Wright On Time

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is back and talkin' up a storm. Next time I'm in Chicago I might just have to visit that "infamous" church of his and maybe even give the brother a hug. Is it because I agree with everything he says? Nope. It's because he just might have contributed to the kind of civic maturity necessary for a healthy democracy. If you've been reading this blog, you know that I've been thundering for the past couple of months regarding the relentless "post-racial" propaganda Americans have been subjected to during this flawed process by which our next chief executive will be chosen. As I observed the fervent chants of "race doesn't matter" and watched folks who should know better engage in a Faustian bargain of silence regarding racial justice hoping it would win the White House, I prepared myself for a long, cold winter of discontented blogging. Then a voice in the wilderness burst the bubble of happy talk about "transcending race". Right on time we got a reminder that racial unity is something that we are going to have to actually earn and eloquent speeches aren't going to be sufficient. Whatever happens in November, the Wright controversy has put race back at the center of our national discourse which is exactly where it belongs. Being forced to wrestle with the implications of our past and our present regarding race is not "divisive" it is adaptive, healthy and necessary. Now if we could just have some visionary leadership that would seize the possibilities of this moment it would be even sweeter. That remains to be seen.

"Let neither [whites nor blacks] think that anything short of genuine love, extreme patience, true humility, consummate tact, sound initiative, mature wisdom, and deliberate, persistent, and prayerful effort, can succeed in blotting out the stain which this patent evil [racism] has left on the fair name of their common country."
(Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 40)

Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

A food line in Jakarta. See more photos here.


Globe columnist and author James Carrol takes on the "silent tsunami" of the current crisis (yet another one) regarding food:

OF ALL the marks of difference that separate humans, none is so drastic as hunger. Not only does the physical sensation of being famished set a person off from those who are sated, but the well-fed are hard put even to imagine the desperation that goes with an empty stomach. Among the relatively well-off, hunger is like a vague rumor, having little more substance than the report of bad weather in a distant part of the globe. Last week, at an emergency summit meeting in London, a UN official described a present global food shortage as a "silent tsunami," affecting millions of people in dozens of nations. As if out of nowhere, a world-historic crisis has arisen. In recent months, there have been food riots in such diverse places as Haiti, Cairo, Cameroon, Senegal, and Bangladesh. In Mexico, people speak of the "tortilla crisis," as the skyrocketing price of corn has made that staple too expensive. In the last two months, the price of rice has doubled in world markets. Store shelves across the southern hemisphere are empty, and foodstuffs in many places are being severely rationed. Economists define a general spike in commodity prices as the sharpest in 30 years. Without notice, the situation of hundreds of millions of chronically hungry people has become acute. The United Nations warns that 20 million children are at immediate risk of starvation. (If you read anything today, read this whole column)

The Baha'i Faith teaches that the material world is a mirror of the spiritual world, that social problems are a reflection of underlying spiritual conditions. Could it be that the current crisis over food serves as a metaphor for the hunger of people everywhere for a social order that feeds the soul as well as the body, that satisfies the hunger and thirst for righteousness mentioned in the Beatitudes? A letter from the Universal House of Justice, which I often meditate on as a public health social worker, offers commentary on the attitude of Baha'is towards material deprivation in the world:

"But in our concern for such immediate obvious calls upon our succour we must not allow ourselves to forget the continuing, appalling burden of suffering under which millions of human beings are always groaning -- a burden which they have borne for century upon century and which it is the mission of Bahá'u'lláh to lift at last. The principal cause of this suffering, which one can witness wherever one turns, is the corruption of human morals and the prevalence of prejudice, suspicion, hatred, untrustworthiness, selfishness and tyranny among men. It is not merely material well- being that people need. What they desperately need is to know how to live their lives -- they need to know who they are, to what purpose they exist, and how they should act towards one another; and, once they know the answers to these questions they need to be helped to gradually apply these answers to everyday behaviour. It is to the solution of this basic problem of mankind that the greater part of all our energy and resources should be directed."
(The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, p. 283)

Don't Be a Hater

How about a no place for "hate rhetoric" sign? I'd buy that in a second and display it proudly.






