The Color-Line is a Killer

Another piece in the press is addressing the relationship between racism and the physical health of blacks in America. Here's a little bit of a recent editorial in the Portland Press Herald:

There has been a quickly emerging field of research that demonstrates that racism hurts the health of the body. According to Madeline Drexler, a medical columnist and visiting lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health, more than 100 studies now document the effects of racial discrimination on physical health.

According to Drexler, research has suggested that racism acts a classic stressor in the same physiological ways as job strain and marital conflict; elevating heart rates, increasing levels of the stress hormone cortisol and suppressing immunity.

In the 1990s, the Harvard School of Public Health's social epidemiologist, Nancy Krieger, confirmed that "race-based discriminatory experiences were associated with higher blood pressure" and that "not talking to others about the experience or not taking action against the inequity, raised blood pressure even more."

The timing of these kinds of studies is noteworthy, as lawmakers and government officials begin to focus more on the racial disparities in the quality of American health care. Despite social and economic growth, people of color are still dying at a higher rate from heart disease, diabetes, stroke and hypertension. (Read the whole thing here)

One of the things that has long bothered me about the way that some people talk about racism in contemporary America, is that it is viewed as something which just makes black people feel bad. Thus blacks should just “toughen up” and not let lingering forms of racist ignorance bother them. To view racism this way is to trivialize its impact on those who experience it. I think of the many relatives I have who suffer from the diseases mentioned in this editorial and how conventional wisdom says that it’s because of unhealthy lifestyles or bad luck with genes as if living in a society where your humanity remains an open question had nothing to do with it. This is also not simply an issue of poverty because even blacks who are not poor are disproportionately afflicted with these kinds of ailments. There is something very wrong in any society where a person’s race can exert such a strong influence on their quality of life. Gladly people like the person who wrote the editorial are holding a mirror up to the ongoing national shame of blacks lives lost unnecessarily due to racism. If you know people who may be unfamiliar with the research in this area, spread the word. Blacks in America are not just dying from violent crime.

"Adorn ye the temple of dominion with the ornament of justice and of the fear of God, and its head with the crown of the remembrance of your Lord, the Creator of the heavens. Thus counselleth you He Who is the Dayspring of Names, as bidden by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. The Promised One hath appeared in this glorified Station, whereat all beings, both seen and unseen, have rejoiced. Take ye advantage of the Day of God. Verily, to meet Him is better for you than all that whereon the sun shineth, could ye but know it. O concourse of rulers! Give ear unto that which hath been raised from the Dayspring of Grandeur: Verily, there is none other God but Me, the Lord of Utterance, the All-Knowing. Bind ye the broken with the hands of justice, and crush the oppressor who flourisheth with the rod of the commandments of your Lord, the Ordainer, the All-Wise."
(Baha'u'llah, Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 20)

Black Baha'is Arise!!!!!

Brothers in the Holy Land, December 2006. If you look closely you can see that the wall behind them says "The Legacy of Baha'u'llah." How appropriate, yes?

I wanted to let my readers know about this amazing conference coming up in February. If you know a Baha'i of African Descent who might be interested, let them know about this. Are you ready for a revolution?








February 8, 08 - February 10, 08
THE DAY FINDERS CONFERENCE: A RADICAL APPROACH TO BEin’
Phillipe Copeland, Lloyd Lawrence, Kenneth Ray, Adam Siegel, Liz Washington
"There is no time to lose. There is no room left for vacillation". In order to bring the Word of God to the masses, The Lord of the Age has called people of African descent to provide spiritual leadership in the creation of a new civilization. This worldwide redemption requires arming the servant with his God-given abilities; not only knowledge but also insight and spiritual weaponry necessary "to conquer these regions." To do this effectively, the Day Finders Conference will use the arts and experiential learning to take participants of African descent on a journey of self-reflection deep into the "pupil of the eye" in the pursuit of healing, transformation and understanding of the Five Year Plan. This is an urgent call to action. Are you ready for a revolution?

To register for this conference please visit the Green Acre website, www.greenacre.org

Let every black Baha'i you know, know about this conference.

