Category: Mashed Potatoes

Things that are important to me, personally.

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“This is…” a Photo Journal

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I was poring over my cache of photos and images this morning and decided that I’d like to share them with y’all (in my opinion, the single most useful word concatenation in the universe) in a sort of photo journal. I’d love for it to be a daily photo journal but the chances of me doing something on a daily basis besides waking up eventually and drinking a cup of coffee (or two) are slim and none and, as a new writing collaborator put it, slim just left town.

So, here is the first “This is…”

This is … a tattoo worn discreetly upon the person of Gina Suzu Myoko (aka Tinkerbell), the young female detective displayed here on the cover of her debut novelette, Tinkerbell on Walkabout. It’s a design that celebrates her religious and spiritual heritage. Yes, that is a Buddha and, yes, he is indeed seated at the heart of a lotus situated in the center of a Russian Orthodox cross.

There is a reason for this juxtaposition of Buddhism and its younger sibling, Christianity. Gina’s mother, Nadezhda Miyoko (a professor of Eastern European folklore at SFSU) is Russian Orthodox. Gina’s father, Ed Miyoko (a retired SFPD officer) is Buddhist. He is also the chairman of a Sherlock Holmes appreciation society, but that’s a story for another day.

I am not telling where the tattoo is situated. You’ll have to wait until the first Tinkerbell novel is published. No, I haven’t yet found a publisher. But I hope to continue to release Gina Miyoko mystery short fiction through Book View Cafe while I wait with patience and faith in my delightful agent.

 

 

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Really, Really Pretending: Bowling Green

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There is a Baha’i prayer that invokes aid from God ”to refute what is vain and false.” Since Baha’is are also not to participate in partisan politics, finding a balance between these two mandates can be difficult. This is my attempt to apply the spirit of Baha’u’llah’s prayer without entering into partisan political discourse, because in the final analysis, it doesn’t matter who uttered the words below. What matters is that these words represent the government of the country in which I was born and in which I live. A country I believe has a pivotal role to play in the realization of the essential oneness of mankind.

So, this…

“I bet it’s brand-new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.” – a presidential spokeswoman, on Chris Matthews ”Hardball”, January 29.

To be clear, there was no Bowling Green Massacre, which has been verified by the residents of Bowling Green (a real place with real people living in it). Hence, the statement led to a gobsmacked reaction from the press and many Bowling Green Massacre jokes, memes and tweets, my favorite of which was this…

 

“Finding these Bowling Green Massacre jokes to be a little too soon. Out of respect, we should wait until it takes place.” – Justin Shares

All of which led to this…

“On @hardball @NBCNews @MSNBC I meant to say “Bowling Green terrorists” as reported here: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/al-qaeda-kentucky-us-dozens-terrorists-country-refugees/story?id=20931131 …” – Tweet by above mentioned spokeswoman, February 3

Let’s consider what ”Bowling Green Terrorists” would have sounded like in that sentence…

”…President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green terrorists.”

Nope. Doesn’t work structurally … or factually; there were no Bowling Green terrorists for them to mastermind. They were not arrested for activities here, but for what they had done in Iraq before coming to Bowling Green—activities that were uncovered in an FBI investigation. Nor did President Obama impose a six-month ban on the refugee program. What he did was slow the process down by increasing the rigor of the vetting system (that this same spokeswoman has claimed does not exist at all). This is all verifiable from multiple sources.

But here is the reality check on the spokeswoman’s ”clarifying” tweet above. On the same day that she made the Bowling Green Massacre a ”thing” in ways I’m certain she did not intend, she gave a phone interview to Cosmopolitan magazine. Speaking about the ban President Obama allegedly imposed, she said this…

”He did do it, it’s a fact. Why did he do that? He did that for exactly the same reasons. He did that because two Iraqi nationals came to this country, joined ISIS, traveled back to the Middle East to get trained and refine their terrorism skills, and come back here, and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre of taking innocent soldiers’ lives away.” – source Cosmopolitan.com from a telephone interview with spokeswoman, January 29

This is a grammatically challenged version of the same claim made on ”Hardball”. In both cases, she used the same phrase: ”masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre”. But here, she added that the victims of Bowling Green were soldiers. In fact, these terrorists did kill soldiers—in Iraq.

Update: The spokeswoman also said this during an on-the-street interview posted as a video on TMZ. Specifically, she said this…

“He did that because, I assume, there were two Iraqis who came here, got radicalized, joined ISIS, and then were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green attack on our brave soldiers.”

Let’s all be real here. This White House spokeswoman is stating as fact that President Obama instituted a ban on Iraqi refugees because of an event that never occurred. She did not misspeak (three times in the same day). She made stuff up.

I make stuff up, too. It’s my job. But I market it as fiction and do not expect my readers to take it as real life.