The Anti-Defamation League's "No Place For Hate" program has been getting lots of heat for awhile now. Another city has decided to kick them to the curb:

From the Boston Globe:

SOMERVILLE

The city has joined a growing number of communities ending their relationship with an Anti-Defamation League program, No Place for Hate, over the organization's failure to "unequivocally recognize" the Armenian genocide, a spokeswoman for Mayor Joseph Curtatone said yesterday. Curtatone is president of the Massachusetts Mayors' Association and sits on the board of its parent group, the Massachusetts Municipal Association. After that group voted unanimously to sever ties with No Place for Hate, which promotes diversity and antibias efforts, Curtatone decided to have Somerville do the same, said spokeswoman Lesley Delaney Hawkins. The city will join the National League of Cities Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities, she said.

At my college, I'm greeted with various versions of "no place for hate" signs when I walk through the door. It always makes me cringe. "Hate" belongs to the lexicon of phrases that irritate me such as "reverse discrimination" and "playing the race card". I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but it seemed back in the 90's all this "hate" rhetoric became wildly popular as a way of addressing prejudicial attitudes, statements, and behaviors. Just as "love" is a phrase that becomes cheapened with misuse, the politically-correct labeling of attitudes, statements, and behaviors as "hate" has had a similar effect. I have at least three problems with this tendency:

1. Saying that a person's attitudes, statements, or behaviors are hateful is sometimes a true statement, but other times is simply a rhetorical weapon used against those whose views you do not agree with. This abusive tactic is quite common in contemporary American society where various groups struggle for the power to impose their version of reality on others. Due to the psychologizing of social problems (race is one but there are others) that I have mentioned before, throwing the word "hate" around can knock one's opponents off their feet very effectively.

2. Hate rhetoric is a symptom of the very psychologizing of social problems that I have already critiqued. It focuses on the "feelings" of the alleged perpetrator distracting us from the real issue which is the distribution of power.

3. It implies insight into the inner-workings of people's minds and hearts that frankly few of us actually possess. How do I know that "hate" is the motive behind another person's attitudes, statements or behavior? (Also why is that important anyway? See point #2)

My point is not to create a false dichotomy between psychology and sociology. As I have said, what happens in our minds matters, not only regarding what we say and do, but to our very spiritual development and ultimately, civilization itself. Baha'is believe in the power of love and the need to reduce the amount of hatred among the peoples of this world. Psychologizing social problems however is not about acknowledging the dynamic relationship between the mind and the social order, it is about giving a primacy to the mind that distorts reality and obscures the unequal distribution of power which is the well-spring of inequality and oppression.

My vote is that we retire the "hate" rhetoric from our public discourse entirely. It adds nothing to the meaningful analysis of social problems and cheapens the word itself.

"Consumer culture, today's inheritor by default of materialism's gospel of human betterment, is unembarrassed by the ephemeral nature of the goals that inspire it. For the small minority of people who can afford them, the benefits it offers are immediate, and the rationale unapologetic. Emboldened by the breakdown of traditional morality, the advance of the new creed is essentially no more than the triumph of animal impulse, as instinctive and blind as appetite, released at long last from the restraints of supernatural sanctions. Its most obvious casualty has been language."
(Commissioned by The Universal House of Justice, One Common Faith)

Hope For Democracy

The author, near the seat of the Universal House of Justice, December 2006. What a great day that was!


