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Winter 1996—97
World order
THE UNITED NATIONS: AN IMPORTANT FORCE FOR PROGRESS
E DI TORIAL
THE JOURNEY OUT OF THE RACIAL DIVIDE
MICHAEL L. PENN
LETTERS FROM A NINETEENTH— CENTURY KANSAS BAHA’L
DUANE L HERRMANN
CAN POETRY PROMOTE PEACE? A REVIEW
PETER E. MURPHY
VOLUME 28, NUMBER 2
World 01m
WORLD ORDER IS INTENDED TO STIMULATE. INSPIRE, AND SERVE THINKING PEOPLE IN
THEIR SEARCH TO FIND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS AND PHILOSOPHV
Edllorlsl Board; quz KAZEMZADEH
BETTY J. FISHER
HOWARD GAHEY
nanm’ H. STOCKMAN
JAMES D. STOKES
Cansulmn! In Poetry:
HERBERT woouwmm MARTIN Subsnrlbur Service:
LISA comes
WORLD ORDER is published quarterly by (he National Spiritual Assembly of (he Bahá’ís of the Unjrrd Starts, 415 Lmden Avenuc’ Wilmene, II. 60091, POSTMASTER: Send address rhangcs (0 WORLD ORDER Subscriber Servicc. Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091. The Views expressed herein are those of rhc authors and do nor necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher, the National Spit}, rual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Start), or of the Editorial Board. Manuscripts can bc typewritten or computer generated. They should be double spaced throughout, wnh [he foomores at (he cnd.'1'he contributor should send four copies—an original and :h rec lcgibk copies—and should keep a copy. Rt” [urn posmge should be included. Send manuSCl’iP[S and Other editorial Correspondence (0 WORLD ORDER, 415 Linden Avenue. Wilmcrrc, IL60091. E-mail: WorldordchDusbnuurg
Subscription rates: USA. and surface to all other mumires, lycar, $ 1900; 2 yL‘ars, $36.00; single copies, $5.00. Airmail to all other coulr tries. 1 year, $24.00; 2 years, $46.00. WORLD ORDER is prowcmd through Hademark registration in the US. Patent Office. Copyright © 1997. National Spiritual Assembly of (be 831151: of the United States. All Rights Reserved, Printed in (he U.S.A. ISSN 0043-8804
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IN THIS ISSUE
The Unirud Nutium: An Impunam Forcc for Progress [Miloria/
Imcrchungu: [.cucrs frum and m th’ Editor
The Journey ()u[ of the Rania] Divide by Mir/Me/ 1.. l’nm
On Rmrinninn .Ind Absululiun pocm by Rim: Harmwu
Lemur: from a Nlncmcmh-(Icnmry Kanm Babs"! by [)ulmr 1.. Hrrrmmm
Can l’octry Promote l’cacc.’ rcviuw by I’elrr If, qur/r/{y
The Anatomy of a l’ucm
poem by R. I). Huff
Authors & Artists in This Issue
2
The United Nations: An Important Force for Progress
ROM their origin the United Nations and its predecessor. the League Fof Nations, have been controversial. President Wilson's dreams and plans for a peaceful world were attacked and defeated in his own country, dooming the League to ultimate ineffectiveness and failure. The United Nations, the next inevitable attempt [0 establish collective security and maintain peace, has had numerous detractors who, even when they did not deny the need for an international organization, have systematically minimized its importance, stressed its defects, and advocated restricting its sphere of activity and influence. On the far—uut Fringe thcrc are those who see the United Nations as a sinister conspiracy to subvert the nations and establish by force ofarms :1 world dictatorship
Bringing order to a chaotic world of sovereign states is no easy task. While no aggressor will concede the right of the international community to prevent aggression, and no violator of human rights will welcome international monitoring of its inhumane practices. a“ status inevitably will resist to a greater or lesser extent the establishment of an order some elements ofwhich are bound to bc distasteful to one or another segment of their population. Whether it be peacekeeping, protection of thv: environment, advancement of women, defense of religious freedom, or adjudication of disputes, some party will feel dissatisfied and will criticize the organization that it cannot control
Ofcourse, the United Nations, like any human organintion, is impcrfli’t. Its defects are many and are periodically discussed The problems range from such weighty ones as [l’lC permanent membership in the Security Council to such trivialities as the frequent nonpayment of New York City parking fines by diplomats. But United Nations hashing is not the solution. Withholding funds assessed by international agreement, refusing cooperation [0 UN reporters, ignoring General Assembly resolutions, anal engaging in persistent destructive criticism weaken the only international organization that is designed to settle disputes, protect weaker nations, Iand create the means for political, economic, and cultural cooperation.
