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entific understanding of them in order Race and Racism: to better understand their definition and operation and to delineate their relation Perspectives from to one another. I then consider how these Bahá’í Theology concepts are used in the Writings of the Central Figures and Institution of the and Critical Bahá’í Faith and attempt to correlate them with modern social scientific knowledge in Sociology order to provide a more nuanced and accu- rate understanding of them, which in turn may assist with better applications of the MATTHEW HUGHEY Bahá’í teachings to contemporary public discourse.

It is hoped that all the Bahá’í students Resumé will . . . be led to investigate and analyse Qu’est-ce que la race? Qu’est-ce que the principles of the Faith and to correlate le racisme? Quel est le lien entre ces them with the modern aspects deux concepts, en particulier dans les of philosophy and science. enseignements bahá’ís sur l’harmonie Every intelligent and thoughtful young raciale et les préjugés? Près de quatre Bahá’í should always approach the Cause vingts ans de progrès socioscientifiques in this way, for therein lies the very sont venus éclairer ces questions depuis que Shoghi Effendi a déclaré dans essence of the principle of independent L’Avènement de la justice divine que le « investigation of truth. préjugé racial » est « le problème le plus vital et le plus brûlant que la communauté — Letter written on behalf of bahá’íe doit affronter au stade actuel de Shoghi Effendi to an individual believ- son évolution. » (p. 47). Je passe donc en er, 6 August 1933. revue les concepts de race et de racisme à la lumière des plus récentes perspectives Abstract socioscientifiques à l’égard de ces deux What is race? What is racism? How do concepts, afin de mieux en comprendre they relate, especially as they pertain to la nature et le fonctionnement et d’en Bahá’í teachings on both racial accord définir l’interrelation. J’examine ensuite and prejudice? There have been nearly comment ces concepts sont utilisés dans eighty years of social scientific advance- les écrits des figures centrales et de ment on, and illumination of, these issues l’institution suprême de la foi bahá’íe, since Shoghi Effendi wrote in The Advent et je tente de les mettre en corrélation of Divine Justice that “racial prejudice” avec les connaissances socioscientifiques is the “most vital and challenging issue modernes. J’espère ainsi apporter une confronting the Bahá’í community at the compréhension plus nuancée et plus present stage of its evolution” (33–34). exacte de ces concepts, ce qui pourrait Accordingly, I review the concepts of race aider à mieux appliquer les enseignements and racism based on the latest social sci- bahá’ís au discours public contemporain. 8 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

Resumen “racial,” and “racial prejudice.”1 More- ¿Qué es la raza? ¿Qué es el racismo? ¿Cómo over, a number of statements by var- se relacionan, especialmente en lo que re- ious Bahá’í bodies and individuals specta a las enseñanzas bahá’ís sobre la emphasize racialized issues, as can be unidad racial y los prejuicios? Han pasado seen in J. E. Esslemont’s Bahá’u’lláh casi 80 años de adelanto de la ciencia social and the New Era (1937), Glenford E. y la iluminación de estos temas desde que Mitchell’s “The Most Challenging Shoghi Effendi escribió en el Advenimien- Issue: Teaching Negroes” (1967), the to de la Justicia Divina que el “prejuicio racial” es el “tema más vital y desafiante statement by the National Spiritual que confronta a la comunidad bahá’ís en Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United la etapa actual de su evolución” (33–34). States titled “The Vision of Race Uni- En consecuencia, repaso los conceptos de ty: America’s Most Challenging Issue” raza y racismo basados en la más reciente (1991), the Bahá’í International Com- comprensión de la teoría de la ciencia so- munity’s publication of Bahá’u’lláh cial para comprender mejor su definición y (1992), a statement by the Bahá’í In- operación y para delinear su relación entre ternational Community titled Turning sí mismos. Entonces considero cómo estos Point for All Nations (1995), and the conceptos se utilizan en los Escritos de las Universal House of Justice’s publica- Figuras Centrales y de la Institución de la tion of Century of Light (2001). Fe Bahá’í e intento correlacionarlos con el The animating thread woven conocimiento de la ciencia social moderna throughout these statements is the con el fin de proporcionar una compren- sión más matizada y precisa de ellos, que absolute rejection of racial prejudices, a su vez puede ayudar con mejores aplica- for they stand as a supreme hindrance ciones de las enseñanzas bahá’ís al discur- to the achievement of peace, civiliza- so público contemporáneo. tion, and equitable material values and spiritual virtues. For instance, while in Paris, France, in 1911, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá INTRODUCTION gave a talk in which He stated:

Largely recognized as one of the core principles of the Bahá’í Faith, 1 For example, the search feature in the “condemnation of all forms of the Bahá’í Reference Library reveals frequent prejudice, whether religious, racial, mentions of these terms. For “race,” class, and national” stands paramount, Bahá’u’lláh, N=29; ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, N=128; particularly within North American Shoghi Effendi, N=12; and the Universal Bahá’í communities (Shoghi Effendi, House of Justice, N=115. For “racial,” ‘Ab- God Passes By 281). In the speeches du’l-Bahá, N=60; Shoghi Effendi, N=32; and Writings of the Central Figures and the Universal House of Justice, N=24. and Institution of the Bahá’í Faith, For “racialism,” Shoghi Effendi, N=6. And there are varied references to “race,” for “racism,” the Universal House of Jus- tice, N=7. Race and Racism 9

All prejudices, whether of reli- Moreover, both the connotations (the gion, race, politics or nation, must various social overtones, cultural im- be renounced, for these prejudices plications, and affective meanings) as have caused the world’s sickness. well as the denotations (the explicit or It is a grave malady which, unless referential meanings of the terms) re- arrested, is capable of causing the quire that the reader rely on inference destruction of the whole human and personal interpretation. race. Every ruinous war, with its These issues gesture toward im- terrible bloodshed and misery, has portant questions. When reading been caused by one or other of these Bahá’í texts, what is meant by these prejudices. (Paris Talks 146) “race” or by characterizing something as “racial”? What do “racial prejudice,” While the principle evoked is precise “racial discrimination,” and/or “rac- (the universal abolition of prejudice), ism” mean? And how do they relate? the very terms under discussion (i.e., There have been nearly eighty years “race” or “racial prejudice”) are rarely of social scientific advancement on, defined and are relatively fresh on the and illumination of, these concepts historical scene, given that the En- since Shoghi Effendi wrote in The glish terms “racism” and “race” first Advent of Divine Justice that “racial appeared in the Oxford English Dictio- prejudice” is the “most vital and chal- nary in 1902 and 1910, respectively.2 lenging issue confronting the Bahá’í community at the present stage of 2 The English word race (from the Old its evolution” (33–34). Accordingly, in French word rasse [1512] and tracing fur- Section I, I review the historical devel- ther back to the Latin word gens, meaning opment of “race” concept. In Section “clan, stock, or people”) was first intro- duced in a 1508 poem by William Dunbar Industrial School): “Segregating any class in which he refers to a series of kings de- or race of people apart from the rest of scended from one another. The term devel- the people kills the progress of the segre- oped over the next four hundred years and gated people or makes their growth very did not possess the denotative consensus slow. Association of races and classes is of today (as divisions of humankind) until necessary to destroy racism and classism” the 1910 edition of the Oxford English Dic- (qtd. in Barrows 134). Yet he advocated for tionary (OED). Furthermore, these words what many consider a “racist” policy to- were (and still are) connotatively compli- ward North American Indigenous people, cated given the social and political exi- stating that “[a] great general has said that gencies. For example, the OED attributes the only good Indian is a dead one.... I agree the first recorded utterance of the word with the sentiment, but only in this: that racism to a 1902 statement by Richard all the Indian there is in the race should be Henry Pratt (best known as the founder dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the and superintendent of the Carlisle Indian man” (Pratt 260). 10 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

II, I provide an overview of and at- SECTION I tempt to correlate the Bahá’í theolog- WHAT IS “RACE”? ical3 and sociological views on “race.”4 In Sections III and IV (which mirror THE ABSENCE OF “RACE” IN ANTIQUITY Sections I and II), I first survey the concept of racism and then compare The modern concept of race did not the Bahá’í theological and sociological exist in the ancient world. For exam- understandings of it. In Section V, I ple, although Egyptian societies in the offer a sociological understanding of 1300s BCE recognized the diverse ap- how the concepts of race and racism pearances of people from the Mediter- are inextricably intertwined in five key ranean regions, they made no claims dimensions: ideologies, institutions, to a “racial” definition of superiority interests, identities, and interactions, or inferiority (Gossett 334; McCos- what I have elsewhere called the “Five key 4; Snowden 63). This is not to say I’s” (Hughey, “The Five I’s” 857–71). that ancient Egyptians were blind to difference; they linked various physi- 3 Note the message from the Universal cal characteristics (such as height and House of Justice dated 22 October 1996 hair color) with personal and moral that contains a memorandum from the qualities. These understandings, how- Research Department regarding the au- ever, morphed over time depending thenticity of certain texts and documents, on who was in power. For example, such as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s The Promulgation of when lighter-skinned Egyptians were Universal Peace and Paris Talks, whereby it in power, most Egyptians referred to is made clear that portions of these texts darker-skinned people as “evil.” But have not yet been authenticated. when darker ancient Egyptians were 4 “Shoghi Effendi has for years urged in power, most came to call people of the Bahá’ís (who asked his advice, and in lighter complexion “pale” and “de- general also) to study history, economics, graded” (Gossett 4). Similarly, ancient sociology, etc., in order to be au courant Greeks and Romans drew distinctions with all the progressive movements and among groups such as Gauls, Celts, thoughts being put forth today, and so that and Germanic tribes. Nevertheless, the they could correlate these to the Bahá’í defining characteristics of language, teachings. What he wants the Bahá’ís to religion, and philosophy were key to do is to study more, not to study less. The how boundaries were drawn between more general knowledge, scientific and groups and how these groups were un- otherwise, they possess, the better. Like- derstood relative to one another. None wise he is constantly urging them to really of these features provided a founda- study the Bahá’í teachings more deeply” tion for a fixed categorical system we (Letter dated 5 July 1947 written on behalf would today call “race” (McCoskey 2). of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, While ancient societies did not hold qtd. in A Compilation on Scholarship 18). ideas comparable to modern notions of Race and Racism 11

“race,” important seeds were planted What did emerge from this time that would later spout into racialized were hierarchies that had to be in- concepts. For instance, some ancient creasingly rationalized across ever-di- Greek philosophers discussed the pos- versifying and globally conscious peo- sible benefits that society might derive ples. Philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, from certain forms of eugenics— Plotinus, and Proclus ranked humans systematic breeding, sterilization, or against one another in a hierarchy that killing to decrease the occurrence of became known as the “Great Chain of undesirable characteristics. In The Re- Being.” All of creation was understood public, Plato writes that: as a top-down system with a High- er Power at the top; angels, demons, the best men must have sex with and various types of humans (such the best women as frequently as as kings, nobles, and then “common” possible, while the opposite is folks) in the middle; and then wild true of the most inferior men and animals, domesticated animals, trees, women . . . if our herd is to be of smaller plants, and finally, minerals at the highest possible quality, the the bottom. It was this stratification former’s offspring must be reared system that would be seized upon and but not the latter’s. And this must manipulated to rationalize and legiti- all be brought about without be- mate the concept of “race.” ing noticed by anyone except the For example, during the Europe- rulers. (459) an medieval period (roughly the fifth to the fifteenth century CE), classical Additionally, the kingdom of Sparta ideas about differences among hu- engaged in a form of state-sponsored mans met with new philosophical and eugenics in which a committee would religious traditions (in particular, Ju- examine each newborn child. If the daism, Christianity, and Islam). Some newborn was found unhealthy or de- Judeo-Christian interpretations of the formed, it was thrown into a ravine, Old Testament indicate that humanity having been judged as nonessential to is descended from the three sons of the nation-state. These atrocities were Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—who rationalized through a belief that the in turn produced three distinct races: people conquered and raised under Semitic (Asiatic people), Hamitic (Afri- a particular nation-state, regardless can people), and Japhetic (Indo-Euro- of skin color, hair texture, etc., were pean people) (Swift and Mammoser 3). superior to others. As the historian Moreover, some people, like Leo Afri- Frank M. Snowden Jr. notes in Before canus, the great traveler and protégé Color Prejudice, “ancient society was of Pope Leo X, wrote that “Negro one that for all its faults and failures Africans” were descended from Ham never made color the basis for judging and were wrongdoers who should be a man” (63). enslaved (qtd. in Pory xcii–xciv). 12 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