In a few days, Baha'is from around the world representing a cross-section of the human race will gather in the Holy Land for the kind of electoral process that gives me hope for democracy. No loud-mouth pundits, sigh-inducing scandals, negative ads, virtual non-stop half-truths and outright lies, promises that won't be kept, saxophone playing, bowling or similar foolishness or win votes, exaggerated tales of sniper fire or ritualistic public condemnations of friends and associates. Just an unfettered, private choice of one's leadership in an atmosphere of prayer. Now that's something that makes you want to "get out the vote". Check it out:

"HAIFA, Israel
22 April 2008 (BWNS)

A global election process that began with people in 100,000 cities and villages around the world will culminate on 29 April when delegates gather here to elect the international governing body of the Baha'i Faith. Representatives of some 170 nations will cast ballots for the nine members of the Universal House of Justice, which has its seat at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa. The election is held every five years. Baha'i elections are distinctive in that there are no nominations, no campaigning, and no discussion about which individuals should be elected. The delegates to the International Baha'i Convention - members of all the Baha'i national governing bodies around the world - vote by secret ballot for the nine people they believe best suited for membership on the supreme institution of their Faith. The Baha'i writings state that voters should try to choose people "of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of recognized ability and mature experience."" (Read all about it)

A few days ago, our local Baha'i community elected the members of our Spiritual Assembly in process similar to what will unfold in Israel in a few days. In preparation for the election, I spent several months thinking about who I wanted to vote for. Not even my wife had any idea who I was thinking of (and she would never ask). That's the level of sacredness and freedom involved in Baha'i elections. All year I closely observed Baha'is in my community, searching for those spiritual qualities "selfless devotion", "a well-trained mind", "recognized ability" and "mature experience". I would make a list of who I was thinking of voting for, cross it out and throw it away, make another list over and over again. Even up until the day of the election I was pondering my vote, praying over my vote. As I understood it, participating in this election was one of the most important things I would do all year as a Baha'i. As a Baha'i, I participate fully in civil elections (though I don't join political parties) but in all honesty it's the vote I cast in Baha'i elections that I have the most confidence actually makes a difference in my life. It is the sweetest expression of liberty I get to experience, period. I look forward to the day (perhaps in my life-time) when I will feel similarly about voting in civil elections, when the process is freed from the limitations of partisanship, mass media manipulation, and just plain silliness. Like most Americans, I'll head into that booth in November and make a choice, which is my duty. Then I'll go home and start getting ready for the next Baha'i election, full of hope for democracy.

Home of the Clueless?

Kids gettin' down at a school I visited in Ghana. Hey kids, be cool, stay in school!

Here's another one you might not hear much about with all the debate regarding No Child Left Behind. How about no child left at school?

"An American kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. That’s more than a million every year, a sign of big trouble for these largely clueless youngsters in an era in which a college education is crucial to maintaining a middle-class quality of life — and for the country as a whole in a world that is becoming more hotly competitive every day.

Ignorance in the United States is not just bliss, it’s widespread. A recent survey of teenagers by the education advocacy group Common Core found that a quarter could not identify Adolf Hitler, a third did not know that the Bill of Rights guaranteed freedom of speech and religion, and fewer than half knew that the Civil War took place between 1850 and 1900.

“We have one of the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world,” said Allan Golston, the president of U.S. programs for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In a discussion over lunch recently he described the situation as “actually pretty scary, alarming.”

Roughly a third of all American high school students drop out. Another third graduate but are not prepared for the next stage of life — either productive work or some form of post-secondary education.

When two-thirds of all teenagers old enough to graduate from high school are incapable of mastering college-level work, the nation is doing something awfully wrong." (Read the whole sad tale here).

This is a good column, similar to the many others that pop up a couple of times a year that make you say "Are we really that messed up educationally and intellectually as a nation?!" Apparently we are. However as usual there is no mention of the possibility that intellectual development might be intimately related to spiritual and moral development. I'm not talking about "prayer in schools" propaganda either which is essentially a smoke screen for spreading a particular brand of Christianity (sorry, I had to say it). What I'm saying is that to do well in academics, to even stick around long enough to do well, requires at least one spiritual and moral capacity: the capacity for sacrifice. The problem is, as I've said in "Pursuit of a Pain Free America", according to the new social contract, "sacrifice" is a four-letter word and demanding the best of our children is considered a form of child abuse! I remember when I was a kid, I watched one of those news stories about how kids were educated in Japan or China I think. This news story was pure propaganda. The core point was that these kids spent all their time in school rather than doing cool things like American kids. "Look at that weird society", the story implied, "aren't you glad to be an American where you're not some kind of mass-produced intellectual slave?" Being a bit of a nerd (still am) I didn't think spending more time in school would be so bad. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time but watching this thing on these news left me with the impression that I wasn't getting the full story. Little did I know, right?

