hwallmart - Tumblr blog

hwallmart · 4 years ago

Text

Keep Speaking Out for Children of Color

Note: This was written for a Bahá’í blog, which I edit and contribute to, focused on issues of social justice.

It’s been amazing to see so many people stand up for children and families in the last few weeks. Just in my own small circle, I saw people become engaged by sharing information, donating to organizations, attending rallies, calling Congress people, and pointing out propaganda and misinformation, with some even protesting at detention centers or beginning the process of fostering separated children so that they can reunite them with their families. In the back of my mind, though, I kept thinking to myself – this is wonderful, but why doesn’t this happen all the time for all the kids being separated from their families through the machinations of white supremacy?

I’m not casting blame or disparagement. Lord knows there’s more I could probably be doing. But Black, Brown and Indigenous children are being ripped from their families in other ways, irrespective of this hardline immigration policy. This is actually an American tradition, although it’s not something many of us learned in school.

In this country’s history, we saw this during slavery, where family members were sold to the highest bidder. We saw this in native genocide, with boarding schools, where thousands of native children were taken from their homes and families and abused in order to be ‘civilized’. Families of color have been systematically destroyed for hundreds of years. There are two more recent manifestations of this historical trend that are even more insidious, due to how intricately they’ve become part of our world.

Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, notes that, “Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control — in prison or jail, on probation or parole — than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. There are millions of African-Americans now cycling in and out of prisons and jails or under correctional control. In major American cities today, more than half of working-age African-American men are either under correctional control or branded felons and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives.”

This was done intentionally for political and economic reasons – politicians learned you could win elections by disenfranchising and vilifying people of color, and private prisons could make a lot of money by incarcerating more and more people. This, combined with the school-to-prison pipeline, in which younger and younger kids are subject to ‘zero-tolerance’ policies that criminalize poverty, and you have kids ripped from their homes and jailed at an alarming rate, or put into foster care when this happens to a parent.

Among native populations the heartbreaking trend of missing and murdered indigenous women is well known, but not commonly spoken of in other circles. One study, cited in the article linked, found that “Indigenous women had a homicide rate three times that of white women.” These women leave behind children, their families being irrevocably changed.

While this is a 500 year-old trend, it has grown in recent times with the construction of oil pipelines near indigenous lands and the establishment of man camps. As reported on by the Washington Post, the “arrival of highly paid oil workers living in sprawling “man camps” with limited spending opportunities has led to a crime wave — including murders, aggravated assaults, rapes, human trafficking and robberies — fueled by a huge market for illegal drugs, primarily heroin and methamphetamine.”

As with so many distressing truths, we ask ourselves what we can do about these things. For once, that’s an easy question – do everything you’ve done for the families separated at the border. Raise awareness, donate to groups addressing these issues, go to protests and rallies, hold devotionals and prayer vigils, call your Congress people. Continue to take action and stand up for justice for all.

#children #action

0 notes

hwallmart · 4 years ago

Text

9 Signs Your Bahá’í Community is Actively Involved in Race Unity Work

Note: This was written for a Bahá’í blog, which I edit and contribute to, focused on issues of social justice.

In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi in 1931 we read that, “He was especially glad to hear that the activities of the friends in eliminating racial differences is daily increasing… Shoghi Effendi hopes that the Bahá’ís will gradually be considered the leading religious movement working for this aim. This forms an important element in the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu’l-Bahá and the world at large should know that it is so.” 87 years later it seems fair to ask, are we considered the leading religious movement in eliminating racial differences? What would it look like to be at the forefront? Here are 9 signs your community is getting there.

1 There are Advent of Divine Justice Study Groups

This letter from Shoghi Effendi to the North American Bahá’í community is essentially the handbook for American Bahá’ís looking to address the problem of racism in a Bahá’í context. In a community dedicated to addressing racism there are study groups, references to it at Feast, Assembly meetings and reflection gatherings. It’s a constant presence, not just a one and done deepening. These deepening sessions also go deep into his words. How many times have you heard people quote the concept of “inherent superiority”? But how many times have you heard white folks ask themselves what that looks like at Feast, in Assembly meetings, or in the core activities? Or what “supreme effort” actually looks like in practice?

2 Core Activities Address Race

The core activities are a powerful tool to systematically develop our capacity to build communities characterized by prayerful action. While eradicating racism and achieving oneness is an inherent part of community development, it has to be done consciously and purposefully. How often is racism discussed in our study circles? In children’s classes and junior youth groups? While it’s not mentioned in the materials, it is a fundamental part of community development. The Universal House of Justice wrote, “Unfortunately, sometimes when approaching such important and deeply felt matters, the friends can create dichotomies where none exist. Thus, for example, it is contended that one must choose between either non-involvement in politics or social action; either teaching the Faith or involvement with society; either the institute process and the community-building activities it fosters or a program for race unity; and so on. Such apparent conflicts can be greatly dissipated by keeping in mind Shoghi Effendi’s advice, conveyed in a letter written on his behalf, to conceive of the teachings as one great whole with many facets. ‘Truth may, in covering different subjects, appear to be contradictory,’ the same letter indicated, ‘and yet it is all one if you carry the thought through to the end.’ A careful reading of the Bahá’í writings and the guidance of the House of Justice can clarify how two matters that appear to be in tension with one another are coherent once the concepts and principles that connect them are understood.” (April 17, 2017)