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News, Fluff and Damn Fluff

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I use a news aggregator to ping me with breaking news stories. My sources run the gamut from NPR to Fox to CNN to the AP News to The Guardian to DailyMail to Breitbart to Vox. Obviously of these media outlets, NPR, Fox, Associated Press, CNN and the Guardian are what I would call major news outlets because of the size of their audience.

I’ve noticed that Fox’s news feed is out of phase with literally all the other news sources. Yesterday, for example, they had nothing on the gag order affecting the EPA and other institutions except a piece that spotlighted the ”defiance” of the National Park Service for continuing to tweet climate data after being told to muzzle their social media use.

Just now, I got reminded again, of how radically different Fox News coverage is from other media outlets. Three stories came up in swift succession from my news feed: 1) The AP reported that the Trump administration will seek big staff and budget cuts at the EPA. 2) Reuters reported that the State Department suspended refugee resettlement interviews (aka ”vetting” of people seeking asylum here). 3) The AP newswire noted that Mr. Trump is calling for a 20% tax on Mexican imports (this after either he or the president of Mexico or bothcancelled that president’s visit—depends on whom you believe.) 4) Fox News asked ”What’s in a name?” and posted a story about people named Alexa. 5) CNN reported on the tax on Mexican goods.

I went out to several news sites to see what they had on their front pages. NPR was covering the cancellation of the presidential meeting, the EPA gag order, the ”rogue” NPS tweets, and a 140,000 gallon Iowa pipeline leak (third pipeline leak since July that I know of). The Guardian had the first three of those stories, and some other US and international news. Associated Press had those, plus three other stories related to the situation with Mexico.

Then there was Fox. Fox had nothing on the gag orders on their very crowded main page. Even the story about the defiance of the NPS had been pushed off by fresher news. It was replaced by stories like the one about how we can ”Make the border wall a monument to friendship” and a Fox poll that claims most voters feel they’ve achieved the American dream (That was quick—only two months ago, we were led to believe the American dream was dead.), and several stories about animals (an abandoned horse, a murdered eagle, and a clever beagle). There was a red-highlighted link to a list of Mr. Trump’s executive orders so far.

Here’s my takeaway. Not only does Fox News rarely report on stories that are important to the nation’s citizens, when they do report, they fixate on a single detail or aspect of a story, missing the overall picture (aka, burying the lede). They also do something I find particularly destructive—they spin the news to give the reader or viewer a false impression about what the story really was. I’ve mentioned before how they routinely made both the economic news and employment figures during the Obama administration sound as if they were disappointing by using contradictory adjectives and adverbs to describe them (i.e. ”only 217,000 jobs were created” when experts were expecting 150,000, or describing a positive economic showing as ”disappointing” or ”stagnant” or ”lackluster”). Viewers may have gone away with a bleak sense of the American Dream because of the descriptive terms used.

As a writer, I’m here to tell you that adjectives and adverbs can be sneaky. They put images in your head that, in turn, affect your emotional sense of a story. It takes effort and practice to read around them. (For the love of all that is good or holy or human, please try.)

Why is this important?

It’s important because of the way our society has ”siloed” or ”bubbled” such that large clumps of our fellow Americans get all their news from a single source. Fox News claims that it is America’s most trusted news source. There is a reason they make that claim. According to a Pew Research poll, it is because 47% of self-identifying conservatives cite Fox as their main or only news source. Ponder that in light of what is on their website or their shows on a given day. The article goes on to say that

“Far fewer choose any other single source: Local radio ranks second, named by 11%, with no other individual source named by more than 5% of consistent conservatives. “

Self-identifying liberals, progressives or independents spread their acquisition of news out. The Pew article states:

“On the left of the political spectrum, no single outlet predominates. Among consistent liberals, CNN (15%), NPR (13%), MSNBC (12%) and the New York Times (10%) all rank near the top of the list.”

While Fox News is the single news source trusted by conservatives (72%),

“… NPR (72%), PBS (71%) and the BBC (69%) – are the most trusted sources among those with consistently liberal political values.”

(Interestingly, NPR’s audience polls at one-third liberal, one-third conservative, and one-third moderate—fairly balanced between the different audiences. Their news programs and articles are, I note, low on adjectives and adverbs.)

What does all this mean?

First, let me tell you what it does not mean. It does not mean that there is never straight-up factual reporting on Fox. There is. But it does not counter what is left out, what is spun, what is blown out of proportion and what is factually untrue in a quest for “eyeballs”. Fact checking organizations such as Politifact have clocked Fox’s statements alleging to be fact at 51% Mostly False to Pants-on-Fire (with plain False the winner at 29%) and its truthfulness at 49% Half to completely True with Half True winning the prize at 19%.