Behold the Candle

"Great mercy and blessings are promised to the people of your land, but on one condition; that their hearts be filled with the fire of love, that they live in perfect harmony and kindness like one soul in different bodies. Never forget this; look at one another with the eye of perfection; look at me, follow me, be as I am; take no thought for yourselves or your lives, whether ye eat or whether ye sleep, whether ye are comfortable, whether ye are well or ill, whether ye are with friends or foes, whether ye receive praise or blame; for all these things ye must care not at all. Look at me and be as I am; ye must die to yourselves and to the world, so ye shall be born again and enter the kingdom of heaven. Behold the candle, how it gives light. It weeps its life away drop by drop in order to give forth its flame of light."
('Abdu'l-Baha, Compilations, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 503)

In a few hours I'll be wiping my weary eyes and heading over to the Boston Baha'i Center to join with whatever sleepy Baha'is make their way over there to commemorate the Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha. I'm reminded of the spirit of this Holy Day, which for me is about self-sacrifice. I think of the sacrifices my enslaved and later emancipated ancestors made so that I would be here today. As the African saying goes, "I am because we are and because we are I am." I wonder what sacrifices God is calling me to make in the path of love and service. It is not easy to be a black man in America, but 'Abdu'l-Baha reminds me that oppression does not excuse me from self-sacrifice, but demands even more from me in order to achieve true freedom for myself and for my people. Like the candle mentioned in the above quotation, the Words of Baha'u'llah light my way through the darkness of a wayward world:

"How vast is the tabernacle of the Cause of God! It hath overshadowed all the peoples and kindreds of the earth, and will, erelong, gather together the whole of mankind beneath its shelter. Thy day of service is now come. Countless Tablets bear the testimony of the bounties vouchsafed unto thee. Arise for the triumph of My Cause, and, through the power of thine utterance, subdue the hearts of men. Thou must show forth that which will ensure the peace and the well-being of the miserable and the down-trodden. Gird up the loins of thine endeavor, that perchance thou mayest release the captive from his chains, and enable him to attain unto true liberty."
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 92)

Noose on the Loose

The New York Times had a nice editorial piece about the proliferation of noose related incidents all over the country which have appeared to increase since the marches related to the Jena 6. The best part is that it includes a multimedia box that shows where and when the incidents took place and some basic details about each. It was highly disturbing and I found myself having an involuntary bodily reaction, a tightening of the throat and difficulty with breathing while I read about what is happening. You could say that I was having a post traumatic stress response simply from the association of the noose with the history of lynching in this country. We have so much work to do if we are to avoid the inevitable consequences of the color-line:

"A tremendous effort is required by both races (white and black) if their outlook, their manners, and conduct are to reflect, in this darkened age, the spirit and teachings of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. Casting away once and for all the fallacious doctrine of racial superiority, with all its attendant evils, confusion, and miseries, and welcoming and encouraging the intermixture of races, and tearing down the barriers that now divide them, they should each endeavor, day and night, to fulfill their particular responsibilities in the common task which so urgently faces them. Let them, while each is attempting to contribute its share to the solution of this perplexing problem, call to mind the warnings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and visualize, while there is yet time, the dire consequences that must follow if this challenging and unhappy situation that faces the entire American nation is not definitely remedied."
(Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 38)

You can read the information about noose related incidents here. Warning: Some of these stories are highly disturbing.

Black Like Me?

Brothers on God's Holy Mountain, Haifa, Israel

Many of you have probably heard something in the last couple of weeks about a Pew Research Center report that shows some current trends regarding race in America:

Asked whether blacks can still be thought of as a single race, given the increasing diversity within the black community, 53% of blacks say they can, but 37% of blacks say they cannot. Blacks and whites concur that there has been a convergence in the values held by blacks and whites. On the popular culture front, large majorities of both blacks and whites say that rap and hip hop have a bad influence on society. Over the past two decades, blacks have lost some confidence in the effectiveness of leaders within their community, including national black political figures, the clergy, and the NAACP. A sizable majority of blacks still see all of these groups as either very or somewhat effective, but the number saying "very" effective has declined since 1986. A 53% majority of African Americans say that blacks who don't get ahead are mainly responsible for their situation, while just three-in-ten say discrimination is mainly to blame. As recently as the mid-1990s, black opinion on this question tilted in the opposite direction, with a majority of African Americans saying then that discrimination is the main reason for a lack of black progress. (Read more from the report here)
Journalist Juan Williams added some other points from the research and commented about what he thinks the Pew survey means for black America:

A poll released by the Pew Research Center, in association with NPR, finds that 67 percent of black men and 74 percent of black women think rap music is a bad influence on black America. In fact, 59 percent of black men and 63 percent of black women think the whole hip-hop industry — from the jailhouse fashion of pants hanging low, to indifference to work and school — is equally detrimental to black America. (Read more from Juan Williams and listen to his remarks here)

Another black intellectual, my man Henry Louis Gates made remarks about the current state of black America:

LAST week, the Pew Research Center published the astonishing finding that 37 percent of African-Americans polled felt that “blacks today can no longer be thought of as a single race” because of a widening class divide. From Frederick Douglass to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., perhaps the most fundamental assumption in the history of the black community has been that Americans of African descent, the descendants of the slaves, either because of shared culture or shared oppression, constitute “a mighty race,” as Marcus Garvey often put it.

“By a ratio of 2 to 1,” the report says, “blacks say that the values of poor and middle-class blacks have grown more dissimilar over the past decade. In contrast, most blacks say that the values of blacks and whites have grown more alike.”

The message here is that it is time to examine the differences between black families on either side of the divide for clues about how to address an increasingly entrenched inequality. We can’t afford to wait any longer to address the causes of persistent poverty among most black families. (Read the whole editorial here).

The Pew Survey offers days and days of blogging but I’m going to just touch on a couple of thoughts that I have right now. The first is the issue of whether or not black Americans can think of themselves as a single race or not. The second is the so-called difference between the values held by middle class blacks and poor blacks. Both of these could be placed under the simple but supposedly provocative headline: “Pew Survey Discovers Blacks are Not All the Same.” What?! Let the tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth begin. What an existential crisis we have on our hands. Here is what I think, the whole notion that a group of people who were brought in chains from one of the continents with the greatest human diversity on the planet could be the same is a racist fantasy. There has always been diversity among black Americans and there always will be. Every ethnic group on earth recognizes there is diversity within their group. Why should black Americans be any different? Related to this there has always been class diversity among black Americans, even during slavery. I’m not talking about the tired and oversimplified “field negro” versus “house negro”discussion either. I’m talking about skilled craftsmen and women, leaders of businesses, educators, spiritual leaders, artists, community organizers, farmers, soldiers. Many of our most famous black heroes emerged from what would be considered the middle class even before emancipation and long before the civil rights movement. Few of these heroes would fit into the popular notions of “blackness” that are rightly criticized by folks like Williams and Gates. The irony of much of what is presented as black today is that the characteristics are based on stereotypes that originated among whites. The very idea that there is a “black” way to be and a “white” way to be is an artifact of racist ideology. Blacks who continue to operate under this flawed way of seeing the world are acting out their internalized racism and are in need of healing.

Another thing, what is it that makes a value, a “middle class” value anyway? Does this mean that a person who is not currently middle class doesn’t have that particular value? I would agree that there is sometimes a disconnect between middle class and working class/poor blacks. I’ve experienced this within my own extended family at times. If this survey encourages some dialogue about this it could be a good thing. I would question though whether this is any different than whites, Asians, Hispanics or Native Americans. I would also say that when people suggest that middle class blacks are somehow less “black” than poor blacks that they are engaging in the same racist ideology that I mentioned before. The notion that black=poor, less educated, inner city, incarcerated, etc. is a racist fantasy, not reality. As a middle class black man, I refuse to apologize for the fact that I grew up with a father who actually married my mother, that they both worked hard their whole lives so that my sister and I could have a better life than they had, that I took advantage of whatever opportunities that were presented to me in spite of racism.

There are definitely changes that need to take place both outwardly and inwardly so that blacks in America can thrive. However, these are the changes that all humanity must embrace in order to meet the demands of the recognition of the oneness of humankind:

“Let there be no mistake. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind -- the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh revolve-- is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and good-will among men, nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peoples and nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family. It does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence. It implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced. It constitutes a challenge, at once bold and universal, to outworn shibboleths of national creeds -- creeds that have had their day and which must, in the ordinary course of events as shaped and controlled by Providence, give way to a new gospel, fundamentally different from, and infinitely superior to, what the world has already conceived. It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world -- a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units. It represents the consummation of human evolution -- an evolution that has had its earliest beginnings in the birth of family life, its subsequent development in the achievement of tribal solidarity, leading in turn to the constitution of the city-state, and expanding later into the institution of independent and sovereign nations. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind, as proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh, carries with it no more and no less than a solemn assertion that attainment to this final stage in this stupendous evolution is not only necessary but inevitable, that its realization is fast approaching, and that nothing short of a power that is born of God can succeed in establishing it.”
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 42)

Readers, weigh in on this one. What do you think about the Pew Survey?