And Noah awoke from his wine, community sought to classify these and knew what his younger human differences as naturally de- son had done unto him. And he rived. A series of key military victories said, “Cursed be Canaan [son of by European Christians in the 1300s Ham]; a servant of servants shall and 1400s coincided with the “discov- he be unto his brethren.” And he ery” and colonization of the Americas. said, “Blessed be the LORD God As various European powers began to of Shem; and Canaan shall be colonize new lands and use them for his servant. God shall enlarge profit generation, models of labor and Japheth, and he shall dwell in the forced servitude began to be mapped tents of Shem; and Canaan shall onto arbitrarily selected phenotypical be his servant.” (Genesis 9:24–27 differences of people. KJV) For instance, in 1441 Prince Henry the Navigator traveled to West Africa Early Torah and biblical texts never and traded for gold and ten Africans, mention Ham’s color. Yet over time, which marked one of the first docu- Ham was increasingly thought of as mented instances of Europeans trad- having dark skin. In fact, the explana- ing in African slavery over the seas. tion that black Africans, as the “sons Prince Henry then recruited Gomes of Ham,” were cursed or possibly Eanes de Zurara to write a book to “blackened” by their sins was advanced glorify slave-trading as a Christian only occasionally during the Middle civilizing mission. By 1453, de Zurara Ages. By the period of colonialism, published Chronica do Descobrimento however, the notion that Africans were e Conquista da Guiné (later published descendants of the cursed Ham served in an abridged English version as as a rather common excuse to justify Conquests and Discoveries of Henry the the African slave trade and the Euro- Navigator), which was a hagiography pean colonialism of Africa (Sanders of Prince Henry that depicted African 525–29). ethnicities as a monolithic group that was “bestial” and “barbaric” (qtd. in THE SEEDS OF “RACE” Sweet 5). The book was well received among the Portuguese elite, and its As the Middle Ages gave way to early ideas about African or “Negro” besti- European colonialization, the mod- ality, as naturally befitting conditions ern concept of “race” began to take of enslavement, were translated and shape. Race-based thinking came exported. Thus, the beginnings of ra- about during the process of Europe- cialization itself spread, such as with- an exploration, conquest, and coloni- in Spain’s system of “encomienda,” zation of nearly the entire globe, as by which the Spanish Crown granted groups from different continents in- colonists in the Americas the right to teracted and the developing scientific demand tribute and forced labor from Race and Racism 13

Native inhabitants. Equivalent to the African labor and a rapid increase feudal system in Medieval Europe, in the number of Africans import- which was based on status and power ed into the colonies. (1716–17) inequities between Europeans, the en- comienda system was attached to ar- For example, slavery in the Americas bitrarily selected physical differences was increasingly understood as ex- between Europeans and America’s In- clusively comprising Africans or “Ne- digenous people. Just after Columbus’s groes.” Slowly, African-based slavery fourth and final voyage in 1503, the was legally, economically, and socially Spanish and Portuguese were already recognized as both normal and natural. bringing African slaves to the Carib- By the 1630s, personal wills, invento- bean and Central American nations to ries, deeds, and other documents show replace American Indians in the gold that it was customary to hold Africans mines and in the planting fields. and African Americans in a form of life Racial discrimination—a system service. In 1639, the British colonies denoting one’s place in the labor-eco- passed a law that “all persons except nomic system as well as the overall Negroes are to be with Arms and Am- social order—was quickly solidifying munition” (qtd. in Hening 226). Im- around slavery. The legal historian portantly, one year later, in 1640, three Cheryl Harris writes: indentured servants ran away, and their differential treatment shows the Although the early colonists beginning of a race system based on were cognizant of race, racial differing standards and privileges. The lines were neither consistently Executive Journal of the Council of Co- nor sharply delineated among lonial Virginia from 9 July 1640 states: or within all social groups. Cap- tured Africans sold in the Amer- the court doth therefore order icas were distinguished from the that the three servants shall re- population of indentured or bond ceive the punishment of whipping servants—“unfree” white labor— and to have thirty stripes apiece. but it was not an irrefutable pre- One called Victor, a dutchman, the sumption that all Africans were other a Scotchman called James “slaves” or that slavery was the Gregory, shall first serve out their only appropriate status for them. times with their master according The distinction between African to their indentures and one whole and white indentured labor grew, year apiece after the time of their however, as decreasing terms of service is Expired . . . the third be- service were introduced for white ing a Negro named John Punch shall bond servants. Simultaneously, serve his said master and his assigns the demand for labor intensified, for the time of his natural Life here resulting in a greater reliance on or elsewhere. (11; emphasis added) 14 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

John Punch is the first documented Af- shape, hair texture, skull angle, smell, rican who was enslaved in the Ameri- and intellect. cas for life.5 The differential treatment As race-based slavery took hold in of the “Dutchman,” the “Scotchman,” the late 1600s and early 1700s, the and the “Negro” demonstrate how terms “peoples,” “nations,” “types,” slavery reified the “race” concept in “varieties,” and “species” were slowly legal and social practices. By 1662, replaced by the term “race.” And “race” slavery was recognized in the statu- began to take on a legal status that was tory law of the British colonies as a reflected in the development of labor biologically conferred status: the le- relations, economics, and slavery in the gal principle of partus sequitur ventrem European colonies. Namely, the racial- meant that any child born to a slave ization of differing peoples depended mother would also be a slave. By 1670, on the subordination of Africans for the British colonies racialized slav- labor, the expulsion of Natives for ery, recognizing “racial” categories of land, and the creation of social, politi- people and passing a law that neither cal, and economic privileges for Euro- “Negroes” nor “Indians” could have peans, who slowly became recognized “white” indentured servants. as “white”6 (Allen 1994 6–7). In 1684 (just twenty-two years af- ter slavery was officially recognized “RACE” TAKES ROOT by the British as a system connect- In the eighteenth century, the ed to biology), the French physician François Bernier published Nouvelle 6 Historian Theodore Allen tracks division de la terre par les différents es- the emergence of the racial category of pèces ou races qui l’habitent (New division “white” vis-à-vis African slavery. He gives of Earth by the different species or races one example of an English ship captain which inhabit it), which contains what named Richard Jobson. Jobson made a is possibly the first grouping of vari- trading voyage to Africa in 1620–1621 but ous peoples into “races.” Bernier cate- refused to engage in human trafficking gorized people into four groups: Euro- because the English “were a people who peans, Africans, Asians, and Lapps. He did not deal in any such commodities, nei- developed these four categories based ther did we buy or sell one another or any on his interpretation of differences in that had our own shapes” (Jobson 112). features such as skin color, lip size and When a local slave trader insisted that it was the custom to sell Africans “to white 5 Ironically, John Punch’s elev- men,” Jobson replied “they [i.e., “white enth-generation grandson is Barack men”] were another kinde of people from Obama, descended not through his Ken- us” (Jobson 112). The example illumines yan and “black” father but through his how in the 1620s there was not yet a hege- American and “white” mother, Stanley monic conflation of “English” people with Ann Dunham (Stolberg A9). “white” people. Race and Racism 15 burgeoning concept of “race,” be- rationally accept that European Jews ing legally bound up with labor and and Ethiopians had the same ances- freedom, depended on the two dom- try. And Scottish philosopher Henry inant cultural logics and ways of Home (1696–1782), who did not be- “common-sense” thinking: religion lieve that the environment, climate, and science. Before the European En- or state of society could account for lightenment period, most moral, legal, physical differences, argued in Sketches and social problems were answered on the History of Man that God had cre- through the authority of the clergy. ated different races in separate regions. As scientific thinking rose in promi- But as science began to displace nence and could correctly predict and religion as the central authority for explain variation in phenomena, the knowledge acquisition and truth ver- dominance of the clergy was threat- ification, scientists would use evidence ened. The concept of “race” was fur- and reason to argue for both mono- ther refined in this battle between reli- genesis and polygenesis. These scien- gious and scientific dominance. tific debates took off after 1735 when At first, the chief European para- the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus digm for explaining human difference published Systemae Naturae. Differing was couched in Old Testament the- from François Bernier’s groups of Eu- ology. As Carl Degler (71–73) makes ropeans, Africans, Asians, and Lapps, known in In Search of Human Nature, Linnaeus proposed four subcategories some biblical interpretations led to the and behaviors of humans: Europæus benign conclusion that human varia- albus (ruled by law and custom), Ameri- tion was the result of environmental canus rubescens (ruled by habit), Asiaticus factors over time (climate or diet, for fuscus (ruled by belief), and Africanus example) and that all people shared a niger (ruled by impulse). Even though common ancestor in Adam and Eve, Linnaeus saw Africans as primitive a theory known as “monogenesis.” and Europeans as civilized, he was a Other views encompassed the belief proponent of monogenesis. In fact, that there were separate points of hu- Linnaeus saw humans and animals (es- man origin for different racial groups, pecially monkeys) as being under the known as “polygenesis,” or that select same category of “anthropomorpha,” non-European groups were divinely meaning “manlike.” This upset many designated as inferior. Polygenesis was religious thinkers, who saw humans also expressed as “co-Adamism”—a as divine creations who were always belief that there was more than one biologically distinct from the animal Adam and that God created different realm. Nevertheless, Linnaeus’s ideas races of humanity at different plac- shaped the future of research in nat- es across the earth. For example, the ural history, particularly his classifica- Italian theologian Giordano Bruno tion system of the “three kingdoms”: (1548–1600) argued that no one could Regnum Animale, Regnum Vegetabile, 16 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017 and Regnum Lapideum (the Animal, argued that Europeans had angles of Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms). 80°; “Orientals,” 70°; and blacks, 60°). Other scientists such as Christoph These debates over exactly what was Meiners (1747–1810), Johann Georg meant by “race” raged into the middle Adam Forster (1754–1794), and Ju- of the nineteenth century, when the lien-Joseph Virey (1775–1846), as well Babi and Bahá’í Faiths emerged. And as a new school of Enlightenment phi- both Bahá’í theological and sociolog- losophers such a Voltaire (1694–1778), ical proclamations regarding “race” advocated polygenesis. Voltaire was a would move forward, sometimes in harsh critic of monogenesis, writing tandem, even as some strands of nine- most sarcastically in 1769 that: teenth- and early twentieth-century sociological theory were still mired It is a serious question among in racial essentialism and biological them whether the Africans are de- determinism. scended from monkeys or wheth- er the monkeys come from them. Our wise men have said that man SECTION II was created in the image of God. BAHÁ’Í THEOLOGICAL AND Now here is a lovely image of the SOCIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDINGS Divine Maker: a flat and black OF “RACE” nose with little or hardly any in- telligence. A time will doubtless THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE come when these animals will know how to cultivate the land The now accepted sociological well, beautify their houses and paradigm of “social constructionism,”7 gardens, and know the paths of the stars: one needs time for ev- 7 A buzzword in and of itself, the erything. (183) term “social construction” is often used but rarely defined. In short, it refers to Regardless of whether one believed how people come to form and agree upon in monogenesis or polygenesis, the understandings about how the world categorization and ranking of racial works, which then provides a basis for groups—which was then seen as an shared assumptions about reality. For important scientific enterprise—laid those looking for a more detailed expla- the foundation for racial essentialism nation, “social constructionism” emerged and biological determinism. For in- from the paradigms of both “symbolic stance, Petrus Camper (1722–1789), interactionism” and “phenomenology,” a Dutch physician and zoologist, be- which was first (and arguably best) ar- lieved that the various races held es- ticulated in Peter L. Berger and Thomas sentially different qualities of beauty Luckmann’s The Social Construction of due to their “facial angles” (Camper Reality. In it the authors argue against a Race and Racism 17 especially as applied to race, finds ‘Abdu’l-Bahá makes it clear that the agreement in the Bahá’í Writings. concept of “races” is based on sub- For instance, during His 1911 visit jective and artificial categories rather to the Theosophical Society in Paris, than objectively extant types. More- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá outlined eleven principles over, He emphasizes that the race of the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and concept has become necessary only highlighted the fifth principle as the within humanity’s “thought,” that is, “Abolition of Prejudices,” stating: in the intersubjectively shared ways that people agree to split and lump the The whole world must be looked world’s people into socially meaning- upon as one single country, all the ful groups.8 nations as one nation, all men as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá later expounded on belonging to one race. Religions, this point during His visit to the Unit- races, and nations are all divisions ed States the next year. Fittingly, His of man’s making only, and are neces- elucidation of the conceptual division sary only in his thought, before God of “races” was delivered on 20 April there are neither Persians, Arabs, 1912 at Hull House, a settlement home French nor English; God is God for immigrants (often “othered” by for all, and to Him all creation ethnic differences) on the West Side is one. We must obey God, and of Chicago, Illinois. Importantly, Hull strive to follow Him by leaving all House was co-founded by Ellen Gates our prejudices and bringing about Starr and Jane Addams, the latter of peace on earth. (Paris Talks 127; whom is considered an important fig- emphasis added) ure of the Chicago school of sociolo- gy and the only formal sociologist to positivist view in which concepts such as receive the Nobel Peace Prize.9 While “race” exist outside of perception. Rather, they contend that concepts and language 8 This point dovetails with Berger and do not mirror reality but are constitutive Luckmann’s thesis that everyday “reali- of it. Berger and Luckmann write: “A sign ty” is made up of intersubjective shared [has the] explicit intention to serve as an understandings about the world, whereby index of subjective meanings . . . . Lan- people have varied experiences but always guage is capable of becoming the objec- come back to an agreed-upon understand- tive repository of vast accumulations of ing of what the “real” is: “Compared to meaning and experience, which it can then the reality of everyday life, other realities preserve in time and transmit to following appear as finite provinces of meaning, generations. . . . Language also typifies ex- enclaves within the paramount reality periences, allowing me to subsume them marked by circumscribed meanings and under broad categories in terms of which modes of experience” (25). they have meaning not only to myself but 9 Addams taught courses through the also to my fellowmen” (35–39). Extension Division of the University of 18 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017 visiting Hull House, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá development. Furthermore, both stated: live and move in the plane of the senses and are endowed with hu- In the human kingdom itself man intelligence. (Promulgation there are points of contact, prop- 67–68) erties common to all mankind; likewise, there are points of dis- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá makes clear that there are tinction which separate race from “points of distinction which separate race, individual from individual. race from race,” yet in recalling His If the points of contact, which earlier point that “[r]eligions, races, are the common properties of and nations are all divisions of man’s humanity, overcome the peculiar making only, and are necessary only points of distinction, unity is as- in his thought,” we must understand sured. On the other hand, if the these distinctions as arbitrary—and as points of differentiation overcome sociologists put it, “socially construct- the points of agreement, disunion ed”—especially given His emphasis on and weakness result. One of the the “common properties of humanity” important questions which affect which can assure “unity” (Promulgation the unity and the solidarity of 67; Paris Talks 127). Additionally, He mankind is the fellowship and signals a distinction based on socially equality of the white and colored derived racial inequality in the United races. Between these two races States by drawing attention to “white” certain points of agreement and and “colored races,” similarly noted points of distinction exist which by the sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois warrant just and mutual consid- just nine years earlier in The Souls of eration. The points of contact are Black Folk: “The problem of the twen- many; for in the material or phys- tieth century is the problem of the ical plane of being, both are con- color-line—the relation of the darker stituted alike and exist under the to the lighter races of men in Asia same law of growth and bodily and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea” (4). Across that social dis- Chicago and was offered a graduate fac- tinction, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá emphasizes that ulty position by Albion Small, then chair in the “material or physical plane of of the Department of Sociology. Addams being,” the “races” are “constituted declined the offer in order to maintain her alike” and exist under the same law work with Hull House and the Extension of growth and bodily development Division, through which she felt she could (Promulgation 68). He concludes the better teach adults who did not have the point by stating: money or credentials to otherwise attend prestigious institutions such as the Uni- In fact numerous points of part- versity of Chicago (Deegan 9–11). nership and agreement exist Race and Racism 19