3 Community Members Are Active in Like-Minded Organizations

It’s easy to be in a Bahá’í bubble, to think we have all the answers. We don’t. There are a lot of things being learned by other organizations and religious communities on how to dismantle systems of oppression. We can learn from them. In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi we learn that, “Much as the friends must guard against in any way ever seeming to identify themselves or the Cause with any political party, they must also guard against the other extreme of never taking part with other progressive groups, in conferences or committees designed to promote some activity in entire accord with our teachings – such as, for instance, better race relations.” (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi November 21, 1948) Are members of the community involved in Black Lives Matter? Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women? Pipeline camps? The NAACP? Or is it mostly interfaith groups?

4 Experiences of Racism are Believed

The single greatest thing you can do to begin the process of race unity work is to believe people experiencing oppression that their experiences are true. Just as with a friend who tells you about a painful experience, you believe them. Imagine a friend who confides that they have cancer and the response is, well I don’t have cancer so you can’t, or, is there something you could have done to prevent it, or, you always think it’s cancer. These are all examples of denial and gaslighting and are very common responses in the Bahá’í community. Why would people of color continue to explore being a part of the Bahá’í community if their fundamental, lived experience is thought to be made up or as being overly sensitive? This is a crucial reason we don’t see Bahá’ís of color at community events.

5 White Feelings are Not Centered

A primary function of white supremacy is to make whiteness the norm, to make white ways of interacting, thinking, seeing the world, language use, and customs the center around which all other cultures and ways of being revolve. This extends of all forms of community life, from the meaning of ‘reverent’ to the disdain for ‘passionate’ discourse. For our communities to grow, however, we need to change this dynamic and imagine what it would be like to have different cultural expressions shape our community life. This can only happen by physically displacing whiteness from the center. In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi we are told, “He feels it is time that the Bahá’í stopped worrying entirely about the white element in a community, and that they should concentrate on showing the negro element that this is a Faith which produces full equality and which loves and wants minorities.”

6 Community Members See Color

It was, and still is in some places, en vogue to declare one’s self ‘color blind’. This is both untrue and unhelpful. Skin color is an objective reality. We don’t need to erase aspects of the world or people’s identities to achieve justice. Furthermore, the example for all Bahá’ís, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, consciously saw color and used His privilege to elevate people of color, from the story of the black rose to seating Louis Gregory in the place of honor. That is the example for all white folks.

7 Community Members are Accomplices

The Bahá’í writings are full of calls to action, even to voluntarily suffering for each other. “With reference to your question as to whether individuals can help each other by accepting to suffer for each other’s sake. Surely such sacrifice for our fellow-humans can have helpful results. This law of sacrifice operates in our own lives, as well as in the lives of the Divine Manifestations.” (A letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, March 31, 1938) This concept is what it means to be an accomplice, a step beyond being an ally. It means moving from the sidelines to being directly involved with struggles by Black, Brown and Indigenous people and taking their lead. It means not just saying you feel sorry or bad about injustice, but risking your comfort and life to achieve justice.

8 Understand That Talking About Racism, and Doing so Passionately, is not Disunifying

The Bahá’í writings and recent guidance are full of references to racism as a cancer and an illness. No doctor would counsel you to ignore a cancer you have been diagnosed with. Why would we do the same with social illnesses? Similarly, upon learning that you have cancer, would the doctor refuse to talk with you until you calmed down or would she listen to your fears, worries, and even anger? It’s the same with conversations about racism. White folks, often operating from an “unconscious sense of superiority”, refuse to engage in conversations about racism that come from a place of pain and hurt. In Advent of Divine Justice white folks are told to “master their impatience of any lack of responsiveness on the part of a people who have received, for so long a period, such grievous and slow-healing wounds.” In another letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi we read, “Nothing will so deeply affect the hearts of people who have been hurt and offended by the attitude of white supremacy as to consort with them as full equals-as indeed they are….” These concepts are foundational to these conversations – grievous, slow-healing wounds, hurt and offense, equals talking with each other about injustice. People of color have been subjected to hundreds of years of genocide, slavery, injustice and abuse that is still going on. What right could white folks possibly have to now demand that they convey that pain politely and in a way that makes them feel comfortable? None.

9 Deeds, Not Words

The most important element is action. Make an effort. It won’t be perfect. You will make mistakes. You will likely be called out on things you didn’t know you were doing, as individuals and as a community. Reflect, then act. In a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice we are told, “Action is what is needed. The House of Justice is confident that, as the friends arise, guided by the Writings and the instructions of the beloved Guardian, this enduring, seemingly intractable problem will be ameliorated.” (1/20/94)

0 notes