What all this does mean is that there is a significant portion of the American populace that is completely unaware of some major news stories or of the nuances of the ones they do encounter. When the women’s marches happened all over the world with millions of people taking to the streets, our neighbors who watched, listened to, or read only Fox News should be forgiven for believing that it was a relatively small congregation of chubby, elitist, Prius-driving, latte-drinking liberals whose little protest was paid for by ”big abortion money” or George Soros (the bloggers who “broke” that story got a lovely pair of toasted pantaloons for that one). They would be skeptical or even disbelieving if you told them it was a grass roots movement that drew over a million people to DC alone, before you even added in the LA, SF, NY and other abbreviated and unabbreviated metropolises and small towns. They would be surprised to find that other media outlets—apart from the allegedly “liberal” CNN, New York Times and Washington Post—showed evidence of their size.

Moreover, Fox commentators, who are paid to give their opinion, often break stories that later turn out to be in error, but that are never retracted, or are broken with great fanfare and retracted or corrected very quietly. Other news outlets also do this and it, too, creates mirages that we, the viewer, recall as being real.

So, what can any of us do about this?

First, know what’s going on. Get the facts from multiple sources if you can. When listening or reading filter out descriptive terms that are there to engage your emotions. Understand as much as you can about a subject. Then talk. Talk about the news stories that Fox is not covering. Give more information on stories their audience might have heard, but only caught the emotional subtext of. Encourage simple curiosity in those who are puzzled by the fact that they didn’t know the EPA was even under a gag order or why that’s scary or that there’s a larger context in which the National Park Service’s “rogue tweets” exist.

Third time I’ve said this today: Knowledge is power. Spread it around.

oOo

In this day the mysteries of this earth are unfolded and visible before the eyes, and the pages of swiftly appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world; they display the doings and actions of the different nations; they both illustrate them and cause them to be heard. Newspapers are as a mirror endowed with hearing, sight and speech; they are a wonderful phenomenon and a great matter.

But it behooves the writers and editors thereof to be sanctified from the prejudice of egotism and desire, and to be adorned with the ornament of equity and justice. They must inquire into matters as fully as possible in order that they may be informed of the real facts, and commit the same to writing. Concerning this wronged one, what the newspapers have published has for the most part been devoid of truth. Good speech and truthfulness are, in loftiness of position and rank, like the sun which has risen from the horizon of the heaven of knowledge.— Baha’u’llah, Tablet of Tarazát.

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Our Most Challenging Issue – Six

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The following is the entirety of Part IV of The Vision of Race Unity: America’s Most Challenging Issue.

The responsibility for the achievement of racial peace and unity in the United States rests upon both Black and White Americans. To build a society in which the rights of all its members are respected and guaranteed, both races must be animated with the spirit of optimism and faith in the eventual realization of their highest aspirations. Neither White nor Black Americans should assume that the responsibility for the elimination of prejudice and of its effects belongs exclusively to the other. Both must recognize that unity is essential for their common survival. Both must recognize that there is only one human species. Both must recognize that a harmoniously functioning society that permits the full expression of the potential of all persons can resolve the social and economic problems now confounding a society wracked with disunity.

It is evident that both Black and White Americans in large numbers are feeling deeply disappointed and frustrated by what each group perceives to be a failure of the efforts in recent decades at effecting progress in the relations between the races. To rationalize this failure, both have been reacting by retreating to the more familiar ground of racial separation. As the problems with crime and drug addiction mount, the tendency is to use the seeming intractability of these problems as a measure of the failure of years of struggle on the part of both to overcome the barriers of centuries. Formidable as is the challenge yet to be met, can it fairly be said that no significant progress has taken place since the days of the sit-ins at lunch counters across the South?

Similarly, the victims of a protracted and entrenched racial discrimination seek relief in the notion that Black Americans, White Americans, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans are so distinctly different from one another that all of them must stake out their own cultural and social territories and stay within them. Would this be sensible? Would it not be a retreat from the reality of our common humanity? Would it not be a formula for the total breakdown of civilization? Those who raise the call for separation preach a grim doctrine indeed. If the nation is seriously to submit to such a view, where exactly will either the Black or the White Americans divide their cultural heritage, one from the other?

no-racismRacism runs deep. It infects the hearts of both White and Black Americans. Since without conscious, deliberate, and sustained effort, no one can remain unaffected by its corrosive influence, both groups must realize that such a problem can neither easily nor immediately be resolved. “Let neither 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 has left on the fair name of their common country.

Both groups must understand that no real change will come about without close association, fellowship, and friendship among diverse people. Diversity of color, nationality, and culture enhances the human experience and should never be made a barrier to harmonious relationships, to friendship, or to marriage. “O well-beloved ones!” Bahá’u’lláh wrote. “The tabernacle of unity has been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree and leaves of one branch.” (The Vision of Race Unity)

oOo

I find it hard to add to what the National Spiritual Assembly has said in this segment of their message. But I would like to focus for a moment on the two broad groups affected by this gap in understanding. There are those who feel America is ”post-racial” and that people of color just need to stop complaining and take advantage of the opportunities that surely must exist for all. They deny that systemic racism exists, often by confusing the concept with the accusation that all white people are racist or prejudiced against non-whites. Conversely, there are people of color who actually do believe that all whites are racist, or at the very least, hold the conflicting viewpoints that 1) whites must be responsible for all efforts to heal the divide and 2) that there is nothing their white would-be allies can do to heal the divide. Any attempt amounts to paternalism or merely reinforces ”white privilege.”