between the two races; whereas race and progeny, inhabiting the the one point of distinction is same globe. In the creative plan that of color. Shall this, the least there is no racial distinction and of all distinctions, be allowed to separation such as Frenchman, separate you as races and individ- Englishman, American, German, uals? In physical bodies, in the law Italian or Spaniard; all belong to of growth, in sense endowment, one household. These boundaries intelligence, patriotism, language, and distinctions are human and citizenship, civilization and re- artificial, not natural and original. ligion you are one and the same. (Promulgation 118) A single point of distinction ex- ists—that of racial color. God is Again, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá reiterates that not pleased with—neither should “race” is “purely imaginary” and em- any reasonable or intelligent man phasizes both the biological and divine be willing to recognize—inequal- unity of humankind in stating that ity in the races because of this “humanity is one kind, one race and distinction. (Promulgation 68) progeny . . . [i]n the creative plan there is no racial distinction” (Promulgation ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s point is threefold: first, 118). Speaking to the current race- “race” is a socially created categorical based logic and conventions of the system; second, racial social order has time, in which “whiteness” was con- no basis in the common properties of structed in a narrow fashion and ex- humanity; and third, any use of the cluded even many groups now encom- socially created racial order to create passed within it today, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá or legitimate inequality is not only un- referred to different “races” by way reasonable and logically untenable—it of national distinctions, mentioning is displeasing to the Divine. “Frenchman, Englishman, American, Weeks later, this time at a meeting German, Italian or Spaniard” (Prom- of the International Peace Forum at ulgation 118).10 That is, in the early Grace Methodist Episcopal Church on twentieth century, only certain mem- West 104th Street in New York City, bers of the “English”—those who laid ‘Abdu’l-Bahá once again interrogated claim to “Anglo-Saxon” descent—were the fallacious and illusory concept of “race,” this time focusing on the dan- 10 Consider that in the 1910 US cen- gers of the concept and positing racial sus, there were only seven racial catego- thinking as a causal variable in dissen- ries: “White,” “Black,” “Mulatto,” “Other,” tion and war: “Indian,” “Chinese,” and “Japanese.” By 1920, the racial choices available on the Other wars are caused by pure- US census increased to ten with the addi- ly imaginary racial differences; tion of “Filipino,” “Korean,” and “Hindu” for humanity is one kind, one (U.S. Census Bureau). 20 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

considered truly “white.” It was not All mankind are the fruits of until World War I, a mere few years one tree, flowers of the same after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to the Unit- garden, waves of one sea. In the ed States, that “Americanness” began animal kingdom no such distinc- to take on a racialized conflation with tion and separation are observed. whiteness. This was largely due to The sheep of the East and the Nativist xenophobia on the part of sheep of the West would associ- American political leaders (which led ate peacefully. The Oriental flock to the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 would not look surprised as if and the Immigration Act of 1924)11 as saying, “These are sheep of the well as the popularity of best-selling Occident; they do not belong to racist tracts such as Madison Grant’s our country.” All would gather The Passing of the Great Race (1916), in harmony and enjoy the same which stoked fears of the “extinction” pasture without evidence of local of native-born Americans via immi- or racial distinction. The birds gration, racial intermixing, and lack of different countries mingle in of “race-consciousness” due to the friendliness. We find these virtues failure to base new racial classifica- in the animal kingdom. Shall man tions on genetics rather than religion, deprive himself of these virtues? language, or nationality. Man is endowed with superior ‘Abdu’l-Bahá continued, employing reasoning power and the faculty metaphors of the biological similari- of perception; he is the manifes- ties of humanity, which in hindsight tation of divine bestowals. Shall were deeply prophetic of how the racial ideas prevail and obscure “race” concept would unfold in the fol- the creative purpose of unity in lowing years: his kingdom? Shall he say, “I am a German,” “I am a Frenchman” or 11 The Immigration Act of 1924 an “Englishman” and declare war (also known as the Johnson-Reed Act, because of this imaginary and which included the National Origins Act human distinction? God forbid! and Asian Exclusion Act) was a law that This earth is one household and limited the annual number of immigrants the native land of all humanity; to 2 percent of the number of people from therefore, the human race should that country who were already living in ignore distinctions and boundar- the United States as of the 1890 census. ies which are artificial and condu- This was a reduction from the already low cive to disagreement and hostili- bar established by the Emergency Quota ty. (Promulgation 118) Act of 1921, which set the cap at 3 percent based on the number of people from that Humanity did not ignore these “arti- country who were already living in the ficial” distinctions but rather doubled United States as of the 1910 census. down. But before going forward, it is Race and Racism 21 necessary to investigate backward. result in the decline of civilization. For in the half century preceding Hence, measuring the racial purity of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s words, the foundation people, or how much one was “mixed” for the academic and scientific racism from different races—known as “hyp- of the twentieth century was laid. odescent” or the “one-drop rule”—be- Inspired in part from Darwin’s came important scientific and political notion of natural selection proposed questions of the day. in On the Origin of Species (1859) and For instance, in 1904 the Carnegie Joseph Arthur, Comte de Gobineau’s Institution established the Station An Essay on the Inequality of the Human for Experimental Evolution at Cold Races (1853)—a book that argued that Spring Harbor, New York. Commonly “Aryans” were superior to other races known as Cold Spring Harbor Lab- and that Europe represented the best oratory, it housed the Eugenics Re- of what was left from the ancient cords Office (ERO) and was directed world—sociologist Herbert Spencer’s by Charles B. Davenport and Harry Principles of Biology (1864) advanced H. Laughlin. Davenport and Laugh- the notion of “survival of the fittest.” lin were prominent scientists who Spencer argued that global society argued that Nordic immigrants from was naturally arranged with Africans England and Germany were the most at the lowest end and Europeans at the biologically superior people on the highest and that Africans would either planet and that inferior races should have to evolve or become extinct, an not reproduce. Together, Davenport approach that became known as “So- and Laughlin advocated sterilization cial Darwinism.” Drawing on the ideas and helped put Galton’s ideas about of Social Darwinism, Francis Galton eugenics into practice. (a relative of Charles Darwin) argued Between 1910 and 1939, the Cold that the same techniques for animal Spring Harbor Laboratory served as breeding should be applied to humans, both an academic and a policy think eventually calling this new science tank that would influence racist schol- “eugenics” in 1883. Galton believed arship and legislation. In 1913, Laugh- that scientists should categorize the lin published a paper used by various world by race and guide the selective states to justify the legal sterilization breeding of “superior” races so that of the “socially inadequate” (5). A de- the inferior races would die out. Key cade later, numerous American states to eugenic science, and the policies had forcibly sterilized over three thou- that supported it, was concern over sand people—mostly the overwhelm- racial “miscegenation” (reproduction ingly poor or nonwhite. For instance, between people of different races). Laughlin’s paper was used to write Proponents of eugenics feared that Virginia’s Eugenical Sterilization Act racial mixing would dilute the purity of 1924 (which was upheld by the US and superiority of whites and thus Supreme Court case of Buck v. Bell in 22 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

1927). The Virginia law stated that Gregory, and invited him to visit “heredity plays an important part in Egypt, where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was resid- the transmission of insanity, idiocy, ing at the time, and then to visit with imbecility, epilepsy and crime” and Him in the Bahá’í holy places in Ot- thus the reproduction of “defective toman Palestine (what is now Israel). persons” was “a menace to society” The letter reads, in part: (qtd. in Smith and Nelson 15). More- over, ERO research helped state leg- I hope that thou mayest become . islators create the Oregon Board of . . the means whereby the white Eugenics in 1917, which resulted in and colored people shall close the forced sterilization of more than their eyes to racial differences and 2,600 Oregon residents between 1917 behold the reality of humanity, to 1981 (Paul 80–90). that is the universal truth which Moreover, the race-based research is the oneness of the kingdom of from the ERO helped inform German the human race. . . . Rely as much scientists, who would use those ideas as thou canst on the True One, for developing Rassenhygiene (“racial and be thou resigned to the Will hygiene basics”) against anyone not of God, so that like unto a candle “Aryan” during the Nazi regime and thou mayest be enkindled in the World War II. While the ERO helped world of humanity and like unto a usher in a particularly violent era of star thou mayest shine and gleam scientific racism, by 1935 its work was from the Horizon of Reality and reviewed and found to rely on errone- become the cause of the guidance ous methods and assumptions. In late of both races. (qtd. in Venters 32) 1939, funding from the Carnegie In- stitution was withdrawn and the ERO And in a 1910 letter to another Bahá’í, closed. However, the logic employed— ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes: “If it be possible, based on incomplete and ideological gather together these two races, black misinterpretations of Mendelian in- and white, into one Assembly, and put heritance, Darwinian winnowing, and, such love into their hearts that they in later years, genetic and genomic shall not only unite but even inter- research—did not disappear with the marry. Be sure that the result of this ERO. will abolish differences and disputes Bahá’í teachings at the time stood between black and white. Moreover, in opposition to both the erroneous by the Will of God, may it be so. This scientific logic of racial eugenics and is a great service to humanity” (Bahá’í the extension of that logic to law and World Faith 359). Bahá’í teachings em- policy. In 1909 (the year before the phasize the fundamental unity of the ERO would begin eugenics research) human species. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote to the first Afri- While in Egypt, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá raised can American Bahá’í, Louis George the topic of interracial marriage with Race and Racism 23

