Racial Unity

Racial Unity

Welcome to RaceUnity.us

Baha’is in the US have for a century worked to end racism and promote race unity. RaceUnity.us is an oral history of this story; it was started by Maziar Bahari, who isn't a Baha'i. The project looks at successes and challenges Baha'is face – and what they're doing now to address this vital issue.

Bahai Community

Meeting Baha’is in action

You can be pulled in many directions at college – my Baha’i friends showed me that faith and action go together.

Bahai Community Building

Bridging communities of color through service

First Nations Baha’is offered community-building activities to their friends and neighbors – even the prayers were in Navajo.

Bahai Community Building

The intersection of race, class and young people

The Baha’i junior youth program helps develop powers of expression – so that young people become aware of injustice and how to address them.

Racial Unity

Working for racial harmony

I am a black woman so I felt my duty was to talk about race in a positive way, not dwelling on what we have been through.

Bahai Community Building

Pushing forward as Baha’is

When Emmett Till was killed, many Baha’is said it was too bad, but we did not have the experience to address it.

Racial Unity

Showing the way to survive

Once you deal with people who are persecuted you never really stop.

Bahai Community Building

Race and the twofold moral purpose

I didn’t feel racism growing up in Memphis. But at university I learnt why – the racism in Memphis is invisible racism.

Racial Unity

Hungry for unity

New relationships are being built – forcing people to see each other as equals.

Bahai Community

Filling institutions with the spirit of oneness

The Baha’i teachings say it’s mandatory for our spirits and hearts to eradicate racism.

Bahai Religion

A fountain of light

Baha’u’llah says people of African descent are the “pupil of the eye” – it has caused me to reflect on my role in this world.

Racial Unity

Taking the medicine

If we had prejudice before, we’re going to have it as Baha’is. The difference is we’ve agreed to work it out.

Bahai Community

A variety of races

What attracted me was the Baha’i principle to actively work for the elimination of prejudice.

Interracial Relationships

Giving God a deadline

I met Suhail and it was mutual disinterest at first sight. But when he hugged me I thought, “I could get used to this.”

Bahai Community Building

The opposite of love isn't hate - it's apathy

If truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues, what does it look like to apply that to eliminating racial prejudice?

Bahai Religion

Resolving racism for the good of all humanity

The Baha’i writings say if we don’t address racism then the world will have nowhere to turn during its great turmoil.

Bahai Community

A choice for the ages

My grandparents could have passed for white – but they were proud of being African-Americans and were active in Civil Rights.

Racial Identity

Committed to the truth

My fourth-grade teacher referred to First Nations people as “savages” – my mother then told him to get his facts straight.

Bahai Community

Finding hope in a hopeless time

Growing up in a Baha’i family in the 1960s gave me hope – otherwise I wouldn’t believe there could be justice for people of color.

Racial Unity

What people think black people do

I was an intellectual – my school didn't know how to handle somebody who wasn’t stereotypically black.

Bahai Community

Living the integrated life

The Baha’i community in Nashville was a third black, a third white and a third Iranian. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

Bahai Community

How Baha’i institutions can address race

A high number of African-Americans get elected to our Local Spiritual Assembly – and the majority of voters are Iranians.

Bahai Community Building

Being the change

We saw that more of our African-American brothers and sisters engaged as we educated ourselves about race in America.

Bahai Community

South and North

Even though I avoided lunch with some white Baha’is, my family was my Baha'i community.

Racial Identity

Relying on Baha’u’llah

I thought I would probably marry an African when I lived in Liberia. So I married a white man.