Race and Racism: Perspectives from Bahá'í
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7 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).