroyed the young republic. The evil consequences
of slavery are still visible in this land. They continue to affect the behavior
of both Black and White Americans and prevent the healing of old wounds.
Healing the wounds and building a society in which people of diverse backgrounds
live as members of one family are the most pressing issues confronting America
today. Her peace, her prosperity, and even her standing in the international
community depend to a great extent on the resolution of this issue. That the
virulence of the race issue in America attracts the attention of the entire
world should spur this country to an unprecedented effort to eliminate every
vestige of prejudice and discrimination from her midst. America's example
could not fail to have a profound influence on world society nor could it
fail to assist the establishment of universal peace. “For the accomplishment
of unity between the colored and white,” the Bahá’í writings proclaim, “will
be a cause of the world's peace.”
The responsibility for the achievement of racial peace and unity in the United
States rests upon both Black and White Americans. To build a society in which
the rights of all its members are respected and guaranteed, both races must
be animated with the spirit of optimism and faith in the eventual realization
of their highest aspirations. Neither Black nor White Americans should assume
that the responsibility for the elimination of prejudice and of its effects
belongs exclusively to the other. Both must recognize that unity is essential
for their common survival. Both must recognize that there is only one human
species. Both must recognize that a harmoniously functioning society that
permits the full expression of the potential of all persons can resolve the
social and economic problems now confounding a society wracked with disunity.
It is evident that both Black and White Americans in large numbers are feeling
deeply disappointed and frustrated by what each group perceives to be a failure
of the efforts in recent decades at effecting progress in the relations between
the races. To rationalize this failure, both have been reacting by retreating
to the more familiar ground of racial separation. As the problems with crime
and drug addiction mount, the tendency is to use the seeming intractability
of these problems as a measure of the failure of years of struggle on the
part of both to overcome the barriers of centuries. Formidable as is the challenge
yet to be met, can it fairly said that no significant progress has taken place
since the days of the sit-ins at lunch counters across the South?
Similarly, the victims of a protracted and entrenched racial discrimination
seek relief in the notion that Black Americans, White Americans, American
Indians, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans are so distinctly different from
one another that all of them must stake out there own cultural and social
territories and stay within them. Would this be sensible? Would it not be
a retreat from the reality of our common humanity? Would it not be a formula
for the total breakdown of civilization? Those who raise the call for separation
preach a grim doctrine indeed. If the nation is seriously to submit to such
a view, where exactly will either the Black or the White Americans divide
their cultural heritage, one from the other?
Racism runs deep. It infects the hearts of both White and Black Americans.
Since without conscious, deliberate, and sustained effort, no one can remain
unaffected by its corrosive influence, both groups must realize that such
a problem can neither easily nor immediately be resolved. “Let neither think
that anything short of genuine love, extreme patience, true humility, consummate
tact, sound initiative, mature wisdom, and deliberate, persistent, and prayerful
effort can succeed in blotting out the stain which this patent evil has left
on the fair name of their common country.”
Both groups must understand that no real change will come about without close
association, fellowship, and friendship among diverse people. Diversity of
color, nationality, and culture enhances the human experience and should never
be made a barrier to harmonious relationships, to friendship, or to marriage.
“O well-beloved ones!” Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “The tabernacle of unity has been
raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree
and the leaves of one branch.”
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| Copyright © 1991 by the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Bahá’ís of the United States— All rights reserved. |
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