There are at least two selections from the Baha'i Writings worth pondering here:

"How long shall we drift on the wings of passion and vain desire; how long shall we spend our days like barbarians in the depths of ignorance and abomination? God has given us eyes, that we may look about us at the world, and lay hold of whatsoever will further civilization and the arts of living. He has given us ears, that we may hear and profit by the wisdom of scholars and philosophers and arise to promote and practice it. Senses and faculties have been bestowed upon us, to be devoted to the service of the general good; so that we, distinguished above all other forms of life for perceptiveness and reason, should labor at all times and along all lines, whether the occasion be great or small, ordinary or extraordinary, until all mankind are safely gathered into the impregnable stronghold of knowledge. We should continually be establishing new bases for human happiness and creating and promoting new instrumentalities toward this end. How excellent, how honorable is man if he arises to fulfil his responsibilities; how wretched and contemptible, if he shuts his eyes to the welfare of society and wastes his precious life in pursuing his own selfish interests and personal advantages. Supreme happiness is man's, and he beholds the signs of God in the world and in the human soul, if he urges on the steed of high endeavor in the arena of civilization and justice. "We will surely show them Our signs in the world and within themselves."[1] [1 Qur'án 41:53.]"
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 3)

"The primary, the most urgent requirement is the promotion of education. It is inconceivable that any nation should achieve prosperity and success unless this paramount, this fundamental concern is carried forward. The principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples is ignorance. Today the mass of the people are uninformed even as to ordinary affairs, how much less do they grasp the core of the important problems and complex needs of the time."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 109)

Perhaps of course there is a kind of divine justice in what is happening to the intellectual (or lack thereof) foundations of American society. Perhaps the next stage in the battle for the decolonization and liberation of the masses of people around the world will be waged on the battlefield of the mind. Formerly subjugated, humiliated populations will surge forward on the wings of intellectual, spiritual and moral excellence while comfort loving and ignorant nations fall into chaos and decline. If so, then maybe this column is a sign of a redistribution of global power that is long overdue, a revolution of brains rather than bullets. Wouldn't that be nice?

Everlasting Father

Image of a letter written in Baha'u'llah's own hand to his daughter.

One of my favorite passages in the Baha'i Writings, especially during the Ridvan Festival is a long list of magnificent Names used to refer to Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith.

"He Who in such dramatic circumstances was made to sustain the overpowering weight of so glorious a Mission was none other than the One Whom posterity will acclaim, and Whom innumerable followers already recognize, as the Judge, the Lawgiver and Redeemer of all mankind, as the Organizer of the entire planet, as the Unifier of the children of men, as the Inaugurator of the long-awaited millennium, as the Originator of a new "Universal Cycle," as the Establisher of the Most Great Peace, as the Fountain of the Most Great Justice, as the Proclaimer of the coming of age of the entire human race, as the Creator of a new World Order, and as the Inspirer and Founder of a world civilization. To Israel He was neither more nor less than the incarnation of the "Everlasting Father," the "Lord of Hosts" come down "with ten thousands of saints"; to Christendom Christ returned "in the glory of the Father," to Shí'ah Islam the return of the Imam Husayn; to Sunni Islam the descent of the "Spirit of God" (Jesus Christ); to the Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram; to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna; to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha."
(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 93)