Gregory, telling him, “If you have any ‘Abdu’l-Bahá distinguishes between influence to get the races to intermar- race as “color” and race as species, ry, it will be very valuable. Such unions making clear that there was no spe- will beget very strong and beautiful cies differentiation in humanity, a children. If you wish, I will reveal a statement that flew in the face of the Tablet in regard to the wiping out of burgeoning scientific ideas concerning racial difference” (Gregory 15). Two race in the early 1900s. In the talk at years later, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited the Metropolitan African Methodist the United States, Gregory arranged Episcopal Church, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá reiter- two speaking engagements for Him in ated His argument about the oneness Washington, DC, on 23 April 2012: a of humanity and the absence of racial noon talk at Rankin Chapel at Howard difference by outlining the importance University and an evening talk to the of intellectual investigation and re- Bethel Literary and Historical Asso- search whose goal is the recognition ciation at the Metropolitan African and promulgation of that truth: Methodist Episcopal Church. During the former, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stated: All blessings are divine in origin, but none can be compared with this Today I am most happy, for I see power of intellectual investigation here a gathering of the servants and research, which is an eternal of God. I see white and black gift producing fruits of unending sitting together. There are no delight. Man is ever partaking of whites and blacks before God. All these fruits. All other blessings are colors are one, and that is the col- temporary; this is an everlasting or of servitude to God . . . . The possession . . . . We must use these world of humanity, too, is like a powers in establishing the oneness garden, and humankind are like of the world of humanity, appre- the many-colored flowers. There- ciate these virtues by accomplish- fore, different colors constitute ing the unity of whites and blacks, an adornment. In the same way, devote this divine intelligence to there are many colors in the realm the perfecting of amity and accord of animals. Doves are of many among all branches of the human colors; nevertheless, they live in family so that under the protection utmost harmony. They never look and providence of God the East and at color; instead, they look at the West may hold each other’s hands species. How often white doves fly and become as lovers. Then will with black ones. In the same way, mankind be as one nation, one race other birds and varicolored ani- and kind—as waves of one ocean. mals never look at color; they look Although these waves may differ in at the species. (Promulgation 44) form and shape, they are waves of the same sea. (Promulgation 51) 24 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

These words were further emphasized Commandments of the Blessed Beau- that day at a luncheon in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ty in your actions and have acted honor. Two Bahá’ís (Ali Kuli Khan, according to the teaching of the Su- who was chargé d’affaires of the Per- preme Pen” (Zarqání 407). sian Legation, and his wife, Florence In addition to opposition to segre- Breed Khan) hosted approximately fif- gation and the conceptual frameworks teen socially prominent guests at their of racial essentialism and biological home, on which occasion ‘Abdu’l-Bahá determinism, Bahá’í teachings di- defied the convention of racial segre- rectly confronted the miscegenation gation, which, at the time, was prac- laws. On His trip to America in 1912, ticed by many Bahá’ís. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abdu’l-Bahá brought along a Bahá’í took His place at the head of the table, Londoner, Louisa Mathew, who had He looked at the white and Persian become acquainted with Gregory in faces in the room and then stood up to 1910 when they were both visiting ask, “Where is Mr. [Louis] Gregory? ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Egypt. It appears that Bring Mr. Gregory” (Parsons 33). The ‘Abdu’l-Bahá played the role of match- Khans hastily retrieved Mr. Grego- maker for the two, and while visiting ry, who had escorted ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Dublin, New Hampshire, in August their home and was about to leave. Mr. 1912, He announced their engage- Gregory entered the room and upon ment. They were married later that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s request was seated to year. The promotion of inter-racial His immediate right, the seat of honor marriage was reiterated by Shoghi Ef- (Parsons 33). fendi in subsequent years: During His 1912 visit to the Unit- ed States, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was adamant Casting away once and for all that His talks be open to people of all the fallacious doctrine of racial races, a demand that often ran against superiority, with all its attendant the Jim Crow laws and practices of ra- evils, confusion, and miseries, and cial segregation in public venues. For welcoming and encouraging the instance, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was scheduled intermixture of races, and tearing to speak at the Great Northern Ho- down the barriers that now divide tel (now Le Parker Meridien) in New them, they should each endeav- York City, but the manager vehement- or, day and night, to fulfill their ly refused to allow African Americans particular responsibilities in the on the property (Zarqání 404–06). In common task which so urgently response, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá hosted a differ- faces them. (qtd. in Compilation of ent banquet and talk the following day Compilations 39–40) at the home of the Kinneys in which many of the whites served the Afri- Bahá’í promotion of interracial mar- can Americans, causing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá riage ran contrary to much of the to note, “Today you have shown the current thinking concerning “race Race and Racism 25

mixing” as well as many state laws Wailoo, Nelson, and Lee 49, 86, 259). against interracial marriage that were Assumptions about racial difference not invalidated until the US Supreme allow people to reduce the vast diver- Court case of Loving v. Virginia (1967). sity of genetic differences into four, The Bahá’í teachings on the biolog- five, or even forty-five racial groups. ical poverty of the race concept have For example, some contend that been proven valid by modern scien- there are genetic clusters that can be tific advances, especially the mapping correlated with certain racial groups of the human genome in 2000. Still, and, thus, “race” is a marker of genetic modern scientific racism continues to variants in the polymorphic versions link race, genes, and life outcomes and of a gene, better known as alleles (Ga- relies on the twin pillars of racial es- briel 43–46). However, Homo sapiens sentialism and biological determinism, share nearly all of their DNA in com- even as current biological and socio- mon, and the vast majority of genetic logical thought have rejected these two variation occurs within, not across, tenants.12 Biological determinism and human populations that we might so- racial essentialism posit the biological cially call a “race” (Duster4–5). As W. reality of race along with the conten- Carson Byrd and I write: tion that different racial groups possess different traits and characteristics that, Put more simply, there is on aver- in turn, result in racially varied social age more genetic variation with- outcomes. These logics continue to in a socially constructed racial guide interpretations of genetics and category (such as “white”) than genomics to support erroneous notions between two people from two of race (Byrd and Hughey 8–11). socially constructed racial catego- The current era has witnessed a re- ries (such as “white” and “black”). surgent discussion of how similar or Although it is quite possible to different certain groupings of human classify geographically defined populations are to one another, how populations on the basis of clus- our supposed “racial” histories are ei- ters of various genetic material, ther connected or separated, and the those clusters do not align with likelihood of whether a certain racial many of the social racial catego- group is to inherit disease or hold cer- ries that we possess; nor do they tain levels of intelligence (Bliss 16, take into account that there is no 190–99; Lynch and Condit 128–32; consensus on the definition of “race,” or the count of how many 12 See Stephen Jay Gould’s The Mis- “races” supposedly exist, or that measure of Man, Joseph Graves Jr.’s The these definitions and arguments Emperor’s New Clothes, Ann Morning’s have changed over time, or that The Nature of Race, and Tukufu Zuberi’s these categories vary by national Thicker than Blood. and cultural context. (11) 26 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

Moreover, it is not possible to use race “race” is an arbitrary constellation of as a proxy for a supposed ancestral phenotypic traits; racial categories are or continental origin to either test more like astrological classifications for individual diagnoses of disease than objective and self-identifiable or responses to drugs. As Michael J. classes. Fine, Said A. Ibrahim, and Stephen B. As I and Devon R. Goss write, “The Thomas write: search for these genetic clusters—in the age of genomic research—is more Race is not useful for distinguish- an artifact of scientists’ beliefs than ing polygenic phenotypes such as an objective finding through unbiased height, let alone complex diseases research methodology” (150). Take, where there is little evidence that for instance, a recent article in Socio- specific susceptibility-gene vari- logical Theory by Shiao et al. that as- ants occur more frequently in dif- serts “the existence of genetic clusters ferent populations. Evidence that consistent with certain racial classifi- genes, not to mention relevant cations as well as the validity of the combinations of gene variants, genomic research that has identified substantially influence suscepti- the clusters” (67). The problem with bility to complex disease is very the analysis is that the findings can be limited, making it impossible to consistent with any racial classifica- predict the risk or outcomes of tion scheme one wishes to “discover.” common disease on the basis of As Morning writes in her response to genotype. Opponents of the use this piece: of a biological definition of race believe that the immediate bene- First, although it is true that ge- fits of genomics are greatly over- neticists have sought to infer clus- stated because it is impossible for ters within the global population, race to provide the sensitivity and the statistical groupings that re- specificity needed to characterize sult are not so much “natural,” ob- DNA sequence variation for the jective subpopulations that scien- purpose of guiding preventive or tists simply “discover” as they are therapeutic medicine. (2125) collectives that analysts construct. As their makers readily admit, This is not to cast out the baby with the number and content of such the bathwater. Both sociologists and clusters depend on a variety of biologists alike do not deny that clus- assumptions, including those that ters of human populations may be contribute to the shaping of the more likely to carry particular genetic genetic data sets used. Second, few information. But human genetic clus- participants in the scientific debate ters hold an infinitesimal, if not zero, about population structure seem to correlation with race. What we call find “race” a useful analytical tool, Race and Racism 27

let alone equate it with statistical- materially real consequences.13 While ly derived, DNA-based clusters. some think of race as a biological (“Does Genomics” 203) essence and others think of race as merely a deception, the truth is some- That is, if we believe in five racial where in the middle. “Race” is simply groups, we can “find” five clusters of a concept that signifies the division genetic material to match, just like of the human species according to if we believe there to be fifty racial physical characteristics we believe are groups, we can likewise “find” fifty inherited, such as skin color, facial fea- clusters of genetic patterns (Hughey tures, and hair texture, but which also and Goss 190–93). can include other abstract traits, such As sociologists Karen E. Fields and as intelligence or morality. This as- Barbara Fields put it, “Anyone who sociation between characteristics and continues to believe in race as a physi- traits is not valid. Nevertheless, people cal attribute of individuals, despite the believe it is real—it thus has a social now commonplace disclaimers of bi- reality. Because we believe in the real- ologists and geneticists, might as well ity of race, it produces real effects on also believe that Santa Claus, the Eas- people who are thought of as “black,” ter Bunny and the tooth fairy are real, “white,” “Latino,” “Asian,” etc. and that the earth stands still while the Because race is constantly being sun moves” (113). Even Craig Venter, made and remade, it is important to one of the first scientists to map the think of it not as a noun (a static and human genome, has stated that “the unchanging thing), but as a verb (an concept of race has no genetic or sci- action or occurrence) (see the sec- entific basis” (qtd. in Wiess and Gillis tion below on the five dimensions of A1). The creation of “racial” groups “race”). If we take the approach that depends on arbitrarily selected and de- race is a verb, we will keep in mind fined phenotypes and genetic clusters, that race is always in the process of as well as behaviors, beliefs, customs, being assigned. In this sense, when and many other random criteria we we see “race,” what we actually are use as evidence for a particular “race” witnessing is a snapshot of racializa- (Bliss 113–20; Morning 2011 148–49). tion. Racialization is the process of Put more succinctly, race is a biologi- ascribing racial meanings to a rela- cal fiction with a social function. tionship, social practice, or group; it