Both viewpoints create an impasse. As The Vision of Race Unity suggests, the solution is ”close association” between ”whites” and ”people of color” so that we begin to understand race as an issue that affects people we know and care about, not just faceless, monolithic groups.

in-gods-handsAbove, I place quotes around the words ”white” and ”people of color”. This is because I believe these are questionable distinctions. First, we are all people of color. Some of us are simply pastel for reasons that science has thoroughly spoken to. Second, there is no ”white race”; there are a myriad ethnic groups who happen to be people of a lighter color than others. Light skin is an evolutionary adaptation to the way that the body must process melanin in the northern climes.

We humans exist on a single continuum from the darkest blue-black of a Berber living in North Africa to the palest beige of a Scandinavian; from the golden-hued Mongol to the burnished copper of the Lakota or Navajo. But we are all, as both religion and science tell us, members of one human family with a common ancestry.

In this day, more than ever, it is imperative that we grasp that reality and live according to that knowledge, as Buddha would say, ”that all things are of one Essence…” (Dhammapada). Our future depends upon it.

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Our Most Challenging Issue – Five

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A frequent refrain in media, in social networking memes and posts, in political rhetoric and in classrooms is that the United States is the greatest nation on Earth. It has also been called a grand experiment and a melting pot.

It is exactly that peculiar nature of our country—that it was founded by immigrants and sought to welcome and include yet more immigrants of diverse tribes—that makes it unique. Comedian Jon Stewart commented in a recent interview that, in setting up this ”one nation” with (the ideal of) ”liberty and justice for all”, we were going against millions of years of human evolution. We were setting up a set of federated units that flew in the face of millennia of tribalism. It should be no surprise, he said, that it’s hard.

I’d disagree with Mr. Stewart in one particular—as a Baha’i, I believe that our evolution has been drawing us ever closer to a recognition of our unity through overcoming our reflexive tribalism. Reversing the process of integration is to buck evolution—to de-evolve.

If we are to continue to progress as a nation that is part of a larger global network, we must solve the problem of tribalism. We have come too far in our development as a species to disentangle ourselves from each others’ lives genetically, socially, administratively, emotionally or spiritually. Indeed, it makes no sense to do so, for we came from one source, diverged, and now live in a world in which segregation is increasingly impossible. Attempts to artificially impose such segregation will, instead, bring about disintegration.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States addresses the issue this way:

”The persistent neglect by the governing bodies and the masses of the American people of the ravages of racism jeopardizes both the internal order and the national security of the country.

”From the day it was born the United States embraced a set of contradictory values. The founding fathers proclaimed their devotion to the highest principles of equality and justice yet enshrined slavery in the Constitution. Slavery poisoned the mind and heart of the nation and would not be abolished without a bloody civil war that nearly destroyed the young republic. The evil consequences of slavery are still visible in this land. They continue to affect the behavior of both Black and White Americans and prevent the healing of old wounds.

”Healing the wounds and building a society in which people of diverse backgrounds live as members of one family are the most pressing issues confronting America today. Her peace, her prosperity, and even her standing in the international community depend to a great extent on the resolution of this issue.

”That the virulence of the race issue in America attracts the attention of the entire world should spur this country to an unprecedented effort to eliminate every vestige of prejudice and discrimination from her midst. America’s example could not fail to have a profound influence on world society, nor could it fail to assist the establishment of universal peace. ’For the accomplishment of unity between the colored and white,” the Bahá’í writings proclaim, “will be a cause of the world’s peace.’” — The Vision of Race Unity

liberty-weepingIt is in this ability to influence the progress of the entire world that our potential greatness—and our potential shame—lie. We can influence the world for ill or good. We can offer an example of separation, suspicion, open hatred and disintegration, or we can demonstrate our ability to lead humanity into the next phase of its maturity.

The Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, writing in the 1930’s about the potential of America, said that American Baha’is should not ”imagine for a moment that for some mysterious purpose or by any reason of inherent excellence or special merit Bahá’u’lláh has chosen to confer upon their country and people so great and lasting a distinction. It is precisely by reason of the patent evils which, notwithstanding its other admittedly great characteristics and achievements, an excessive and binding materialism has unfortunately engendered within it” that America was chosen to lead the way toward global unity. It is precisely because the United States is ”immersed in a sea of materialism, a prey to one of the most virulent and long-standing forms of racial prejudice, and notorious for its political corruption, lawlessness and laxity in moral standards”, that this nation has the mandate to show the rest of world that human solidarity and unity is not only possible, but is an inevitable stage in our evolution as a species.

In other words, it is because the challenge is so Herculean and so fraught that by meeting it, we can exercise unique influence on other nations and ”be a cause of the world’s peace.”