Bahá’í’s hailed the creation of the League of Nations and at its demise fully expected to see it rise again, as it did only five years later in San Francxsco, transformed and strengthened as the United Nations. For the 135‘ fifty years this world organization has consistently received the sup113::‘2‘31:[::?:h:h;csl;:3nli\§::nd the eoopcration of Bahá’í’ institutions.
ons an instrument for the establishment
o; a permanent and universal peace and, therefore, a welcome stage in t e progress of cmhzation.
WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996—97
Interchange LETTERS FROM AND '10 THE EDITOR
THIS issue of “70er Order contains an article, a poem, and a book review dealing with what we have came to know as the most challenging issue Facing Americathe racial division that is the mirror of all the conflicts assailing humankind. Michael Penn, in “The Journey Out of the Racial Divide,” tells the story of the conquest of prejudice in himself, first from poignant personal experience and then from a deep reading of history and psychology and the consequent understanding of the origins of racial prejudice and of psychosocial and spiritual facrors in the cure of this terrible disease. Dr. Penn’s story offers a striking blend of sincerity, conviction, and thorough research on many aspects of the problem of separation and antipathy. His commingiing of the profoundly personal and thoughtful Contemplation of the logical consequences of his innermost feelings touch the heart and the mind, as does his recognition of the double responsibility of whites and blacks to arrive at true equality.
Rhea Hatmsen’s poem “On Restitution and Absolution,” briefly quoted in “The Journey Out of the Racial Divine"—and printed separately in its entirety in this issue, obviously provides Dr. Penn with inspiration His account of his personal connection with the poem and the poet lends deep human interest to what he has
to say. Let his assessment of the poem suffice for the purposes of Interchange: “In her poem Harmscn depicts a century’s exacerbation of the racial division, lamenting that when our forefathers introduced (slavery) . . . ‘They defined the most great issue that would challenge us today.' . . . Its cadence and deep tunes rcvetbetatc in the deep wells of pain and confusion that echo from this land."
In “(Ian Poetry Promote Peace?” Peter Murphy reviews two anthologies. one a combination of prose and verse, the other devoted entirely to poetry. and both on essentially the same subject: the attempt. mostly by African-Americans but also by other minorities, to find the bridge between two castes that have been artificially defined in such a way as to conceal their essential oncness, their common humanity. But the conCealment is slipping, as these poems show for the most part, except for the occasional expression of bitterness against what is perceived as the oppressing “race." The quotations are generous and representative and are highly revealing of many States of mind of which all our readers might not be aware
Finally, Duane Herrmann has painted the background ofand provided commentary on a treasure trove that he calls “Letters from a Nineteenth-Century Kansas Bahá’í‘" From it we receive a breath of fresh air from the dawn of the Bahá’í Faith in America, a time when the Bahá’ís knew very little about the Bahá’í
teachings, read the Bible fervently with the knowledge that its prophecies had been fulfilled, and clung to the three or four Bahá’í’ “communes" they had been taught, confidant that the prayers represented a new divine revelation. Here we have letters from a small town in the Great Plains, a really unlikely place, if you depend on facile stereotypes, for this religion from the exotic Middle East to take root. The depth of the faith of these people, considered against the background of the paucity of sources at their disposition, is remarkable and inspiring. In addition [0 the commentary, these letters are reproduced in their original form, preserving all the spell
IN’l'ERCI MNGE
ings of the Swiss native who was their author.
- 11
Please accept our apologies In our Fall 1996 issue we printed the US. House and Senate debate and their concurrent resolution calling for the emancipation of the Iranian Bahá’í community However, we neglected to report that the Resolution passed the House on 27 March by a vote of 408 to 0 and the Senate on 16 June 1996 by unanimous consent. Many thanks to an observant reader who called the omission to our attention.