As I contemplate welcoming my first child into the world in October, it is the Fatherhood of Baha'u'llah that is uppermost in my mind. Not just in the spiritual sense but in the practical sense, for like all the Manifestations of God, Baha'u'llah had a dual nature, both divine and human. Baha'u'llah was not only the "Everlasting Father" but during his earthly life he was also a "dad". Baha'u'llah had several children of which the most well-known and well loved included 'Abdu'l-Baha, Bahiyyih Khanum, and Mirza Mihdi. During His life, Baha'u'llah shared in the joys and sorrows of fatherhood under the extraordinary circumstances of imprisonment, torture, and a decades long exile from His native land. He even had a bury a son who died in His arms. I think of other fathers in the world, fathering against the odds, from Boston to Bombay. I wonder what kind of father I will be, privileged and comfortable as I am sitting here typing away. What tests will I face on the path of fatherhood. Will I pass those tests? I'll close with these Words of Baha'u'llah:

"Unto every father hath been enjoined the instruction of his son and daughter in the art of reading and writing and in all that hath been laid down in the Holy Tablet...God hath prescribed unto every father to educate his children, both boys and girls, in the sciences and in morals, and in crafts and professions. . . ."
(Compilations, NSA USA - Developing Distinctive Baha'i Communities)

Ridvan: Paradise is Political

Oranges growing near the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, Akka, Israel, 2006


The Ridvan (meaning Paradise) Festival, the most sacred 12 Days in the Baha'i calendar is fast approaching. It marks the period in 1863 when Baha'u'llah publically proclaimed His Station as the latest Manifestation of God Whose Mission was to unite the human race in a global civilization of peace and justice. As always it is a wonderful time to ponder the meaning of this special period. Christian thinkers have long practiced the art of pondering the theological significance of the Word of God, both as scripture and as embodied in the life of Christ, the Apostles and the Hebrew Prophets who came before them. From time to time I've tried to practice this art relative to the Central Figures of the Baha'i Faith, Baha'u'llah, The Bab and Abdu'l-Baha. This piece of writing represents another such effort. The question that I'm pondering is, "What does Ridvan mean to me?" My approach to the question begins with my often stated view that any religion worth discussion must deal squarely with the question of power, who has it, who doesn't and how to distribute it more equitably. I believe that one meaning of Ridvan is that it represents the intervention of God in history for the purpose of transforming relationships of power and powerlessness, privilege and deprivation. Baha'u'llah's own testimony implies that this is the heart of His Mission:

"The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish. He Who hath come to build anew the whole world, behold, how they that have joined partners with God have forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of cities!"
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 99)

While the Revelation of Baha'u'llah is strictly non-partisan and supra-national in nature, its implications are political in the sense that it is ultimately about the radical redistribution of power from its concentration in the hands of the few to the masses of humanity who must participate as equals in the creation of a global society. Such a radical redistribution of power is truly the last becoming first and the first last, a resurrection of human nobility and possibility, long buried beneath an unjust social order:

"Arise, and proclaim unto the entire creation the tidings that He Who is the All-Merciful hath directed His steps towards the Ridvan and entered it. Guide, then, the people unto the garden of delight which God hath made the Throne of His Paradise. We have chosen thee to be our most mighty Trumpet, whose blast is to signalize the resurrection of all mankind."
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 31)

This is what Ridvan means to me.

Grateful for a Handful of Seeds

It's a been a rough semester for this doctoral student. This piece about the world-transforming activities of researchers and student right across the river just gave me a shot of energy to get through the next four weeks:

IN THE NEW movie "21," a fictionalized version of how several former MIT students used mathematical skill to win big at blackjack, being "pretty good with numbers" looks like a quick way to get rich in Las Vegas. Real life at MIT may seem less glamorous, but it's actually more exciting, because our students and faculty are using their gift for numbers and analysis to change the world.

Take, for example, the problem of global poverty. Over five decades, the world has spent upwards of $2 trillion on development aid, without many lasting results. One reason is that, to a striking degree, aid funds are spent without understanding which interventions really work. It's as if a new drug could enter the market simply because some patients who take it get better. We've long understood that without a control group for comparison, there's no way to tell whether symptoms improve because of the drug or for some unrelated reason.