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Our Most Challenging Issue – Four

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This is the fourth in a series of essays that use, as their centerpiece, the statement on race unity released some years ago by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States: The Vision of Race Unity: America’s Most Challenging Issue. The quoted segment below is Part II of the statement, and its primary focus is applying the spiritual principle of the oneness of humanity to the individual and collective life of the nation.

Buddha famously said, “It is indeed a fact that salvation cannot come from the mere sight of Me. It demands strenuous efforts in the practice of Dharma (Truth). But if someone has understood this my Dharma, then he is released from the net of suffering, even though he never set eyes on Me. A man must take medicine to be cured; the mere sight of the physician is not enough.” — Buddhacarita XXV 33:4

This is what every Teacher/ Prophet/ Manifestation of God has taught. You have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Christ also enunciates this clearly: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Matthew 7:21-23

There are a number of passages in the Baha’i Scriptures that speak to this idea that principle must be applied if it is to have an effect in the material world. The following passage was written by the Founder of the Faith, Baha’u’llah, in the latter half of the 19th century.

“It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action…. That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. In another passage He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.” — Baha’u’llah, Proclamation of Baha’u’llah, p 116

The principles enunciated by the various Teachers that God has sent to guide us require knowledge, volition, and action if they are to have an effect in the material world. These Teachers do not say ”believe this and you shall live”, but ”DO this and you shall live.”

These are deceptively simple principles that can be very hard to follow, especially with people we think of as different in some essential way. But it is only through the application of these principles that we progress as a species.

When Christ said “DO this and you shall live”, He was referring to rendering loving service even to those we feel we have every reason to despise (in the case of the Jew and the Samaritan, because they were of different tribal and religious groups).

The National Spiritual Assembly, in its statement, focuses on the application of Baha’u’llah’s spiritual principle of the oneness of humanity and its implications for the necessity to eliminate racial prejudice from our individual and collective lives.

oOo

“The application of the spiritual principle of the oneness of humanity to the life of the nation would necessitate and make possible vast changes in the economic status of the non-white segments of the population. Although poverty afflicts members of all races, its victims tend to be largely people of color. Prejudice and discrimination have created a disparity in standards of living, providing some with excessive economic advantage while denying others the bare necessities for leading healthy and dignified lives. Poor housing, deficient diet, inadequate health care, insufficient education are consequences of poverty that afflict African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanic Americans more than they afflict the rest of the population. The cost to society at large is heavy.

“Evidence of the negative effect of racial and ethnic conflict on the economy has prompted a number of businesses and corporations to institute educational programs that teach conflict resolution and are designed to eliminate racial and ethnic tensions from the workplace. These are important steps and should be encouraged. If, however, they are intended primarily to save the economy, no enduring solution will be found to the disastrous consequences of racism. For it cannot suffice to offer academic education and jobs to people while at the same time shutting them out because of racial prejudice from normal social intercourse based on brotherly love and mutual respect. The fundamental solution—the one that will reduce violence, regenerate and focus the intellectual and moral energy of minorities, and make them partners in the construction of a progressive society—rests ultimately on the common recognition of the oneness of humankind.

“It is entirely human to fail if that which is most important to people’s self-perception is denied them—namely, the dignity they derive from a genuine regard by others for their stature as human beings. No educational, economic, or political plan can take the place of this essential human need; it is not a need that businesses and schools, or even governments, can provide in isolation from the supportive attitude of society as a whole. Such an attitude needs to be grounded in a spiritual and moral truth that all acknowledge and accept as their own and that, like the oxygen that serves all equally, breathes life into their common effort to live in unity and peace. Absence of the genuine regard for others fostered by such truth causes hopelessness in those discriminated against; and in a state of hopelessness, people lose the coherent moral powers to realize their potential. This vitalizing truth, we are convinced, is summarized in the phrase: the oneness of humankind.

“So essential is the principle of the oneness of humanity to the efficacy of educational programs that it cannot be overemphasized. Without its broad influence such programs will not contribute significantly to the development of society. The very fact that businesses are themselves implementing educational programs is indicative of the glaring deficiency of the entire educational system. As we have already said, beyond the mechanisms of education lies the essential prerequisite of a proper attitude on the part of those dispensing curricula and, even more important, on the part of society as a whole. On this basis, education is not only the shortest route out of poverty; it is the shortest route out of prejudice as well. A national program of education, emphasizing the values of tolerance, brotherhood, appreciation for cultures other than one’s own, and respect for differences would be a most important step toward the elimination of racism and, as a consequence, the bolstering of the economy.” (Emphasis mine) — The Vision of Race Unity, Part II

oOo

fullsizeoutput_c03The message seems clear: as long as education does not consider human virtues such as tolerance, kindness, rationality, and genuine knowledge of and appreciation for others as necessary to our society and to our survival as a species, we will not learn these things and our society will always be torn by needless, futile schism. The world we claim we want—a peaceful, prosperous world in which our children do not need to claw their way to some imaginary top—will remain forever beyond our grasp.