5
Intraduttian
AM an African—American professor at a
small, well-established liberal arts college. Most of my students are white, upper-middlc class, and very hardworking. In general, I love my students and respect them very much. One day, however, I learned that l harbored a great deal of prejudice against a certain type of Student. These students are wealthy, white males who wear their caps backwards and who approach life with a certain insouciance. I became acutely aware of this prejudice when one of these students entered my office to chat.
During the first several minutes with this student, I stubbornly resisted having a real relationship with him. Because of his dress and manner, I had decided that before me was a pampered, probably arrogant, partygoing young man who had little interest in or concern for anyone but himself. Resentment welled up in me as I thought of the struggles with poverty that I had had to endure as a poor black boy growing up on welfare. I thought of the days when I waited in long lines, gripped with shame, to receive government cheese so that my seven siblings and I could eat; I thought of my struggling mother, who, having been an overweight “welfare mother," was the secret target of jokes. All of these thoughts mingled with thoughts of the ease, comfort, and privilege that this young man probably enjoyed. I felt myself disliking him intensely.
Copyright © 1997 by Michael L. l’enn. The author would like to thank the editors of World Order, whose invaluable editorial assistance has made the compluion of this essay possible.
!___4
7
The Journey Out of the Racial Divide
BY MICHAEL L. PENN
When I became fully aware of my feelings toward him, I decided, at that moment, that here was my opportunity to practice what I had been struggling to do, with more or less success, for many years. My attitude toward the young man began to change as I consciously struggled to relate to him “as if” he were none of the things I had projected onto him. When I opened my heart and began to listen to his concerns, his dreams, his fears and aspirations, I saw myself in him. The disrance between us began to close, and race and class and all those things that divided us began to fade. Quite frankly, in that brief period of time, I grew to care about him, and we had a stimulating, heart—to-heart talk. That moment of personal transformation has inspired these reflections on race in America as we stand on the threshold of the twenty-first century, poised, if we choose, to make the next step in the journey out of the racial
divide.
The journey In THE FIRST step in the journey out of racism is to look back in hiStory to locate and understand its origins, a legacy shared nut only by my student and me but by all humanity. In 1924 an anatomist at the University of Wtwaterstrand received some rocks containing fossils from one of his students who had been digging in a limestone quarry at Taung, two—hundred miles fromjohannesburg, South Africa. After a careful examination of the rocks, Professor Raymond Dart concluded that they contained three-millionyear-old skull fragments, which he later named Australopitheru: Africunus. Professor Dart’s discovery was important for two reasons. It
8 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996—97
was the first in a chain of disCOVEYiCS that would establish East Africa as the probable birthplace of all humankind. And it established the monogenesis, or common biological roots, of all people. From East Africa human beings began to spread throughout the planet.
The migration of early humans to different parts of the world led to the physical, genetic, and cultural differences commonly referred to now as racial or ethnic groups. Biologists tell us that without the diversification of the gene pool human beings would have gradually become extinct. Biological diversity tenders human groups more robust by increasing their resistance to various types of genetic defects and environmentally induced diseases. The diversification of humankind can thus be understood as nature‘s way of ensuring humanity’s survival.
In the fifteenth century, after many millennia of evolution and development in relative isolation, the peoples of the world began to come back together again. Yet, despite advancements in shipbuilding, mapmaking, and navigation that enabled increasing numbers of the world’s peoples to have on—going contact with one another, the fit5t several centuries of contact among diverse peoples have been marred by economic exploitation, eultural hegemony, enslavement, and brutality.
The fifteenth century also saw the emergence of racism—a new kind ofprejudicethat was to inflict a deep, psychosocial wound on the human community. Racism may be distinguished from ethnocentrism in that it seeks to justify the superiority ofa particular ethnic, cultural, or religious group based on permanent and unalterable biological, psychological, or spiritual factors. By contrast, ethnocenttism, a form of prejudice practiced
1‘ See Richard Popkin, TheHi I:Rn d! ' (San Diego: AuStin Hill. 1980) 75?. a ”UWOM'"
by the ancient Hebrews, Christians, and Greeks, allowed for ways of overcoming the alleged inferiority by conversion to the superior group or by assimilation into the dominant culture’s language, traditions, and Values. For example, the Greeks considered anyone who did not speak and write the Greek language a “barbarian.” However, as one came to master Greek culture, one was eventually “civilized" and accepted as an equal.