Today, 2.6 billion people struggle to survive on less than $2 a day. Given the magnitude of the problem, it's imperative to identify which antipoverty efforts work best. That is exactly the aim of MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, headed by MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, and including a growing network of researchers at institutions around the world. The Jameel Poverty Action Lab is leading a quiet revolution. The idea is simple: to identify the most effective ways to alleviate poverty by applying the same kind of rigorous, scientific, randomized trials routinely used to test new drugs. (Read the whole thing here).

In medicine and increasingly in the social sciences, efforts like the ones at MIT are part of what is known as "evidence based practice", using the best available empirical evidence to guide policy and practices for human betterment. The following quote of 'Abdu'l-Baha has become one of my favorites:

"All blessings are divine in origin, but none can be compared with this power of intellectual investigation and research, which is an eternal gift producing fruits of unending delight. Man is ever partaking of these fruits. All other blessings are temporary; this is an everlasting possession...Therefore, you should put forward your most earnest efforts toward the acquisition of science and arts. The greater your attainment, the higher your standard in the divine purpose."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 49)

Of course, Baha'u'llah had even more inspiring things to say about knowledge:

"Knowledge is as wings to man's life, and a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone. The knowledge of such sciences, however, should be acquired as can profit the peoples of the earth, and not those which begin with words and end with words. Great indeed is the claim of scientists and craftsmen on the peoples of the world. Unto this beareth witness the Mother Book in this conspicuous station. In truth, knowledge is a veritable treasure for man, and a source of glory, of bounty, of joy, of exaltation, of cheer and gladness unto him."
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 26)

What could be more delightful than spending my remaining days applying the power of social science in pursuit of social justice and human wellbeing?

"In the mirror of their minds the forms of transcendent realities are reflected, and the lamp of their inner vision derives its light from the sun of universal knowledge. They are busy by night and by day with meticulous research into such sciences as are profitable to mankind, and they devote themselves to the training of students of capacity. It is certain that to their discerning taste, the proffered treasures of kings would not compare with a single drop of the waters of knowledge, and mountains of gold and silver could not outweigh the successful solution of a difficult problem. To them, the delights that lie outside their work are only toys for children, and the cumbersome load of unnecessary possessions is only good for the ignorant and base. Content, like the birds, they give thanks for a handful of seeds, and the song of their wisdom dazzles the minds of the world's most wise."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 21)

Contemplating this gives me the strength to keep going, "When the swords flash, go forward. When the shafts fly press onward." Now if I could just figure out how to live without sleep for four years....

Wright Is Not What's Wrong

Photo of Rev. Jeremiah Wright in Chicago

I'm a little late in the game regarding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy. I've tried not to say anything about it, but the more I've thought about it the more I've wanted to weigh in. Here it is in a nutshell, as far as race in America goes, Rev. Wright is not what's wrong. However, the amount of ink spilled and airtime burned up in response to the sound bites of some of his sermons is an illustration of the psychologizing of racism that I described in a recent post. What happened regarding Wright from start of finish represents a post-modern version of a pre-modern social ritual, a public stoning. Here is how this works, an individual makes statements regarding race that are considered, at least by some, to be reprehensible. Various individuals and groups condemn the individual in every available media. Personal integrity itself is measured by whether or not you will also join in the condemnation (your very presidency could hang in the balance). This reaches a certain climax and then begins to recede, depending on the level of outrage the comments provoked. Then another individual makes similar statements and the whole cycle begins again. The problem with all of this is that it reflects the view that racism is about the thoughts or feelings of individuals (primarily psychological) and not about the distribution of power and resulting structural inequalities. I believe that the popularity of this public condemnation of allegedly "racist" individuals derives from the psychological payoff to those who participate, namely a sense of moral superiority or legitimacy. It becomes a part of one's "anti-racist" or "pro-American" or "uniter not divider" resume. The question is whether it actually addresses the real problem which is power and inequality. My point is not that people should be silent in the face of comments considered outrageous, oppressive etc. My point is that we should be careful not to confuse the ritualized, psychologized version of challenging such statements with meaningful action regarding race/racism. One really good policy is worth a thousand condemnations of individuals whatever they say. Ideally, the comments of individuals can be used to focus attention on how they may be a symptom of social structures and the need to change them. If the attention focused on Rev. Wright's comments over the past few weeks have that effect, then it would be much more valuable than discussing whether or not he is a "good person". I'll leave that judgment to God.