The choice is ours. We make it day by day and minute by minute when we act—or fail to act—upon those principles we profess to believe. Principles enshrined in the scriptures of our various faiths, the founding documents of our nation and the words of our national leaders.

“The attainment of any object is conditioned upon knowledge, volition and action. Unless these three conditions are forthcoming there is no execution or accomplishment. In the erection of a house it is first necessary to know the ground and design the house suitable for it; second, to obtain the means or funds necessary for the construction; third, to actually build it.” — Abdu’l-Bahá, Foundations of World Unity, p 101

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Our Most Challenging Issue – Three

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In the last two paragraphs of Part I its statement The Vision of Race Unity: America’s Most Challenging Issue, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States writes:

For too much of its history and in so many places the human race has squandered its energy and resources in futile efforts to prove the unprovable: that one portion of itself, because of separation by geography, a difference in skin color, or the diversity of cultural expression, is intrinsically distinct from another portion. The ignorance and prejudice on which such efforts are founded have led to endless conflicts in the name of the sanctity of tribe, race, class, nation, religion. Paradoxical as it may seem, in the consistency of these negative efforts across the spectrum of the race, humanity has proved the exact opposite: it has affirmed its oneness. The proof is in the fact that, given the same circumstances, all people, regardless of ethnic or cultural variety, behave essentially the same way. In the futility of its efforts to classify and separate its diverse elements, humanity has become disoriented and confused. Unaided by the divine influence of religion, people are incapable of achieving a proper orientation to their innermost reality and purpose and are thus unable to achieve a coherent vision of their destiny. It is in this respect that the Bahá’ís find relevancy, direction, and fulfillment in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of their Faith.

The oneness of humanity is a spiritual truth abundantly confirmed by science. Recognition of this truth compels the abandonment of all prejudices of race, color, creed, nation, and class–of “everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others.” The principle of the oneness of humankind “is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope…. It does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal…. It implies and organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced.”

oOo

Religion—or at least the Prophet-Founders of revealed religion—have told their audiences repeatedly that living in unity with their fellow beings is a hallmark of faith. From the Judaic ideal of treating the stranger as one of our own, to Christ’s appeal to care for even people whose differences we believe should cause us to despise them, to Muhammad’s insistence that we were put upon this earth in all our human diversity that we may know (and not despise) each other, to Baha’u’llah’s blunt assertion that “the earth is but one country and mankind its citizens”,  these Beings have pressed the same message in context with the capacities of their audience.

The essential oneness of humanity has been a religious principle for uncounted ages, warring incessantly with our human tribalism. In 1996, science confirmed this principle through the Human Genome Project. Since, a number of other scientific studies have brought us closer to understanding the reality of human unity—indeed, of the underlying unity of all life.

Baha’is believe—and we are not alone in this—that mankind is reading a tipping point. That we are stepping out of the stormy, pimply, rebellious teenage years of our existence onto a path to adulthood. In at last comprehending the reality of the oneness of mankind, our species puts on its big girl pants. One of the most succinct and forceful statements of this process is from Baha’u’llah’s great-grandson, Shoghi Effendi (also referred to by Baha’is with the simple title “the Guardian”), which the National Spiritual Assembly quoted in part above. Here’s the larger passage, for context:

”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 cöoperation 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, pp 42-43)

For the record, Shoghi Effendi wrote this in 1931. Racial unity, then, is not just something that affects families, neighborhoods, communities, states, regions or even, ultimately, only the United States. It is part of a much larger picture that I think we are only dimly perceiving.

 

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Our Most Challenging Issue – Two

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The following is from the statement “The Vision of Race Unity: America’s Most Challenging Issue”, published by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States. This is the national guiding body for the Baha’is of the continental US (Alaska and Hawaii have their own National Spiritual Assemblies).

In light of our nation’s distressing “discovery” that we are not a post-racial society and that racial animus is still alive in our communities, I decided to offer another way of making reality behave—by recognizing the problems and issues it calls upon us to face.

The first segment of the statement on race unity begins by setting forth the foundational principle of Baha’i belief—the oneness of humanity.

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The oneness of humanity is the pivot round which revolve all the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith. It is at once a statement of principle and an assertion of the ultimate goal of human experience on the planet. More than a century ago Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, wrote: “The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.” It is a principle that issues naturally from the genesis and purpose of human existence. The Word of God as presented in the Bahá’í writings offers compelling insights as in the following examples:

Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.

Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created. Since We have created you all from the same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest. Such is My counsel to you, O concourse of light! Heed ye this counsel that ye may obtain the fruit of holiness from the tree of wondrous glory.

All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization. The Almighty beareth Me witness: To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth.

Having gone through the stages of infancy and turbulent adolescence, humanity is now approaching maturity, a stage that will witness “the reconstruction and demilitarization of the whole civilized world–a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life.” In no other country is the promise of organic unity more immediately demonstrable than in the United States because this country is a microcosm of the diverse populations of the earth. Yet this promise remains largely unrealized even here because of the endemic racism that, like a cancer, is corroding the vitals of the nation.