In contrast to ethnocenttism, racism emerged in Spain to deal with the large numbers ofjews who had been forcibly converted to Catholicism and who were rapidly becoming leaders of the Church. Because the Jewish converts had had a long, distinguished history of religious scholarship, they were well prepared to advance rapidly within the Church hierarchy. Since the absence of knowledge could not be used to discriminate between Ncw Christians, or ronvtrms, and Old Christians, it was decided that they would be distinguished on biological grounds. Anyone who had had a Jewish ancestor in the previous five generations was considered a New Christian and was forbidden to attend college, join mosr religious orders, or hold government jobs. To prove that one did not belong to the Jewish, “inferior group,” one had to produce a “certificate of purity of blood.” The Inquisition was established in both Spain and Portugal to ensure that those of Jewish ancestry were kept out of mainstream society, irrespective of their knowledge, beliefs, or church membership.l
As noted by Richard Popkin, a professor
of philosophy and history, the new form of
discrimination differed from ethnocentrism
in that it allowed no means for leaving the
group discriminated against‘ While some Jews
escaped discrimination by changing their
identities, going into hiding, or fleeing to
different parts of the world, they had no
opportunity to prosper while living in Spain
or Portugal as converts or as jews. Since
biological racism was contrary to the Chris
[Page 9]
tian doctrine of converting everyone to the “brotherhood of Christ,” theories were needed to support and justify the new form of permanent inferiority. Justifications were founded on the idea that Jews possessed characteristics that biologically and spiritually could never be completely changed; these characreristics, it was argued, would lead to behaviors that would jeopardize the development and wellbeing of the community. On this premise Jews were rendered permanent second—class citizens.2
When the Spaniards and Portuguese sailed to America, they brought their racial doctrines with them. “Certificates of whiteness” were introduced and served as equivalents to the certificates of purity of blood. As Popkin has noted in his essay “The Philosophical Basis of Modern Racism,” the basis for racism against the Jews was easily established within a Christian paradigm since the Jews were widely viewed as the killers of Christ and eternal enemies of Christianity. When Columbus took biological racism to the New World, however, no such justification for prejudice againsr the Native Americans existed. European explorers were thus faced with the need to establish the identity of the native inhabitants in a way that would juStify their murder, economic exploitation, and enslavement.
One theory advanced to justify the whimman Status of Native Americans was that they did not derive their origins from the Biblical world of Adam and Eve. Rather, they had a separate and independent origin. They were not Adamites, it was argued, hut pre-Adamites. As such, they were not fully
2. Popltin, High Road In l’yrr/Janirm 80‘
3. Popkin, High Road In [yn/mnixm 85. .
4‘ Alexander Thomas and Samuel Sillcn, Raw”! M I’rjt/Iiany (Secaucus. New Jersey: Citadel Press. 1979) 1—2.
_____4
THE JOURNEY OUT OF THE RACIAL DIVIDE 9
human in any Biblical sense. In this manner the polygenesir theory of human evolution was born. It held that human groups cannot trace their origins to a single source but, rather, de—tive from separate evolutionary trees At the cutting edge of evolution were European Christians. Everyone else fell somewhere below.
