Racial Identity Growing up Chinese-American in Queens We lived in a home with several generations under one roof – but outside everyone was from different backgrounds.
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.
Racial Identity A family’s legacy My eighth-grade teacher taught us as if the eighth grade was going to be our last year of education.
Civil Rights Movement Civil Rights was just life When I was 14, I got all dressed up to see the national NAACP leader speak at the YWCA.
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.
Racial Unity Showing the way to survive Once you deal with people who are persecuted you never really stop.
Racial Identity On raising black children As I get older, I find that my kids don’t need my opinion, they need my love.
Racism in America Losing a voice, finding Christ I was hit by cars twice when I was growing up – the second time felt like the beginning of my spiritual journey.
Racial Discrimination A society built for others The perceptions as that kids at my school wouldn’t amount to anything. But my peers had talents, abilities and intelligence that just weren’t being tapped by the system.
Bahai Community Building Teaching math and spiritual empowerment I met a student and his mom at their home, and as soon as I walked in I knew they couldn’t afford $25 an hour for tutorials.
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.
Racism in America Learning from teaching about race Kids of color get suspended 5-6 times as often as white kids for the same infraction.
Racism in America Accepting that racism is a system Less than 10% of people on the planet control about 80% of the world’s wealth – and the majority are of European descent.
Racial Identity Hold on, just a little while longer I began to understand the oneness of religion after an old Czech woman told me she knew my grandmother in her heart.
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.
Segregation in America The only way to get to heaven My church and community were so segregated that I was in high school before realizing the world wasn't mostly black.
Racism in America A lack of diversity The national conversation on race wasn't on my radar when I was growing up.
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 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.
Racial Discrimination Trading in white privilege The border official couldn’t believe my white fiancee and I were getting married. We had to show him the wedding dress.
Racism in America Moving to the South Living in Tallahassee was one of my most difficult experiences – I had never experienced racism in that way.
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.