"When perfect justice reigns in every country of the Eastern and Western World, then will the earth become a place of beauty. The dignity and equality of every servant of God will be acknowledged; the ideal of the solidarity of the human race, the true brotherhood of man, will be realized; and the glorious light of the Sun of Truth will illumine the souls of all men."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 154)

Chinese Muslims, Malt Liquor, and Minorities

This photo drips with irony

In Boston and other cities it appears that the color-line influences the placement of package stores according to a recent study:

"A University of Minnesota study of 10 cities, including Boston, has found that alcohol, especially malt liquor, is more widely available in poor, black neighborhoods.

The study, released yesterday, found that poor neighborhoods with high concentrations of African-Americans had significantly greater than average numbers of liquor stores, 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor in coolers, and storefront ads promoting malt liquor.

"It wasn't overly surprising, as I think there's been anecdotal evidence to suggest that," said Rhonda Jones-Webb, the study's principal investigator. "We are one of the first to systematically document that."

Some local activists said yesterday that liquor stores are preying on the poor. "Start at the intersection of Dudley Street and Blue Hill Avenue and go all the way to Mattapan. . . . There's more liquor stores than churches," said the Rev. Shaun Harrison, who works to keep youths out of gangs at Project GO (Gang Out)." Read the whole article here.

Meanwhile in China, it's not just Tibetans who are protesting in the streets:

"SHANGHAI — Chinese officials said Wednesday that they were grappling with ethnic unrest on a second front, in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims protested Chinese rule last month even as Tibetans rioted in the southwest.

Chinese security officers in Kashi, Xinjiang Province, on Wednesday. In March, Uighur Muslims protested in Hotan.

One Uighur demonstration, which appears to have been quickly suppressed, took place in the town of Hotan on March 23, at the same time China was deploying thousands of security officers across much of its southwest to put down Tibetan unrest.

Officials said the protest was staged by Islamic separatist groups seeking to foment a broader uprising in Xinjiang. China often accuses what it calls splittists and terrorists of being behind any ethnic disturbance. Human rights groups say that Chinese Uighurs, like Tibetans, have fought for greater freedom to practice their religion as well as more autonomy from Beijing.

The news of the protest in Xinjiang underscored the breadth of China’s problems with ethnic and religious minority groups in the country’s vast western regions, where there is a long history of unhappiness with Chinese rule. Ethnic groups Beijing has sought to pacify with economic development programs and suppress with a heavy police presence appear to be using the coming Olympic Games, to be held in Beijing in August, as an opportunity to press their grievances and attract international attention." Read all about it here.

What do unhappy Chinese Muslims and way too much malt liquor in poor black communities have in common? The issue here is the vexing question of how majorities relate to minorities in any society. Virtually every conflict on the globe and the related problems regarding ethnicity and race are connected to this question. For some minority communities, things have gotten so intolerable that they have come to believe that the only answer is become majorities in separate states of their own (i.e. Kosovo). As I have often said, the heart of the matter is power, in this case the concentration of power within majority groups due to their size relative to minority groups and the tendency of majority groups to use their power to their own advantage at the expense of minorities. Changing this unjust dynamic, I believe is central to the mission of the Baha'i Faith:

"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."
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 42)

Part of this organic change that the world has not yet experienced is a fundamental transformation in the way that majorities behave toward minorities. This transformation is identified as something that should distinguish Baha'i communities:

"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)

Imagine for a moment how different the world would be if this was the standard by which majorities measured their behavior towards minorities.