In support of the view that Native Americans were subhuman, it was argued that they were incapable of abstract ideas, were unable to govern their own communities, were incapable of becoming true Christians, and, because they practiced sodomy and offered human sacrifices, were not able to be properly moral. The Spaniards and Portuguese would thus have to bring Indian society under their supervision and governance.3
Although some accepted the pre-Adamite, not—fully-human status of Indians, others maintained that Indian inferiority derived, not from a separate origin but from degeneration. Similar explanations For the assumed inferiority of Africans were also advanced. For example, the curse of Ham, a “divine act,” was frequently invoked to explain African inferiority. Commenting on this fact, psychiatrists Alexander Thomas and Samuel Sillen wrote that,
As proof of the black’s predetermined deficiency, it was once considered sufficient to invoke Scriptural authority. According to Genesis, Noah was so enraged at his son Ham for beholding him naked that he thundered a curse dooming all the descendants of Ham to be the servants of servants. This passage was interpreted with the customary latitude by plantation owners who identified their slaves with the doomed tribe of Ham, thus providing unassailable Biblical support for the thesis that blacks are inherently subordinate creatures.‘
Thus the philosophical basis for modern racism was articulated by those who rejected the Biblical account of a single origin for all
10 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996—97
humankind and replaced it with either a polygenetic theory or a theory of degeneration. The associated claim was that nonAdamites, or those who had been cursed, were characterized by a different nature. Nonwhite, non—Christians were thereby relegated to permanent inferiority. This was a radically different way to think about human identity in that earlier philosophers did not tend to base their assessments of human nature on skin color, facial features, hair texture, or any other superficial attribute. Rather, “man” had been defined and evaluated in terms of spiritual attributes—such as thought, will, values, and aspirations.5 With the spread of the scientific method during the Enlightenment, biological racism received increasing support from scholars, philosophers, and statesmen all over the Western world. By the eighteenth century, according to Popkin, there was a vast amount of literature on why blacks are black, why people speak primitive and inferior languages, and such matters. The application of the experimental method of reasoning to these problems brought forth two kinds of results, one a highly elaborated degeneracy theory, and the other a polygenetic explanation that claimed that differences between whites and nonwhites were fixed and perma nent. Part of the battle between these basic accounts involved the question of whether there is a basic unity of mankind or a basic diversity.6 For most of the last several centuries the
5. Popldn, High Road In I‘Iyrrbonirm S. 6. Popkin, High Rudd m lj'rr/Mm‘rm 85.
Z David Hume, quored in P0 kin. H’ R I’yrr/mnixm 93. P 1gb ”M m 8. See W Stanton 77x Lea 11' ' ' '
‘ , par .t Spots. Snmn r Attitude: Ewarzz': Race in America, 1815—1859 (Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1960).
9. Samuel Gr Morton, uoted ' Th ' jam,” amfiycbiah}. 4. q m omas and Stllen,
focus has been on the diversity of human nature rather than its basic unity. With tare exceptions for more than three centuries philosophers, scientists, and politicians affirmed the superiority of whites and the inferiority of all others. In his essay “Of National Characters." written in 1882, the influential British philosopher David Hume, wrote:
I am apt to suspect the negroes and in
general all other species of men (for there
are Four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white. nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufacturers among them, no arts, no sciences. On the ether hand, the most rude and barbamus of the whites, such as the ancient Germans. the present Tartars, have still something eminent about them, in their valour. form of government. or some other particular. Such
a uniform and constant difference could
not happen in so many countries and ages,
ifnature had nor made an original distinction thWlXI these breeds of men.7
In 1840 an eminent physician and professor of anatomy at the Pennsylvania Medical College, Dr. Samuel C. Morton. measured the cranial capacity ofskulls by filling them with pepper seeds. Based on his craniometric research, he concluded that the brains of various races became smaller and smaller as one "descended" From the Caucasian to the Ethiopian.“ These differences in brain size were said to account for “those primeval attributes of mind, which, for wise purposes, have given our race a decided and unquestionable superiority over all the nations of the earth.""
Cranial research continued in the early part of the twentieth century. In an article Published in theAmtritan/auma/afAmtomy in 1906 R. B. Bean, a researcher and anatomy professor, noted that the Negro brain was
smaller, had fewer nerve cells and fibers, and was thus less efficient than that of the white man. “We are forced to conclude,” he affirmed, “that it is useless to elevate the Negro by education or otherwise, except in the direction of his natural endowments.”m Similar arguments have been advanced by contemporary thinkers such as Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, authors of the widely read book TheBt/ICun/e, published in 1994.“ For the people of Africa and for the indigenous peoples of North America, such thinking has contributed to an enslavement and genocide so prolonged and so brutal that they will stain the annals of history forever.