THE “SOCIAL FACT” OF RACE 13 This idea is also expressed by what sociologists call the Thomas theorem, Even though race is not biologically which was formulated by Dorothy and real, it remains an agreed-upon social William Thomas in 1928: “If men define construction—a “social fact”—be- situations as real, they are real in their cause it is treated real socially it holds consequences” (572). 28 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017 often occurs when one group wishes Speaking again of the Jewish people, to dominate another (Omi and Winant He attributes divine education and so- 36–42). Some believe certain racial cial uplift as the factors that constitute groups are more intelligent, more a “racial supremacy” among Jews: hardworking, or possess better values than other racial groups. Accordingly, From this review of the history race shapes the way that some people of the Jewish people we learn that relate to each other and gestures to- the foundation of the religion of ward the notion of “racism.” God laid by Moses was the cause Bahá’í teachings align with the of their eternal honor and nation- sociological thesis that race is a social al prestige, the animating impulse fact born from both agentic quests to of their advancement and racial rationalize oppression and domination supremacy and the source of that as well as human habits (individually excellence which will always com- unconscious or group-level activities) mand the respect and reverence that unintentionally promote human of those who understand their division and inequality. Consider peculiar destiny and outcome. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s historical rendering (Promulgation 364) of the Jewish people as a “race” constituted by “slavery” that He ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s point was not that offered in a speech delivered on 25 there were either biological or cultural September 1912 in Denver, Colorado: factors inherent in the Jewish people. Rather, He stipulated that the com- When He [Moses] appeared, all bination of the Divine effulgence of the contemporaneous nations re- Moses’s teachings and obedience to jected Him. Notwithstanding this, those teachings allowed for their so- single and alone He promulgated cial advancement to, at the time, out- the divine teachings and liberated pace other social groups not bound to- a nation from the lowest condition gether by oppression and faithfulness of degradation and bondage. The to the Abrahamic Covenant. people of Israel were ignorant, Shoghi Effendi further elucidated lowly, debased in morals—a race ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s argument in 1938. He of slaves under burdensome op- reasoned that the divisions of race pression. Moses led them out of would be erased as members of hu- captivity and brought them to the mankind became “interwoven” in ad- Holy Land. (Promulgation 340) herence to the most recent Faith pro- claimed by the Manifestation of God In this same vein, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ad- for that day. In quoting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, vances what could be read as a con- Shoghi Effendi drew attention to the troversial statement if not understood relationship of equality and unity: in the context of His larger point. Race and Racism 29

This crusade, which embraces all Canada must acquire three spiritual the races, all the republics, classes prerequisites: “moral rectitude,” “ab- and denominations of the entire solute chastity,” and “complete free- Western Hemisphere, arise, and, dom from prejudice”—Shoghi Effendi circumstances permitting, direct again emphasized the “social factness” in particular the attention, and of race instead of taking a racially win eventually the unqualified ad- essentialist or biological determinist herence, of the Negro, the Indian, stance: the Eskimo, and Jewish races to his Faith . . . . A blending of these To contend that the innate wor- highly differentiated elements of thiness, the high moral standard, the human race, harmoniously the political aptitude, and social interwoven into the fabric of an attainments of any race or nation all-embracing Bahá’í fraternity . . is the reason for the appearance in . . “I hope,” is the wish expressed its midst of any of these Divine by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “that ye may Luminaries would be an absolute cause that downtrodden race [Ne- perversion of historical facts, gro] to become glorious, and to be and would amount to a complete joined with the white race to serve repudiation of the undoubted in- the world of man with the utmost terpretation placed upon them, so sincerity, faithfulness, love and pu- clearly and emphatically, by both rity.” “One of the important ques- Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. (16) tions,” He also has written, “which affect the unity and the solidarity He contextualized his argument of mankind is the fellowship and about the social factness of race by equality of the white and colored referencing how the supposedly high races.” (Advent 54–55) social status of any people or “race” (even those from which Messengers Shoghi Effendi appeared to contend of God appear) is neither natural that religious unity would serve as a nor divine in origin. Moreover, the catalyst for the elimination of racial assumed high status of “racial supe- hierarchy, given that separation and riority, political capacity, or spiritual inequality constitute both the domi- virtue” attributed to a group or race nant meanings of, and locations for, is betrayed by the fact that the specific white and nonwhite (or “colored”) ra- unfoldment of progressive revela- cial groups in the social order. tion take place among people who are In “A Warning about the Short- marked by “abasement” and “misery.” comings of North Americans” in He continues: The Advent of Divine Justice (1938)— itself a manifesto cautioning that How great, then, must be the the Bahá’ís of the United States and challenge to those who, belonging 30 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

to such races and nations, and exercise social forms of domination, having responded to the call ability, and morality and use race to which these Prophets have raised, rationalize their activities. The real- to unreservedly recognize and ization that “race” is recognized and courageously testify to this indu- treated as a real form of human varia- bitable truth, that not by reason tion and marker of natural inequality of any racial superiority, political is a clear indication of the necessity to capacity, or spiritual virtue which understand the hot-button concept of a race or nation might possess, racism. but rather as a direct consequence of its crying needs, its lamenta- SECTION III ble degeneracy, and irremediable WHAT IS RACISM? perversity, has the Prophet of God chosen to appear in its midst, PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, and with it as a lever has lifted the AND RACISM entire human race to a higher and nobler plane of life and conduct. Many people mistakenly use the For it is precisely under such cir- words prejudice, discrimination, and rac- cumstances, and by such means ism interchangeably. I will differentiate that the Prophets have, from time these terms as follows. Prejudice is an immemorial, chosen and were able opinion about a person or group be- to demonstrate their redemptive fore interacting with them. Literally, power to raise from the depths of we “pre-judge.” Gordon Allport, the abasement and of misery, the peo- famous sociologist of prejudice and ple of their own race and nation, race relations, once wrote that preju- empowering them to transmit in dice could be defined as a “feeling, fa- turn to other races and nations vorable or unfavorable, toward a per- the saving grace and the energiz- son or thing, prior to, or not based on, ing influence of their Revelation. actual experience” (6). Regardless of (Advent 17–18) racial group, anyone can hold such an attitude, and most people demonstrate Undoubtedly, both the sociological some form of racial prejudice every and Bahá’í theological stance on race, day (Essed 11–26). in general, or the “racial superiority, When social scientists first began political capacity, or spiritual virtue” to study prejudice, many assumed it of a race in specific, is that neither can was “human nature” and claimed there be understood to be culturally or bio- was a biological basis for prejudice. By logically essential nor divinely innate. the 1930s, scientists began to examine Rather, the two paradigms indicate prejudice not as a foregone conclusion, that “race” exists as a social reality but as a disorder that could be cured. (“social fact”) because varied peoples For instance, Allport claimed that Race and Racism 31 when different racial groups had (1) in 1877 and the beginning of the civil equal status, (2) common goals, (3) co- rights movement in the 1950s, main- operation, (4) support of law and cus- tained racial segregation in all public toms, and (5) frequent personal inter- facilities. In South Africa, the apart- actions, prejudice would lessen or even heid system (literally “the state of be- disappear. By the 1970s, research be- ing apart”) mandated racial segrega- gan to focus on the processes by which tion from 1948 to 1994. In India, the people become prejudiced. One finding caste system of social stratification was that many people develop preju- continues to separate communities of dice based on both positive feelings for people into groups that have varying their own racial group and negative levels of status and resources. And in feelings for another racial group (Si- Malaysia, ethnic Indians and Chinese danius, Pratto, and Bobo 476–78). By experience race-based discrimination. the 2010s, scholars found that many Because discrimination can also occur still possess “negative racial feelings without a specific or purposeful inten- and beliefs . . . of which they are un- tion or prejudice, many efforts for ra- aware or which they try to dissociate cial justice focus on the inequality of from their nonprejudiced self-images” outcomes as a form of discrimination. (Dovidio and Gaertner 3). Racism is a systemic and patterned Prejudice is an individual attitude or set of mass beliefs and practices where- opinion. By contrast, discrimination is by resources and power are unequally an action that denies equal treatment, distributed to different groups. It is full social participation, or civil or hu- a “highly organized system of ‘race’- man rights to certain racial groups or based group privilege that operates at individuals. Many cognitive scientists every level of society” (Cazenave and assert that discrimination often occurs Maddern 42). The word itself derives because of prejudice, whereas social from the combination of the word race scientists often emphasize the exter- with ism, a suffix that denotes a prac- nal factors that produce discriminato- tice, state, doctrine, condition, or what ry patterns. Hence, racial discrimina- we can otherwise understand as a sys- tion includes direct or indirect, overt tem. Hence, racism is a systemic, rather or subtle, and either internally or ex- than an individual-level, phenomenon. ternally derived actions that limit the opportunities or resources available to a person or group. Racial discrimina- RACISM AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM tion actively treats people differently on the basis of either real or perceived If we recall the earlier discussion racial differences. For example, Jim about how race as an illusory “so- Crow laws and policies in the United cial fact” produces real racial effects, States, which were enacted between the sociologist (and president of the the end of the Reconstruction period American Sociological Association in 32 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

2017-18) Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, in useful. We often make sense of racial Racism without Racists, states: conflict by searching for the quintes- sentially “good” and “bad” thoughts, When race emerged in human intentions, or people involved. history, it formed a social struc- Such lumping and splitting is noth- ture (a racialized social system) ing new. Scholars have long noted the that awarded systemic privileges framing of absolute rights and wrongs to Europeans (the peoples who when it comes to racial identity and became “white”) over non-Euro- racism. Sociologist Jack Niemonen re- peans (the peoples who became marked that we often “paint a picture “nonwhite”). Racialized social of social reality in which battle lines systems, or white supremacy, for are drawn, the enemy identified, and short, became global and affect- the victims sympathetically portrayed ed all societies where Europeans . . . [distinguishing] between ‘good’ extended their reach. I therefore whites and ‘bad’ whites” (166). Again, conceive a society’s racial struc- Bonilla-Silva makes the point that ture as the totality of the social scholars can impose their worldview relations and practices that rein- in their evaluation of data: “Hunting force white privilege. According- for ‘racists’ is the sport of choice of ly, the task of analysts interested those who practice the ‘clinical ap- in studying racial structures is proach’ to race relations—the careful to uncover the particular social, separation of good and bad, tolerant economic, political, social control, and intolerant Americans” ( 15). And and ideological mechanisms re- in the aftermath of the 2008 election sponsible for the reproduction of of Barack Obama, journalist Tim racial privilege in a society. (9) Wise wrote: “While it may be tempt- ing . . . to seek to create a dichotomy Without an understanding of racism whereby the ‘bad whites’ are the ones as operating beyond the scope of ei- who voted against the black guy, while ther good or bad intentions or “an- the ‘good whites’ are the ones who tiracist” or “racist” people,14 we will voted for him, such a dualism is more blind ourselves to racial inequality than a little simplistic” (84). or how we can have, in the words of The racist/antiracist duality is par- Bonilla-Silva, “racism without racists.” tially the result of the dissemination of After all, Western societies often pos- simplistic explanations of racism. For sess a fetish for binaries. And when example, in “Discrimination and Na- it comes to the hot-button topic of tional Welfare,” the famous Columbia race, these opposites seem all the more University sociologist Robert K. Mer- ton advanced a theory of racial prej- 14 For more on this, see Matthew W. udice and discrimination. Merton ar- Hughey’s White Bound. gued that prejudice and discrimination Race and Racism 33

