Bahai Religion From South Carolina to Michigan My church was filled with Civil Rights protestors – one of them said I should explore the Baha’i faith.
Segregation in America A domestic, a laundryman & a professor My parents sent me to an integrated school but I was too mischievous – so I returned to an all-black community.
Bahai Religion Like a thief in the night I was a fundamentalist black Baptist who believed in the return of Christ – but the Baha’i teachings blew my mind.
Bahai Community Leaving home If you’ve been in a black church you know how dynamic it is – leaving it for an inter-racial community was traumatic.
Civil Rights Movement Three years of harassment and ostracism I 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 America The Orangeburg massacre It was so close – if I’d been standing on the front steps of my church at that moment I would’ve seen everything.
Bahai Community Growing up as a Civil Rights warrior The Baha’i community taught racial unity and they also lived it – which was the goal of the Civil Rights movement.
Racial Identity Hollow options in the 1960s We had friends who were Black Panthers – there was a lot of fronting with bullets and guns.
Racial Identity Black is beautiful here was a deeply entrenched self-hate among dark-skinned African-Americans – it dated back to slavery.
Bahai Community Abdu’l-Baha in America The head of the Baha’i faith visited the United States in 1912 and described blacks and whites as sapphires and pearls.
Bahai Religion Applying Baha’i ideas to scholarship & academia White students felt guilty and didn’t know what to do, and students of color would feel extremely angry.
Racism in America Urban redevelopment and race My field, urban planning, has destroyed many African-American communities. I saw it as my charge to address that.
Bahai Community Building Building new communities in the inner cities What’s facing us now in achieving race unity is that some people are privileged – many others are severely disadvantaged.
Segregation in America Ending residential segregation is not gentrification Baha’i institutions say we must live among people of different races – and to show them hospitality and love.