Childhood Diabetes and Race

Diabetes does not discriminate, but it appears that in the land of the free and the home of the brave a black child with diabetes is more likely to die from it than a white child. Check out this short piece in the Boston Globe:

By Emily Brown Bloomberg News / November 16, 2007

WASHINGTON - Death rates for black children with diabetes were twice as high as for white children during a 25-year period, possibly because of gaps in medical care and information, federal officials said.

Black youths living in poor areas may have limited access to medical services and lack quality disease education and healthcare, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday.

The CDC collected and analyzed data from 1979 to 2004 that included youngsters ages 1 to 19. They found that while diabetes is more common among white children, the death rate is highest among blacks. About 125,000 American children have diabetes.

"Incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing," the CDC said. "With proper management and access to care, morbidity and mortality from diabetes is preventable, particularly in the pediatric population."

Further research is needed to determine the cause of increased diabetes deaths among black youths, researchers said.

Other racial and ethnic groups were excluded because the numbers of deaths were too small to obtain reliable estimates, they said.

Medical expenses stemming from diabetes total $132 billion each year, according to the National Institutes of Health. Type 2 diabetes, which prevents cells from properly converting blood sugar into energy, has become more prevalent worldwide because of overeating and lack of exercise.

The disease can lead to blindness, kidney failure, or death, if left untreated.

In type 1 diabetes, the body doesn't produce the hormone insulin, which is needed to convert sugar, starches, and other food into energy.

In those with type 2, the most common form of the disease, the body can't produce enough insulin or use the insulin it makes.

Type 2 diabetes occurs mainly in adults ages 45 and older who are overweight.

Patients at risk for type 2 diabetes can lower their risk of developing the disease by losing 5 to 7 percent of their weight, the NIH says.

This type was formerly called adult-onset diabetes, until it became more common among children carrying extra weight.

I read these kinds of things all the time and it keeps bringing up the same basic issue; regardless of whether or not individuals are racist, as long as we live in a society where there is an association between a person's race and their quality of life, we have some work to do. Of course I'm sure some would argue that these black kids are dying because they are not as intelligent as the white kids, but that's for another post. Baha'u'llah put it best:

"How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society?... The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divideth and afflicteth the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appeareth to be lamentably defective. I beseech God, exalted be His glory, that He may graciously awaken the peoples of the earth, may grant that the end of their conduct may be profitable unto them, and aid them to accomplish that which beseemeth their station."
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 216)

Fruits of His Mission

"We remember every one of you, men and women, and from this Spot -- the Scene of incomparable glory -- regard you all as one soul and send you the joyous tidings of divine blessings which have preceded all created things, and of My remembrance that pervadeth everyone, whether young or old. The glory of God rest upon you, O people of Baha. Rejoice with exceeding gladness through My remembrance, for He is indeed with you at all times."
(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 264)









These are some photos from tonight's commemoration of the Birth of Baha'u'llah. I've long believed that some of the sweetest fruits of His Mission is the community that has been raised up through the power of His teachings. A community that unites East and West, Global North and Global South, all working together to build a new, global civilization.

Unintelligent Question

Is this little girl less intelligent because of her race?

Here we go again. My father-in law just sent me an article from the New York Times. It seems the genetics, race and IQ debate continues. Are we living in the 21st century or the 19th century? Here is a bit of the article:

“We are living through an era of the ascendance of biology, and we have to be very careful,” said William Henry Gates Jr., director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. “We will all be walking a fine line between using biology and allowing it to be abused.”

Certain superficial traits like skin pigmentation have long been presumed to be genetic. But the ability to pinpoint their DNA source makes the link between genes and race more palpable. And on mainstream blogs, in college classrooms and among the growing community of ancestry test-takers, it is prompting the question of whether more profound differences may also be attributed to DNA.

