Bahai Community A devotional culture African-Americans know how to come together to pray – they can offer this to Baha’i communities.
Racial Discrimination Incarceration, race & class as a career Labelling young people as irredeemable doesn’t help them to come out of prison and to contribute to society.
Racism in America The spiritual roots of racism Hopelessness comes from not knowing how to change root problems – the Baha’i writings have the power to transform our hearts.
Bahai Community Building Meaningful conversations that address racism Baha’i activities in gentrifying Brooklyn help us to build friendships with people from different backgrounds.
Bahai Community Jan Mauras Jan Mauras was born in Tulsa, OK, in 1943 and grew up around few people of color. Her world changed when she became a Baha'i in 1972 and later moved to Harlem, New York City, where she has lived for several decades. Today she is involved in race unity and community-building activities in New York.
Bahai Community Discovering diversity and spiritual solutions My downstairs neighbors were Baha’is. We talked for three days and then I was one too.
Racial Unity Finding and eliminating prejudices I had no idea of the reality of what it meant to be black in the United States of America.
Bahai Community Learning to pray from African-Americans The Harlem Baha’i teaching institute didn’t do anything until they had properly prayed up the room.
Racial Identity Putting African-Americans in the center We had a race unity workshop where white people surrounded African-Americans and listened to their truth.
Racial Unity Just undo it We got a grant from the Mayor’s Stop the Violence fund to run race unity discussions.
Bahai Community A new Harlem generation I was horrified that so many Baha’is in Harlem were white – but then I saw they were reaching out to their neighborhoods of color.
Bahai Community Hussein Ahdieh Hussein Ahdieh was born and raised in Iran but emigrated to the US as a young man. He is a sixth-generation Baha’i and his family were persecuted in Iran because of their beliefs.
Racism in America Prejudice in Iran, prejudice in America Hussein Ahdieh: Race is a most challenging issue that the American community is facing.
Bahais in Iran From mobs in Iran to the Ku Klux Klan Hussein Ahdieh: Our dog was stoned outside our front door in Iran because we were Baha’is.
Bahais in Iran Coming to America Hussein Ahdieh: I always thought “aliens” came from another planet, I didn’t know it applied also to human beings.
Bahai Community Reforming education in 1960s Harlem Hussein Ahdieh: Harlem Prep was the most rewarding and colorful period in our lives.
Bahai Community More stories from Harlem Prep Hussein Ahdieh: There was a kid at our school walking around with a gun in his hand.
Bahai Community Talking to Malcolm X about the Baha'i faith Hussein Ahdieh: I met Malcolm X at a Baha’i event where he talked about horrible white people.
Bahai Community Tavoria Kellam Tavoria Kellam, originally from Baltimore, Maryland, became a Baha'i in the Washington DC area. She later moved to New York, where she became an interpreter, and where she lives today.
Racial Identity Growing up with change Tavoria Kellam: I don’t identify in terms of race, but because this is America, I don’t have a choice.
Bahai Community Finding the Baha’is through 1970s soft rock Tavoria 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.
Bahai Community Black, white, Persian and everything else Tavoria Kellam: The Baha’i community was very diverse – it was miles ahead of anything I’d been exposed to.
Racism in America Signing up to fix racism Tavoria Kellam: Racism is a toxin in the air, it’s in the water, we all grew up with it.
Bahai Community Building Teaching kids to serve their communities Tavoria Kellam: People I’d have never imagined are engaged in doing the work of addressing racism in America.
Segregation in America How race and class intersect Tavoria Kellam: Our Baha’i Center is in a neighborhood of a certain class, it doesn’t always attract people from uptown.