were two separate forms of racial ani- people believe that understandings of mus and were themselves dichotomous the natural or cultural dysfunctions variables. This theory permitted four among people of color are widespread “types” of people: (1) the “All-Weather and even accepted as “common sense” Liberal” (the unprejudiced non-dis- (Bonilla-Silva 10–11). It does not ac- criminator), (2) the “Fair-Weather Lib- count for how the average white per- eral” (the unprejudiced discriminator), son lives in a 78 percent white neigh- (3) the “Fair-Weather Illiberal” (the borhood (Glaeser and Vigdor, 5–7). prejudiced non-discriminator), and (4) This model does not address why the the “All-Weather Illiberal” (the prej- median wealth of white households is udiced discriminator). For example, twenty times that of black households one could be prejudiced without dis- and eighteen times that of Hispanic criminating (for instance, a white man- households (Kochar, Fry, and Taylor). ager who believes African Americans This paradigm cannot tell us why are inferior employees but who still whites are much less likely to be ra- treats people equally). And one could cially profiled and arrested than peo- discriminate without a prejudicial be- ple of color (Center for Constitutional lief in racial inferiority (say, the white Rights). And this paradigm certainly manager who believes in racial equality fails to explain why whites with crim- but refuses to hire African Americans inal records receive more favorable for fear of white reprisal by harming treatment in their search for employ- his business or refusing to patronize it) ment than blacks without criminal re- (Hughey 65–80). cords (Pager, 957–60). Such parsing out of the good people Simply put, this approach fails to (the “All-Weather Liberal”) and the bad get us beyond the individual “racist” people (the “All-Weather Illiberal”) has and individual bad thoughts or “at- saturated our culture and has turned titudes.” It cannot account for white many a layperson into self-professed supremacy within our discourses, experts of racism and race. In this neighborhoods, patterns of wealth model, racism belongs to the realm accumulation, criminal justice sys- of either behavior (discrimination) tem, and labor markets. By throwing or thoughts (prejudice) and manifests the label of “racist” at one individual as little more than a person choosing or group at the expense of another racism or being coerced into it. With (“They are racists, but we are not.”), this understanding in play, we proceed we treat racism as atypical, instead of to divide the world into those who centering our attention on the normal, are “sick” with this disease and those benign, and banal social relations that who are the “healthy,” i.e., anti- or reproduce racial inequities, most of- non-racist. ten in the form of white dominance. This explanation simply will not do. The dominant ways we make mean- It fails to acknowledge or explain how ing of human difference (“race”) and 34 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017 structural inequalities (“racism”) are to the degree that it has taken on intertwined and co-constitutive. something of the character of a Albert Memmi’s now classic Rac- spiritual disease. ism draws attention to this paradox: “There is a strange kind of enigma as- More recently, writer and journalist sociated with the problem of racism. Ta-Nehisi Coates has emphasized that No one, almost no one, wishes to see the idea that: themselves as racist; still, racism per- sists, real and tenacious” (3). “Racism” America has lots of racism but has become such an ugly word that few actual racists is not a new even dyed-in-the-wool racist groups, one. Philip Dray titled his seminal such as the Ku Klux Klan, now shun history of lynching At the Hands the term “racist” in order to market of Persons Unknown because most their ideology as more palatable.15 A “investigations” of lynchings in 2002 statement to the world’s reli- the South turned up no actual gious leaders, the Universal House of lynchers. Both David Duke and Justice emphasizes the now universal George Wallace insisted that they stigma of the word racism: weren’t racists. That’s because in the popular vocabulary, the Racial and ethnic prejudices have racist is not so much an actual been subjected to equally sum- person but a monster, an outcast mary treatment by historical thug who leads the lynch mob processes that have little patience and keeps Mein Kampf in his back left for such pretensions. Here, pocket. (n.p.) rejection of the past has been es- pecially decisive. Racism is now How does this understanding of tainted by its association with the “racism,” as a larger social system horrors of the twentieth century rather than an individual attitude, fit into both current Bahá’í theological 15 For example, a December 2016 sto- and critical sociological paradigms? ry in the Chicago Tribune recounted state- ments by Don Black, Klansman and opera- SECTION IV tor of a popular white supremacist website BAHÁ’Í THEOLOGICAL AND (Stormfront.org): “White supremacy is a SOCIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDINGS legitimate term, though not usually appli- OF “RACISM” cable as used by the media. I think it’s pop- ular as a term of derision because of the There appears to be a joint focus on implied unfairness, and, like ‘racism,’ it’s the causes of racial inequality in the got that ‘hiss’ (and, like ‘hate’ and ‘racism,’ Bahá’í Writings. On the one hand, frequently ‘spewed’ in headlines)” (“KKK there is a focus on people to fight their Disavows White Supremacist Label”). own racial prejudices individually. In a Race and Racism 35 speech given on 13 November 1911 in of American society, it should be re- Paris, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá remarked that “[a] garded as constituting the most vital ll prejudices, whether of religion, race, and challenging issue confronting the politics or nation, must be renounced, Bahá’í community at the present stage for these prejudices have caused the of its evolution” (Advent 33). world’s sickness. It is a grave malady In terms of racial discrimination, which, unless arrested, is capable of there may seem to be relatively few causing the destruction of the whole explicit references in the Bahá’í au- human race. Every ruinous war, with thoritative texts. However, implicit— its terrible bloodshed and misery, has and in many instances explicit—in all been caused by one or other of these discussions about the unity of human- prejudices” (Paris Talks 146). This kind is the abolition of racial preju- important point was underscored by dices and distinctions together with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá just moments later: prejudices of any other sort. Shoghi Effendi makes clear that not even the The deplorable wars going on in “slightest discrimination” should be these days are caused by the fanat- employed, even if that should result ical religious hatred of one peo- in hostility or obstruction from “any ple for another, or the prejudices individual, class or institution”: of race or color. Until all these barriers erected by prejudice In the matter of teaching, as re- are swept away, it is not possible peatedly and emphatically stated, for humanity to be at peace. For particularly in his “Advent of Di- this reason Bahá’u’lláh has said, vine Justice,” the Guardian does “These Prejudices are destructive not wish the believers to make to mankind.” (Paris Talks 147–48) the slightest discrimination, even though this may result in provok- And in Selections from the Writings of ing opposition or criticism from ‘Ab d u’ l - B a h á , individual-level prejudic- any individual, class or institu- es are framed as the “breeding ground” tion. The Call of Bahá’u’lláh, be- of larger tragedies, while the “root ing universal, should be addressed cause of prejudice” is understood as with equal force to all the peoples, the “blind imitation of the past” (247). classes and nations of the world, Moreover, as mentioned above, Shoghi irrespective of any religious, ra- Effendi expounded upon the key role cial, political or class distinction of individual-level racial prejudice or difference. (Directives 73) in causing dysfunction at the societal level by stating: “As to racial prejudice, And on the other hand, questions of ra- the corrosion of which, for well-nigh cial inequality are framed as meso- and a century, has bitten into the fiber, and macro-level phenomena that stem from, attacked the whole social structure and reproduce because of, social factors 36 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017 external to the individual. For instance, “discrimination not against, but rather the concept of racial discrimination, as in favor of the minority” is not ipso briefly referenced in the Bahá’í Writ- facto “discrimination,” but a remedy ings, is not used in an abstract fashion as contextualized by the past, present, to denote individual-level prejudicial and future of social, demographic, and actions. Rather, it is directly connected power inequities: to historically entrenched inequalities, asymmetrical demographics, and rep- To discriminate against any race, resentational democratic praxis. In that on the ground of its being social- vein, Bahá’í elections use a form of “af- ly backward, politically immature, firmative action”16 to protect the “mi- and numerically in a minority, is nority”17 from discrimination. Hence, a flagrant violation of the spir- it that animates the Faith of 16 The term “affirmative action” was Bahá’u’lláh . . . . If any discrim- first used in the United States in a March ination is at all to be tolerated, 1961 executive order from John F. Ken- it should be a discrimination not nedy (#10925). The order stated that all against, but rather in favor of the government contractors must “take affir- minority, be it racial or otherwise. mative action to ensure that applicants are (Shoghi Effendi, Directives 35) employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to Shoghi Effendi continues by delineat- their race, creed, color, or national origin” ing the principle behind such “discrim- (emphasis added). The rationale for affir- ination . . . in favor of the minority,” mative action is to promote future oppor- empathizing the “first and inescapable tunities, address existing discrimination, obligation” of Bahá’ís is to cultivate, and help compensate from past discrimina- embolden, and protect “minorities”: tion in order to ensure equal opportunities and representation. Many other countries Unlike the nations and peoples of use similar forms of affirmative action, the earth, be they of the East or of such as the 1988 Employment Equality the West, democratic or author- Act, No. 55, in South Africa; the policy itarian, communist or capitalist, of “reservation” of seats in legislatures, government jobs, and higher educational a National Spiritual Assembly to define institutions for marginalized castes and exactly what constitutes a minority for classes in India; and the rule in Norway its area of jurisdiction as a whole. This that public stock company boards must be principle is one which needs to be applied represented by 40 percent of either gen- by the friends in each separate situation in der in order to mitigate against gender light of the conditions there and, in ap- discrimination. plying it, the believers should recall the 17 “The House of Justice has asked us reason behind the principle” (qtd. in Uni- to explain that it is not always possible for versal House of Justice, “Compilations”). Race and Racism 37

whether belonging to the Old its perpetrators, and blights hu- World or the New, who either ig- man progress. Recognition of the nore, trample upon, or extirpate, oneness of mankind, implement- the racial, religious, or political ed by appropriate legal measures, minorities within the sphere of must be universally upheld if this their jurisdiction, every organized problem is to be overcome. community enlisted under the banner of Bahá’u’lláh should feel Moreover, the Universal House of it to be its first and inescapable Justice’s emphasis on the “appropriate obligation to nurture, encourage, legal measures” further solidifies the and safeguard every minority be- point that “racism” is a socially sys- longing to any faith, race, class, or temic problem that must be addressed nation within it. (Directives 35) via local, district, national, and inter- national governmental policy and law. The brief, albeit powerful, references This stance reflects a profoundly so- to the past, present, and future like- ciological understanding of “racism,” lihood of patterned discrimination whereby human behavior is largely against racial “minorities” indicates a influenced by external social forces, Bahá’í theological recognition of the such as law. Take, for example, Mar- systemic operation of race and racial tin Luther King Jr. (trained in both inequality—what we have previously sociology and theology), who stated defined as “racism.” in 1962: “It may be true that the law An October 1985 message from the cannot make a man love me, but it can Universal House of Justice explicitly stop him from lynching me, and I think calls “racism” an “evil.” The supreme that’s pretty important.” Hence, to sti- Bahá’í administrative body emphasiz- fle the “practice” of racism, one must es the maliciousness of racism and enact laws that both collectively in- underscores that racism functions as centivize and moralize the practice of more than a mere prejudicial attitude; the “oneness of mankind” rather than it is also a social “practice” that holds merely assume that either ignorance varied deleterious effects: or cognitive prejudices drive “racism” (which itself is a non-empirically ver- Racism, one of the most baneful ifiable assumption) and that education and persistent evils, is a major or antiracist ideas will either automat- barrier to peace. Its practice per- ically, or through concerted effort, dis- petrates too outrageous a vio- lodge the operation of racism. Simply lation of the dignity of human put, human behavior follows external beings to be countenanced under structures (albeit, not determinately). any pretext. Racism retards the If those structures address and de- unfoldment of the boundless po- limit the practice of racism, then over tentialities of its victims, corrupts time, human behavior will begin to 38 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