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The italicized passages above are from the writings of Baha’u’llah, Prophet Founder of the Baha’i Faith. These scriptures, penned by Baha’u’llah in the latter half of the 19th century,  form the foundation of our belief that we humans are one family—as singer/songwriter Red Grammer put it, “a coat of many colors”.

The US has been called “a grand experiment”, “a nation of immigrants”, “a melting pot” of diversity. As the National Assembly notes, it is “a microcosm of the diverse populations” of the world we live in.

nimoy-2A maxim Baha’is live by, given to us by Baha’u’llah, is Unity in Diversity. Fans of Star Trek may recognize Unity in Diversity as a byword among Vulcans and a concept revered by the United Federation of Planets. (There was a reason for that; a couple of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s writers were Baha’i.) Anyone who saw the most recent Star Trek movie—Beyond—will have recognized this theme throughout the film: that there is strength in unity.

Conversely, there is weakness in disunity. Racism is a force for disunity that can erode the strongest of foundations and cause the disintegration of the fabric of our society. It is doing that even now.

Baha’is believe that we are not powerless against this force. If we are to preserve this “coat of many colors” we must resist the forces of disintegration. The good news is that each of us has the capacity to do this and to counter those with love, faith, and reason through thought, word and action and in any and all of the interactions we have with other human beings.

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Our Most Challenging Issue – One

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This is the first of a series on the issue of race unity, in which I’d like to share some thoughts on a facet of our national life that is yet a source of social disintegration. Obviously, only we, as individuals and members of intersecting groups within our society, can arrest and reverse that disintegration.

What follows are the introductory paragraphs of a document published some years ago by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, entitled The Vision of Race Unity: America’s Most Challenging Issue.

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“Racism is the most challenging issue confronting America. A nation whose ancestry includes every people on earth, whose motto is E pluribus unum, whose ideals of freedom under law have inspired millions throughout the world, cannot continue to harbor prejudice against any racial or ethnic group without betraying itself. Racism is an affront to human dignity, a cause of hatred and division, a disease that devastates society.

“Notwithstanding the efforts already expended for its elimination, racism continues to work its evil upon this nation. Progress toward tolerance, mutual respect, and unity has been painfully slow and marked with repeated setbacks. The recent resurgence of divisive racial attitudes, the increased number of racial incidents, and the deepening despair of minorities and the poor make the need for solutions ever more pressing and urgent. To ignore the problem is to expose the country to physical, moral and spiritual danger.

“Aware of the magnitude and the urgency of the issue, we, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, speaking for the entire U.S. Bahá’í community, appeal to all people of goodwill to arise without further delay to resolve the fundamental social problem of this country. We do so because of our feeling of shared responsibility, because of the global experience of the Bahá’í community in effecting racial harmony within itself, and because of the vision that the sacred scriptures of our Faith convey of the destiny of America.”

(From “The Vision of Race Unity”, a statement from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States)

To give you an idea of what Baha’i sacred scriptures say about the elimination of racism, there is this:
Among men exists the diversity of animosity, and it is this that causes war and hatred among the different nations of the world.

Abdul-Baha“Differences which are only those of blood also cause them to destroy and kill one another. Alas! that this should still be so. Let us look rather at the beauty in diversity, the beauty of harmony, and learn a lesson from the vegetable creation. … Thus should it be among the children of men! The diversity in the human family should be the cause of love and harmony, as it is in music where many different notes blend together in the making of a perfect chord. If you meet those of different race and colour from yourself, do not mistrust them and withdraw yourself into your shell of conventionality, but rather be glad and show them kindness. Think of them as different coloured roses growing in the beautiful garden of humanity, and rejoice to be among them.

“Likewise, when you meet those whose opinions differ from your own, do not turn away your face from them. All are seeking truth, and there are many roads leading thereto. Truth has many aspects, but it remains always and forever one. Do not allow difference of opinion, or diversity of thought to separate you from your fellow-men, or to be the cause of dispute, hatred and strife in your hearts. Rather, search diligently for the truth and make all men your friends.”

(From a talk given by Abdu’l-Bahá—son of the Founder of the Baha’i Faith—in the US in 1912)

In the last several months I have watched or read interviews with several Americans who do not believe that race was an issue in the United States until we elected a Black president. While it is tempting to chalk this up to a difference of opinion, there is another force at work here, and that is the force of ignorance that George Santayana expressed in this way:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (The Life of Reason, 1905)

This repetition of history by people who have forgotten that institutionalized racism ever existed is neither innocent nor without effect. There are those among who cannot help but remember the injustice and pain of historical racism, because they feel its effects daily in multiple facets of their lives, from how they interact with their colleagues to how they are treated by law enforcement agencies to how they are watched when they are doing things most of us take for granted, such as shopping, driving, or walking down a street.

