Baha’is in the US have for a century worked to end racism and promote race unity. The Race Unity Project is an oral history of this story; it was started by Maziar Bahari, who isn't a Baha'i. The project looks at successes and challenges Baha'is face – and what they're doing now to address this vital issue.
“We don’t hear white people talking about how slavery has negatively affected them,” says Nancy Wong, a Baha'i living in Chicago. She shared that although she has many white friends who know that they’re ancestors were enslavers, none of them acknowledge that their feeling of entitlement is a direct result of slavery. In this short clip from the “Race Unity Project,” Nancy discusses how important it is for white people to address their legacy of privilege. “In order to heal, people of European descent in this country will have to address their illnesses in a way that is not shameful,” she says. Watch as Nancy shares how shame often hinders white people from talking about racism and being committed to abolishing it.
Louis Venters shares a story of how Abdu’l-Baha exemplified his commitment to race unity and universal brotherhood in his personal life and instructed others to do the same.
In this video clip from “The Race Unity Project,” Sue St. Clair shares what it was like, given her experiences with #racism, to see a display of interracial love and friendship for the first time. This happened during a visit to the #Bahai House of Worship for North America, located on the shores of Lake Michigan just north of Chicago in Wilmette, Illinois.