Nonscientists are already beginning to stitch together highly speculative conclusions about the historically charged subject of race and intelligence from the new biological data. Last month, a blogger in Manhattan described a recently published study that linked several snippets of DNA to high I.Q. An online genetic database used by medical researchers, he told readers, showed that two of the snippets were found more often in Europeans and Asians than in Africans. (Read the whole thing here)

I know that it is not a nice thing to say, but I'm beginning to question the intelligence of those who continue this obsession with "proving" that this or that race is smarter than the other. Why is this question even interesting at all, especially when there are other questions that are more interesting. Researchers have long ago questioned the validity of so called IQ as both a culturally biased view of intelligence and too narrow to encompass the richness of what makes us human. The real issue here is the Eurocentrism and materialism that underlies the assumptions of those who think that intellect can be reduced to an IQ test.

"Now concerning mental faculties, they are in truth of the inherent properties of the soul, even as the radiation of light is the essential property of the sun. The rays of the sun are renewed but the sun itself is ever the same and unchanged. Consider how the human intellect develops and weakens, and may at times come to naught, whereas the soul changeth not. For the mind to manifest itself, the human body must be whole; and a sound mind cannot be but in a sound body, whereas the soul dependeth not upon the body. It is through the power of the soul that the mind comprehendeth, imagineth and exerteth its influence, whilst the soul is a power that is free. The mind comprehendeth the abstract by the aid of the concrete, but the soul hath limitless manifestations of its own. The mind is circumscribed, the soul limitless. It is by the aid of such senses as those of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, that the mind comprehendeth, whereas, the soul is free from all agencies. The soul as thou observest, whether it be in sleep or waking, is in motion and ever active. Possibly it may, whilst in a dream, unravel an intricate problem, incapable of solution in the waking state. The mind, moreover, understandeth not whilst the senses have ceased to function, and in the embryonic stage and in early infancy the reasoning power is totally absent, whereas the soul is ever endowed with full strength."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 337)

In my experience, very little of the investigation of intellect and its relationship to genetics considers the existence of the soul, or the relationship between soul, mind and body. This is a significant flaw in such approaches from a Baha'i perspective. Secondly the moral and spiritual implications of intellectual diversity among human beings, whatever the origin is as important a question as why those differences exist. Another question is the impact of divine revelation on intellectual development, a question excluded by materialistic assumptions about reality.

Promise of All Nations

An eagle watches over the gardens at Bahji near the Shrine of Baha'u'llah.

On Sunday evening, Baha'is in the Boston area will be commemorating the Birth of Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith. This is one of my favorite Baha'i Holy Days of the year. Coincidentally, I heard an excellent presentation today about social work practice and hope and it made be think about a brief reference to "eschatological hope" in a talk by Dr. Michael Penn. I would define eschatological hope as a hope related to the anticipation of the radical transformation of the social and spiritual order associated with the coming of the Day of God and the Savior of the world described by different names in a variety of faith traditions. The commemoration of the Birth of Baha'u'llah for Baha'is can be seen as one way of celebrating the realization of this ancient hope held by peoples and nations throughout the world. The theological significance of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah was emphasized eloquently in the document One Common Faith:

"The declared purpose of history's series of prophetic revelations, therefore, has been not only to guide the individual seeker on the path of personal salvation, but to prepare the whole of the human family for the great eschatological Event lying ahead, through which the life of the world will itself be entirely transformed. The revelation of Bahá'u'lláh is neither preparatory nor prophetic. It is that Event. Through its influence, the stupendous enterprise of laying the foundations of the Kingdom of God has been set in motion, and the population of the earth has been endowed with the powers and capacities equal to the task. That Kingdom is a universal civilization shaped by principles of social justice and enriched by achievements of the human mind and spirit beyond anything the present age can conceive. "This is the Day", Bahá'u'lláh declares, "in which God's most excellent favours have been poured out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been infused into all created things.... Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead.""
(Commissioned by The Universal House of Justice, One Common Faith)

As a black American, it is interesting to think about Baha'u'llah in the context of the eschatological hope that is so distinctive in many of what are known as "negro spirituals". I'll offer just three examples:

1. Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ‘roun’
Turn me ‘roun’
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ‘roun’
I’m gonna wait until my change comes

Don’t let nobody turn you ‘roun’
Turn you ‘roun’
Don’t let nobody turn you ‘roun’
Wait until your change comes

I say I’m gonna hold out
Hold out, hold out
I say that I’m gonna hold out
Until my change comes

I promised the lord that I would hold out
Hold out
I promised the Lord that I would hold out
Wait until my change comes


2. De talles’ tree in Paradise
De Christian call de tree of life
And I hope dat trump might blow me home
To the new Jerusalem

Blow your trumpet, Gabriel
Blow louder, louder
And I hope dat trump might blow me home
To the new Jerusalem

Paul and Silas, bound in jail,
Sing God’s praise both night and day
And I hope dat trump might blow me home
To the new Jerusalem


3. Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel
Deliver Daniel, deliver Daniel
Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel An’ why not-a every man.