In an age when information is literally at our fingertips, have we any excuse for not remembering that this ”most challenging issue” has been with us for a very long time? The statement I quoted above was published in 1991 and the principles it draws from were first proclaimed in the mid-nineteenth century. At time during which, in the United States, our president, Abraham Lincoln, had just signed the emancipation of Black slaves into law.

Over a century has passed and issues of racial inequality and disunity are still hampering our progress as individuals and as a nation. That’s the bad news. The good news is, the solution is still within our grasp if we are only willing to apply it.

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Well-Informed Electorate Take Two

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your-vote-countsI’d like to talk about elections.

No, not the mind-numbing chaos of the current presidential elections—which will no doubt affect the congressional elections to come, and traumatize anyone old enough to grasp what’s going on. I’d like to talk about an election that my husband and I and our adult children took part in recently—the selection of a delegate whose mandate it will be to participate in the annual election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States.

We received our ballots in the mail from the Baha’i National Center a month before the election took place. The voting materials consisted of two envelopes and a single blank piece of paper. One envelope has a place for the voter’s name and address (if you’re mailing it in); the other is featureless, except to note that it contains a delegate ballot. The sheet is blank because there are no nominees for delegate—every ballot is a write-in ballot. The unmarked inner envelope is to ensure that the ballot is secret.

Our family then attended the unit convention, which meant congregating with other Baha’is in our electoral area at the Baha’i Center in San Jose early on a Sunday morning. We had breakfast together and chatted, then gathered in the main hall where we quickly elected a convention chairman and secretary. Then we voted for our delegate to the National Convention in April.

The mechanics of a unit convention are simple: We pray, there is music (this year my husband, Jeff, and I did the honors), then we are reminded about the qualifications/qualities to look for in those we choose to serve in this capacity: people who combine such qualities as unquestioned loyalty, selfless devotion, a well-trained mind, recognized ability and mature experience. There are also ideal qualities that we aspire to as members of the electorate. Ideally, we have become acquainted with both the principles of our faith and the people we elect, so that we can get a sense of the qualities they possess. Then, we are to cast our votes with thoughtful consideration of those qualities, but without passion or prejudice, or regard for material concerns.

bahai062007_59The same criteria is used when Baha’i communities all over the world elect their Local Spiritual Assemblies; the gatherings held to participate in the process look much the same. The difference here is that instead of one blank on a ballot sheet, there are nine, and each Baha’i votes directly for the members of their Assembly. When our delegate goes to Wilmette, Illinois, to cast a ballot for the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly, the same process will be followed: nine blank slips upon which each delegate will write the names of those they believe have the qualities I mentioned above.

How do we nominate those we vote for? We don’t. Every adult Baha’i in the electoral unit, from the local to international level, is eligible to serve. As there is no nomination, so there is no campaigning, no electioneering, and no discussion of personalties. There are no political factions or parties, no policy platforms, no debates, and no warring constituencies. We elect every administrative body in this way—including the Universal House of Justice, which is the guiding body for the global Baha’i community.

This works. It’s been working since 1899 when the first elected Baha’i institutions came into being in Tehran, Iran and Chicago, Illinois.

Naturally, this sort of process requires that the electorate be well-informed about a number of things, including the qualities necessary for serving selflessly on a collaborative and consultative body and the character of the people from among whom the members of the institution must be drawn. This was an intentional design on the part of the Framer of the Baha’i Administrative order so that we have yet one more reason to know each other as members of an extended family.

But here’s the thing: while we are asked to acquaint ourselves with the qualities and character of our fellow Baha’is, we are not to discuss them except in the abstract. As I’m weighing my choices, I might have a dialogue with a family member about whether humility or self-confidence is more important in consultation. But for me to say to another Baha’i, ”I like Ike, but he’s not humble enough to serve on an assembly” or ”Gerta is great, but she’s not very assertive in consultation”, is a non-starter. And this system, in which every adult Baha’i is electable and the ballot secret, makes avoidance of that sort of discussion easier than in the greater republic’s current system. It is a process that demands participants demonstrate maturity—which means growth opportunities galore.

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Seat of the Universal House of Justice

I’ve saved the best for last. At least, this was the aspect of Baha’i institutions that impressed me the most when I first encountered the Faith (actually, it excited me to the point of squeeing). Individuals who serve on Baha’i assemblies, whether at the local, national or international level, have no personal power or authority above or beyond what any other Baha’i has. The institution has the authority to handle the ordinary and extraordinary business of the community—from the establishment of educational activities to paying the mortgage on a Baha’i Center (in communities fortunate enough to have one) to protecting members of the community from harm (which is more difficult in some countries than others)—the individual members have none.

So, as our unit elected our delegate to the national convention and consulted together about what we would like the assembled delegates and the incoming National Assembly to consider, we were all intensely aware of the utter chaos and hostility taking place around elections in the nation at large. I, for one, was glad to be part of a community in which the obligation to cast a ballot was a joyful and unifying one.