refrain from those practices. lives of a significant segment of Consider the message from the Uni- humankind—racial prejudice has versal House of Justice, sent in 1992 become so universally condemned to the Bahá’ís of the world. In em- in principle that no body of peo- phasizing the progression of Bahá’í ple can any longer safely allow initiatives and even the “near approach themselves to be identified with it. of the Lesser Peace,”18 the Universal House of Justice outlines the “simulta- The social attitude, what we might neous recrudescence of countervailing call an “ideology,” alongside the mul- forces” and notes that “[t]he concomi- tivariate ways that racism manifests in tant rise of racism in many regions has different locales and functions in dis- become a matter of serious global con- tinctive registers, necessitates a more cern.” In this vein, “racism” is a multi- robust understanding of the inter- regional social force that varies in style twined systemic relationship between and magnitude, rather than an individ- “race” and “racism.” ual occurrence of a prejudicial attitude. Bahá’í teachings signal that with- This point is further accentuated in the out profound focus on the varied aforementioned April 2002 Universal aspects of social life, racial equality House of Justice letter addressed to cannot be attained. As the Bahá’í In- the world’s religious leaders. The mes- ternational Community’s statement sage emphasizes how “racism”—due in “The Spiritual Basis of Equality” part to the tragedies of the Holocaust suggests, “Equality is facilitated by and the historical uncovering of prior a social environment that encourag- genocides and enslavements around es and actively supports this prin- the world—has become a stigma with ciple as a necessary ingredient of which few wish to associate. Still, the life.” While some steps toward racial Universal House of Justice argues that equality have been made over the past “racism” exists as both an “social” at- two centuries, there have been both titude (rather than individual attitude) major retreats from, and stubborn re- and as a “blight on the lives of a signif- sistance to, achieving racial equality, icant segment of humankind”: which sociologist Orlando Patterson has called the “homeostatic principle While surviving as a social at- of the entire system of racial domina- titude in many parts of the tion” (480). Inequality is squelched in world—and as a blight on the one place, only to arise with renewed vigor in another area. Hence, notions 18 The “Lesser Peace” is a term that of “progress” can be illusory without describes a political peace established by attention to racism. The Universal the nations of the world. See Babak Ba- House of Justice’s 1996 letter em- hador and Nazila Ghanea’s Processes of the phasized that social action must occur Lesser Peace. simultaneously among micro-, meso-, Race and Racism 39 and macro-levels of society: From this excerpt, we recognize the necessity to ground the pursuit of The individual alone exercises justice in a comprehensive framework those capacities which include the of micro (“individual”), meso (“insti- ability to take initiative, to seize tutional”), and macro (“community”) opportunities, to form friendships, domains in which each is integral but to interact personally with others, also interdependent. to build relationships, to win the cooperation of others in common SECTION V service to the Faith and to society THE INTERTWINED DIMENSIONS OF . . . . The institutions must rise RACE AND RACISM: “THE FIVE I’S” to a new stage in the exercise of their responsibilities as channels The discipline of sociology attempts of divine guidance, planners of to answer the problem of action and the teaching work, developers order, or why people do things (action) of human resources, builders of and why they do those things in a spe- communities, and loving shep- cific, observed form (order). When we herds of the multitudes . . . . A consider how concepts like race and community is, of course, more racism enter into analyzing action and than the sum of its membership; order, analyses can quickly become it is a comprehensive unit of civ- muddled. To clarify the relationship ilization composed of individuals, between race and racism, it is neces- families and institutions that are sary to outline a new approach. originators and encouragers of First, consider the “effect of race.” systems, agencies and organiza- We can easily observe vast disparities tions working together with a between racial groups—from educa- common purpose for the welfare tional levels and wealth attainment to of people both within and beyond morality and fertility rates. And if we its own borders; it is a composi- recall that race is not so much a noun tion of diverse, interacting par- but a verb (see prior section, “The ticipants that are achieving unity ‘Social Fact’ of Race”), then we can in an unremitting quest for spiri- understand that “race” does not pos- tual and social progress.19 sess essential qualities that cause these disparities (what we call “racial essen- 19 The Universal House of Justice tialism”). Rather, when we view vary- makes the profoundly sociological point ing outcomes and inequality across that societies (in their words, “communi- ties”) are “more than the sum of [their] is greater than the sum of its parts, for it membership,” or as Émile Durkheim would has a unique reality” (Universal House of put it, “society as sui generis” (a thing of its Justice, Ridván. 1996 Message; Durkheim own kind), or more plainly put, “society 1; Tucker 124). 40 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017 racial groups, we do not observe an the northeastern United States. Bas- effect of race but a process of social ketball courts are small and cheap to domination through race (which we can build, and the sport is cheap to play: all call “racism”), which leads to the next you need is a ball and a hoop. Hence, point. the kids growing up in these areas— Second, some scholars view racism mainly Jews who had landed in Jew- as driven by robust and dominant ide- ish immigrant ghettos (and who were ologies. Other view racism as the prod- largely pushed out of their homelands uct of macro-institutional dynamics. by economic, social, and political ex- And still many others understand rac- clusion and forced into these areas due ism as the result of particular forms to anti-Semitism and nativism)—were of interactions. None of these per- the primary players of basketball spectives is entirely wrong or right; because of location. Soon, almost all each of these dynamics concurrently Jewish neighborhoods in New York operates to create racial inequality. and Philadelphia (cities with the larg- When we observe a particular racial est Jewish populations) had their own outcome, we witness the unfoldment teams. And many Jews played basket- of a multidimensional process of ball in the hopes of winning collegiate domination in which some groups are scholarships (Wade 19–21). afforded systematic advantages along- But also, the racial meanings of Jews side others that are systematically were soon attached to basketball itself. disadvantaged. Racist ideologies conveyed the notion Third, we must understand that that Jews were part of a separate race the multidimensional activity of of intelligent, yet sneaky and devious domination (racism) produces both people. Institutional and interactional the dominant meanings and structural segregation facilitated the prolifera- locations of “race” qua racial groups tion of racial myths about Jews. Per- and vice versa (Bonilla-Silva 9–11; ceptions that Jews were in economic Omi and Winant 56–58). That is, the and political competition with whites relationship between “race” and “rac- pitted racial group interests against ism” is a feedback loop that operates one another. By the 1930s, the New across five key dimensions: ideologies, York Daily News wrote that basket- institutions, interests, identities, and ball “places a premium on an alert, interactions—what I call “The Five scheming mind, flashy trickiness, art- I’s” (Hughey, “The Five I’s” 857). This ful dodging” and that Jews were nat- point calls for an extended example. urally better players because they had Consider my favorite sport: basketball. “God-given better balance and speed” Invented in 1891 by Dr. James Na- (qtd. in Shapiro 88). In 1946, the first ismith, the game quickly became popu- basket scored in professional basket- lar. Public basketball courts were first ball was by a Jewish player—Ozzie established in dense urban cities in Schectman of the New York Knicks. Race and Racism 41

But by the 1950s, there was a mass While the players involved in the migration of Jews to the suburbs, sporting institution of basketball are while the Great Migration brought racialized, varied ideologies, interac- southern African Americans to the tions, interests, and identities also ra- same urban areas of Philadelphia and cializes the players. For instance, years New York. Moreover, many Jews as- ago, successful players were assumed similated into whiteness thanks to the to be Jewish, whereas today success softening of the social boundaries of at basketball can “blacken” players whiteness, which also drew in other and prompt racist terms like “wigger” groups previously deemed nonwhite (“white” plus “nigger”) or “wannabe” like the Italians and the Irish (Brod- (as if the player “wants-to-be” black). kin 16, 35; Guglielmo 32, 79; Ignati- For example, when white player Jason ev 1–8). Slowly, basketball became Williams joined the NBA and became perceived as less “Jewish” and more a star for the Sacramento Kings, he “black.” Since the location of race with was nicknamed “white chocolate” by basketball changed, so did the mean- Stephanie Shepard (the Kings media ings. The racial stereotypes of African relations assistant), who said, “I came Americans were applied to basketball. up with that name because of his style Many began to say that blacks had su- . . . . The way he does things with the perior athletic abilities. For instance, ball is incredible to me. It reminds me an article in a 1971 issue of Sports of, like, schoolyard street ball when I Illustrated suggests that blacks were go to Chicago” (qtd. in M. Wise). “the offspring of those who [were] If we observe any social domain over physically and mentally tough enough time, the people occupying that space to survive . . . simply bred for physical racialize the institution, the dominant qualities” (Kane, 79).20 ideologies, their own and others’ iden- tities, etc., while the institution, the 20 This argument is well-rehearsed ideologies, and their identities labor and has experienced a revival over recent to re-racialize the people in that space. years. Some assert that blacks possess a biological predisposition due to Darwin- selected genetic physiology of black ian winnowing during the Trans-Atlan- slaves, is a much better explanation for tic crossing and chattel slavery’s harsh mortality rates. Despite biological and conditions. However, considering all de- sociological evidence to the contrary, re- mographic categories, young adult black cent mainstream discussions collectively slaves experienced the highest mortality advance the proposition that black ath- rates, and slave men died at about twice letic success is the product of little more the rate of slave women (Klein; Graves). than genetic traits, which often reifies a The evidence suggests that the social “black brawn vs. white brains” dichotomy behavior of both slaves and slavehold- (see Hughey and Goss’s article for more ers, rather than the supposed naturally information). 42 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

This feedback loop operates through IDEOLOGIES five dimensions: first, race functions as an ideology (a shared belief system that An ideology is a shared, comprehen- contains dominant messages about dif- sive system of beliefs, ideas, and ide- ferent groups and that rationalizes and als. Ideologies generally rationalize or legitimates racial inequality); second, legitimate some arrangement. We can race has material roots as an institu- think of race as having an ideological tion (race structures one’s position in component because it is a set of beliefs a particular society and constrains and that are collectively shared and are of- enables one’s success in organizations ten understood as little more than com- and structures in society); third, race is mon-sense descriptions of the world. an interest (racial categories shape the These beliefs rationalize who belongs way people behave toward, and think in what racial group, what traits or along, individual and group lines to characteristics that racial group sup- pursue, protect, and engage in conflict posedly has naturally, and where in the or cooperation over resources); fourth, social order and hierarchy that racial race is an identity (a category in which group supposedly belongs. Consider one feels membership and social expec- the remarks of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá given in tations to conform, with penalties/re- New York City in 1912 in which He wards for meeting those accountability questions the superfluous ideological obligations); and fifth, race is an interac- component of race: tion (the habitual practices, scripts, and shared expectations that afford people Man is endowed with superior a blueprint that guides both intra- and reasoning power and the faculty interracial modes of interactional be- of perception; he is the manifes- havior between strangers, friends, and tation of divine bestowals. Shall even in digital and virtual settings racial ideas prevail and obscure within an ever-media saturated world). the creative purpose of unity in While the “Five I’s” cannot be entirely his kingdom? Shall he say, “I am a separated in empirical reality, I parse German,” “I am a Frenchman” or them out as a pedagogical heuristic. an “Englishman” and declare war Once individually grasped, they can be because of this imaginary and synthesized to show how different di- human distinction? God forbid! mensions of race are all related and are This earth is one household and often simultaneously at play. In these the native land of all humanity; five types, we again witness a unity therefore, the human race should of sociological and Bahá’í theological ignore distinctions and boundar- knowledge: “race” is a product of “rac- ies which are artificial and condu- ism” and the refusal to acknowledge a cive to disagreement and hostility. fundamental unity of humankind. (Promulgation 114)

Race and Racism 43

‘Abdu’l-Bahá frequently highlighted the people treat that association as real, ideological dimension of race as “artifi- they come to expect it, which will in- cial” or illusory. For instance, in Paris in fluence the outcome, thereby engaging 1911, He employed a monogenesis ar- in a self-fulfilling prophecy. gument in asserting that the “prejudice In this vein, the 28 December 2010 of race” was “an illusion, a superstition letter from the Universal House of pure and simple! For God created us all Justice, in citing Shoghi Effendi, de- of one race. There were no differences lineates between the ideological and in the beginning, for we are all descen- the institutional existence of race dants of Adam . . . . In the sight of God and racism: there is no difference between the vari- ous races” (Paris Talks 148). He [Shoghi Effendi] went on to discuss at length the specific INSTITUTIONS question of racial prejudice, “the corrosion of which,” he indicat- An institution is any persistent struc- ed, had “bitten into the fibre, and ture or social order that governs the attacked the whole social structure behavior of a set of individuals in a of American society [my empha- specific community. Institutions have sis]” and which, he asserted at a distinct social purpose that medi- the time, “should be regarded ates the expected rules of behavior; as constituting the most vital examples include law, the economy, and challenging issue confront- education, employment, family, reli- ing the Bahá’í community at the gion, sports, politics, mass media, the present stage of its evolution.”... military and police, and health care. While it is true that, at the level Access to and upward mobility with- of public discourse, great strides in these institutions can significantly have been taken in refuting the affect life chances and well-being— falsehoods that give rise to preju- and that access and mobility varies dice in whatever form, it still per- by racial group. Many institutions meates the structures of society and can themselves become racialized or is systematically impressed on the take on a racial reputation. Per the individual consciousness. (emphasis example above, many people associate added) sporting success with African Ameri- cans and likewise may come to asso- The message makes the clear the ciate educational success with whites point that discourse, on the one hand, or certain ethnic groups within the and material inequality and practices larger “Asian” race. However, such of discrimination, on the other hand, associations may be little more than should not be conflated. stereotypes or assumptions that be- come important social facts: because 44 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