He delivered Daniel from de lion’s den
Jonah from de belly of de whale
An’ de Hebrew chillun from de fiery furnace
An’ why not every man

De moon run down in a purple stream
De sun forbear to shine
An’ every star disappear
King Jesus shall-a be mine
De win’ blows eas’ an’ de win’ blows wes’
It blows like a judgement day
An’ every po’ sinner dat never did pray’ll
Be glad o pray dat day

Deliver Daniel, deliver Daniel
Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel
An’ why not-a every man.
I see my foot on de Gospel ship
An’ de ship begin to sail
It landed me over on Canaan’s shore
An’ I’ll never come back no mo’

Can’t you see it’s coming
Can’t you see it’s coming
Can’t you see it’s coming…

When I think about Baha'u'llah, I think about the hope with which my enslaved ancestors sang giving birth to a whole new form of American music and culture. I think about their hope for a new world, a new Jerusalem and how glad I am to be living in this promised Day of God.

"Consider the multitude of lives that have been, and are still being, sacrificed in a world deluded by a mere phantom which the vain imaginations of its peoples have conceived. Render thanks unto God, inasmuch as ye have attained unto your heart's Desire, and been united to Him Who is the Promise of all nations. Guard ye, with the aid of the one true God -- exalted be His glory -- the integrity of the station which ye have attained, and cleave to that which shall promote His Cause."
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 6)

Sick of Disrespect?

This may be another one for the Living While Black Files. Check it out:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - African Americans are more likely than their white or Hispanic counterparts to check themselves out of the hospital against their doctors' advice, a new study has found.

In an analysis of more than 3 million discharges from U.S. hospitals in 2002, the researchers found that 1.4 percent were made against medical advice. Compared with white patients, African Americans were 35 percent more likely to opt for such a "self-discharge," the researchers report in the American Journal of Public Health.

In contrast, Hispanic patients were 10 percent less likely than whites to check out against medical advice, Dr. Said A. Ibrahim of the Veterans Administration Pittsburgh Healthcare System and co-investigators report.

While the reasons for these findings are not completely clear, they speculate that distrust of doctors or a history of bad experiences with the healthcare system may partially explain African Americans' higher likelihood of self-discharge. (Read the whole thing here)

While the researchers in this study are not sure what is contributing to blacks leaving hospitals against treatment advice it reminds me of my recent involvement with an academic setting that is finding it difficult to keep African American staff and faculty from leaving as well. My observation is that in both these cases, while institutions that in a previous era would not have welcomed the presence of blacks at all, now at least allow us through the doors, they have not figured out how to create environments in which we can feel like human beings. This deceptively simple goal is one that many institutions seem to fail on a regular basis. It makes me think about the high standard placed on Baha'i communities regarding how minorities should be treated:

"Unlike the nations and peoples of the earth, be they of the East or of the West, democratic or authoritarian, communist or capitalist, whether belonging to the Old World or the New, who either ignore, trample upon, or extirpate, the racial, religious, or political minorities within the sphere of their jurisdiction, every organized community enlisted under the banner of Bahá'u'lláh should feel it to be its first and inescapable obligation to nurture, encourage, and safeguard every minority belonging to any faith, race, class, or nation within it."
(Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 35)

Ironically many contemporary institutions, whether medical, educational, social, governmental, or economic imagine that because various colors of people share space with whites within four walls that we have achieved true racial justice and unity. Leaders of these institutions express shock and dismay when they see blacks or other minorities walking out the the doors they knocked so hard to have opened to them. "What is happening?!", they exclaim with great gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair. Here is a suggestion, there is need for a deep transformation of soul, a real change of heart that gets expressed personally and institutionally in order to heal the "grievous and slow healing wounds" of racial oppression. Political correctness and public displays of affection towards black folk are not enough:

"But there is need of a superior power to overcome human prejudices, a power which nothing in the world of mankind can withstand and which will overshadow the effect of all other forces at work in human conditions. That irresistible power is the love of God."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 68)

Black Americans are sick of disrespect and they should be. It's time for institutions in our society to deliver on their diversity rhetoric. When they do, they will find it much easier to keep us around.