INTERESTS [e]very imperfect soul is self-cen- tered and thinketh only of his Another important dimension of race own good. But as his thoughts is the concept of interests, or resourc- expand a little he will begin to es and goals. When groups organize, think of the welfare and comfort they may come to see certain interests of his family. If his ideas still as necessary, and they may perceive more widen, his concern will be other groups as threats. They may the felicity of his fellow citizens; consider themselves entitled while and if still they widen, he will be viewing others as undeserving. Some thinking of the glory of his land racial and ethnic groups pursue, pro- and of his race. But when ideas tect, and engage in conflict or coopera- and views reach the utmost de- tion over interests. They may organize gree of expansion and attain the and lobby to influence legal or policy stage of perfection, then will he considerations directly or indirectly. be interested in the exaltation of For example, recent research shows humankind. He will then be the that white Americans are increasingly well-wisher of all men and the likely to believe that society is no lon- seeker of the weal and prosperity ger biased against people of color, but of all lands. This is indicative of that it has in fact become anti-white perfection. (Selections 68) (Norton and Sommers 215). More- over, current findings reveal that over The point is again reiterated by time it is increasingly likely for whites ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His “Commentary to believe that decreases in perceived on the Eleventh Chapter of Isaiah”: bias against blacks mean increases in “Religious and sectarian antagonism, bias against whites. Because of this the hostility of races and peoples, belief, many whites strive to protect and differences among nations will resources that they feel people of col- be eliminated. All men will adhere to or are trying to take from them. Ac- one religion, will have one common cordingly, while many whites support faith, will be blended into one race and racial equality in the abstract, they become a single people” (Some Answered oppose policies that implement racial Questions 12:7). ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s point is equality (what some call the “princi- that “race” is an artificial category that ple-policy gap”) and actively oppose divides and pits people, otherwise of policies and laws they believe will hurt one purpose, against one another in their chances as members of their par- the pursuit of specific ends. ticular racial group. Race functions through the pitting IDENTITIES of groups against one another. ‘Abdu’l- Bahá made it clear that: We can define identity as the dis- tinctive characteristic belonging to Race and Racism 45 any given individual, or shared by all create, and stems from, racial and eth- members of a particular social cate- nic identity will one day give way. gory or group. Racial identity, then, However, racial and ethnic identi- has to do with the membership one ties are emphasized as important so- feels in a particular racial group, the cial categories to be respected when sense of belonging one has, and how they represent important cultural others feel about their fit in a racial values and become the basis for attain- group. We may ascribe a particular ing basic human and civil rights in the identity to ourselves, others may as- face of discrimination. For example, sign it to us, and/or we may think of years prior, a letter from the Universal our own racial identity by imagining House of Justice responded to a query how others might see us—what the from the National Spiritual Assembly sociologist Charles Horton Cooley of the Bahá’ís of Canada regarding called the “looking-glass self.” When Indigenous people, stating, in part: we look at ourselves in the mirror, we: (1) imagine how we appear to others, You have also raised a number of (2) imagine what their judgment of questions concerning the rights that appearance will be, and (3) devel- of indigenous people such as the op our identity through the imagined Natives of Canada. It is quite or actual judgments of others (Cooley, clear that Native persons are fully 183–4). entitled to all the human rights The sociological dimension of accorded to the majority popula- “race” as a salient identity is affirmed tion; for example, they should be in an April 2002 letter from the Uni- guaranteed the full rights of cit- versal House of Justice to the world’s izenship, and all acts of discrim- religious leaders: “Despite the con- ination against them, which may tinuing conflict and violence that have developed over the years, darken the horizon, prejudices that should be eliminated. However, once seemed inherent in the nature the freedom for indigenous peo- of the human species are everywhere ple to exercise their rights car- giving way. Down with them come ries with it the corollary need to barriers that long divided the fami- recognize the rights of all others ly of man into a Babel of incoherent to the same expression. The im- identities of cultural, ethnic or na- plications for indigenous people tional origin.” The Universal House also include: realization of the of Justice affirms the notion that both virtues of cross-cultural influ- prejudices and ethnic identities are ences; appreciation of the values neither essential or inherent parts of of other cultures as accruing to the self nor that they will continue to the wealth of human experience dominate the human landscape. Both and the freedom of all to share in the “conflict and violence” that helps such values without necessarily 46 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

giving up their respective iden- In this sense, racial identities are “less- tities; avoidance of parochial er loyalties” and are necessarily “limit- attitudes which degenerate into ing” in the scope of the full social rec- ethnic and cultural prejudices; ognition of human unity and, as such, and, above all, appreciation of are more an expression of the means the necessity to maintain a global to an end, rather than the end in itself. perspective within which the par- ticulars of indigenous expression INTERACTIONS can find an enduring context. Social interactions regularly occur The import of identity as a vehicle between two or more individuals. for the protection of unique cultur- These interactions are often habitu- al worldviews and values that would al, patterned, scripted, governed by otherwise be assimilated or assumed formal or informal rules, and become under discrimination or oppression is shared expectations or maps that help always balanced against a perspective us navigate everyday encounters. In that would valorize racial and ethnic these interactions, people develop and identity as a decontextualized onto- then come to rely on shared mean- logical presence. In the Bahá’í Writ- ings imposed on objects, events, and ings, the import of racial identity is behaviors. The subjective meanings always emphasized as an expression that we all give to things we encoun- of the quest for justice and equality. ter are important because they are not For instance, in the introduction to solitary meanings but must be shared the 1992 English publication of The and agreed on to a certain extent. We Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Universal House of interpret one another’s behavior in Justice writes: various interactions, and these inter- pretations form social bonds or con- Our world has entered the dark flict. These interpretations are what heart of an age of fundamental sociologists William and Dorothy change beyond anything in all of Thomas called “the definition of the its tumultuous history. Its peo- situation” (571–72). That is, we come ples, of whatever race, nation, or to agree on what a particular behavior, religion, are being challenged to idea, or thing is, what its value is, and subordinate all lesser loyalties and what, where, when, why, and how that limiting identities to their one- particular thing should act or be. ness as citizens of a single plan- In terms of race, we often have etary homeland. In Bahá’u’lláh’s very specific racialized interpretations words: “the well-being of man- about how we believe certain racial kind, its peace and security, are groups should behave, where they unattainable unless and until its should live, how they should speak unity is firmly established.” (11) to one another, who they can date Race and Racism 47 or marry, what kind of clothes they even among the altruists, vary- should wear or music they should ing aspects of opinion and lack listen to, and so on. When someone of unselfish devotion give little deviates from that expected form of promise of permanent and inde- interaction, that person might be structible unity among mankind. evaluated negatively or positively de- (Promulgation 391) pending on the situation. For instance, sometimes people are thought of as Hence, racial solidary cannot serve as being racially inauthentic, as when an unerring or adequate basis for just African Americans have been accused interactions. Rather, Bahá’ís are called of “acting white.” In other instances, upon to act with trust and kindness white people have been accused of be- across the color line. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ing “wannabes” for dressing, talking, again states that “[t]he diversity in or acting in ways they believe other the human family should be the cause racial groups should interact. of love and harmony, as it is in mu- The Bahá’í Writings on interracial sic where many different notes blend interactions emphasize the import of together in the making of a perfect prior power imbalances, historically chord. If you meet those of differ- entrenched injustices, and the weight ent race and color from yourself, do of trust, invariable effort, and purity not mistrust them and withdraw your- of motive in creating just and equita- self into your shell of conventionali- ble interracial interactions. Take into ty, but rather be glad and show them consideration ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s admo- kindness” (Paris Talks 53). nition that simple intraracial interac- Yet, consideration and conviction tions, even if predicated on the best of are not enough, as the weight of ra- intentions and altruism, fail to provide cialized interactional scripts guide and a common ground for unity: structure how we relate to one another. In The Advent of Divine Justice, Shoghi it is evident that fraternity, love Effendi is not vague on this point: and kindness based upon family, native land, race or an attitude of Let the white make a supreme ef- altruism are neither sufficient nor fort in their resolve to contribute permanent since all of them are their share to the solution of this limited, restricted and liable to problem, to abandon once for all change and disruption. For in the their usually inherent and at times family there is discord and alien- subconscious sense of superiority, ation; among sons of the same to correct their tendency towards fatherland, strife and internecine revealing a patronizing attitude warfare are witnessed; between towards the members of the oth- those of a given race, hostili- er race, to persuade them through ty and hatred are frequent; and their intimate, spontaneous 48 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017

and informal association with to emerge from the social system of de them the genuineness of their jure segregation and inequality known friendship and the sincerity of as Jim Crow.21 Shoghi Effendi closes their intentions, and to master by stating: their impatience of any lack of responsiveness on the part of a Let neither [either “white” or “Ne- people who have received, for so gro”] think that the solution of so long a period, such grievous and vast a problem is a matter that ex- slow-healing wounds. (40) clusively concerns the other. Let neither think that such a problem These tendencies are born out of his- can either easily or immediately torical conditions. The “white race” is be resolved. Let neither think that neither naturally predisposed or des- they can wait confidently for the tined to hold these attitudes, while at solution of this problem until the the same time, a “subconscious sense initiative has been taken, and the of superiority” is, in the words of favorable circumstances created, Shoghi Effendi, “usually inherent” by agencies that stand outside the due to ideological doctrines of racial orbit of their Faith. Let neither superiority and structural barriers think that anything short of gen- that divide and segregate the races. uine love, extreme patience, true In the face of ideological and mate- humility, consummate tact, sound rial hegemony that both creates and initiative, mature wisdom, and de- maintains white domination, it is no liberate, persistent, and prayerful wonder that the beneficiaries of that effort, can succeed in blotting out social system (the “white race”) would the stain which this patent evil hold a “usually inherent and at times has left on the fair name of their subconscious sense of superiority” common country. (Advent 40–41)22 (Advent 40). Shoghi Effendi continues by addressing the other side of the 21 The publication of The Advent of color line: “Let the Negroes, through Divine Justice (1938) occurred in the same a corresponding effort on their part, year in which the first major US Supreme show by every means in their power Court ruled against Jim Crow on the prin- the warmth of their response, their ciple of equality. Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. readiness to forget the past, and their Canada (1938) held that states that provid- ability to wipe out every trace of sus- ed a school to white students had to pro- picion that may still linger in their vide in-state education to blacks as well. hearts and minds” (Advent 40). Hence, 22 Shoghi Effendi also emphasizes kind-heartedness, forgiveness, and re- that “an interracial fellowship completely liant trust are necessary on the part purged from the curse of racial prejudice of a people who, at the time of Shoghi which stigmatizes the vast majority of its Effendi’s writing, were only beginning people” is the “weapon” that Bahá’ís “can Race and Racism 49

While forgiveness and humility are providence of ignorance nor individ- emphasized in the Bahá’í Writings, uals, but of social patterns of human similar (if not greater) attention is di- interaction based in quests for power, rected toward justice, equality, and the resources, and/or status. Once these elimination of racism. Importantly, in- imperatives take hold in the afore- teractions across the color line should mentioned five dimensions, racial in- not be interpreted outside the context equality, racism, and the mechanisms of the other “I’s”—particularly that that sustain them can persist even of the institutional contexts which with color-blind or good intentions. provide unequal meeting grounds of Moreover, Bahá’í theology emphasizes those interactions. that the remedies to these patterns of racism, as a “pernicious and persistent CONCLUSION evil,” must therefore consist in the recognition of humanity’s oneness via I have reviewed the historical develop- external social forces (BIC, “Combat- ment of race and racism; provided an ing Racism”). Such implementation overview of, and attempt to correlate, must take place through “appropriate both the Bahá’í theological and socio- and universally upheld legal mea- logical views on race and racism, and sures” that make the attainment of offered a robust sociological under- relatively equal outcomes, not liberally standing of how these concepts are vague notions of equal opportunities, inextricably intertwined in five key the principle goal and animating spirit dimensions. It should now be apparent (BIC, “Combating Racism”). Without that a scholarly understanding of race relatively equal social domains, the po- and racism cannot be obtained without tential to attain true unity and oneness giving attention to larger “structural” will remain both fleeting and frustrat- social forces external to the individu- ing, resulting in continued chilling al. The concept of “race” is a dynamic and frigid relations (from attitudes and ongoing multidimensional social about white victimization to actual in- process that often rationalizes and le- stances of “microaggressions”)23 and gitimates the (re)production of sys- temic inequality. 23 Despite evidence to the contrary, Furthermore, Bahá’í theology feelings of “white victimization” have risen points us toward examining racial in recent years. A 2014 study by the Pub- antipathy and racism as neither the lic Religion Research Institute found that 52 percent of whites agreed with the fol- and must wield” to “first to regenerate the lowing statement: “Today discrimination inward life of their own community, and against whites has become as big a prob- next to assail the long-standing evils that lem as discrimination against blacks and have entrenched themselves in the life of other minorities” (Piacenza). And a 2011 their nation” (Advent 41). study found that whites view racism “as 50 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 27.3 2017 the repetition of more and more “long, their suggestions on prior versions of hot summers”24 (from Ferguson, Mis- this manuscript and to editor-in-chief souri, to Baltimore, Maryland). John S. Hatcher for his discerning and critical eye toward both line-editing ACKNOWLEDGMENTS and conceptual clarity.

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