Yet in spite of the brutality of slavery, and in spite of the near annihilation of the people who first called America their home, the mass migration of the peoples of the world to the North American continent marked a new stage in the life and development of humankind. Before the fifteenth century the peoples of the world, largely in response to the influence of great spiritual luminaries—such as Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus—had successfully organized themselves into families or Clans, then into tribes and city-states, and, finally, under the influence of Muhammad—into nations In each of these levels of social organization, the scope of community, or what anthropologists call the ufictive kinship," was successively expanded to include a wider range of the human community.
Now that nation building is nearly complete, it would appear that the next Stage in the evolution of life on the planet is the establishment of a single global community that is diverse, yet organically unified, in all the essential aspects of its life. The United States, a nation born out of the many nations
10. R. B. Bean, quoted in Thomas and Sillen, RMism ana'l’qrhinny 5.
ll. Richard Herrnsxein and Charles Murray, The Bell Curw(Ncw York: Free Press, 1994).
4_____-__
THE JOURNEY OUT OF THE RACIAL DIVIDE ll
of the world, represents a major step toward this end.
Although all the forces of history have been drawing us back together, we have resisted the pull toward oneness for several reasons. First, because America’s national psyche was developed on the foundation of biological racism, this ideology permeates and Clouds the nation’s vision. Second, many who confuse unity with uniformity fear the loss of cultural pluralism. Third, it is difficult to Forgive the historical and on-going injustices perpetrated by cultural or racial groups against one another. Fourth, many contemporary leaders derive their status from maintaining a spirit of race and class—based contention and divisiveness. Fifth, long—term, institutionalized injustices continue to create economic disparities that keep races, cultures, and nations in a constant state of conflict. And, last, much of humanity lacks the spiritual vision, moral discipline, or social maturity necessary to contribute to the creation of harmonious relationships. This combination of factors has led to a weakening of faith in humanity and a consequent paralysis of the collective will. It presents problems in communication that can seem almost insurmountable, even to people of goodwill such as my student and I, who want to transcend them in our daily interactions.
Same Perspectives on the Way Out IN spite of the fact that in America the practical means for the realization of a prototype for the unity of all humankind is already firmly established, few racial and cultural groups occupying the planet are more deeply divided than are America's blacks and whites. Our journey out of the racial divide cannot be realized without a greater maturity on the part of both races—a maturity founded on a deep and heartfelt recognition of our inter dependence. . . . In an illuminating series of studies in socml
psychology conducted in June 1954, Muzafer
[2 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996—97
Sherif and his colleagues found that Cl'iSCS play a vital role not only in orienting people's awareness to their interdependence but also in bringing antagonistic groups of peoglc together.‘2 Sherif and his research team discovered this when they took two groups of eleven—year—old boys to a summer camp called Robber’s Cave in the San Bois mountains near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Robber’s Cave State Park provided a two—hundred acre site with fishing, swimming. Canoeing, hiking, and other camp games and sports for the unsuspecting participants in Sherif’s three-week experiment.
All those who went to Robber's Cave that summer were white, middle—class males with no record of psychological, school, or behavioral problems. They became involved in the experiment when their parents secretly agreed to let them participate in a field study of intergroup conflict. None of the boys knew that the camp counselors and direcrors were all social psychologists. In addition, because Sherif had sent each group to camp on a separate bus, neither group was aware of the other’s presence for one week.
During the first week at Robber’s Cave, each group gave itself a name. One group called itself the “Eagles”; the other, the “Rattlers.” The Eagles and the Rattlers took part in separate activities designed to protnote group cohesion. Each group developed its own norms and leaders, and each designed its own flag. After the Eagles and Rattlers had established close bonds among
\ 12‘ For a summary of the Robber's Cave experirnent, see Muzafer Sherif, “Experiments in Group ConfliCt," Scimnfr American 195.5 (1956): 54—58, For a more thorough report on the study. see Muzafer Sherif, In Common I’redt'mmmr: Satiall’iyc/mlogy uf Initrgroup Canfliet andCoapmztimz (Boston: Houghton, 1966) . 13‘ Muzafer Sherif, “Experiments in Group Con;ha, in :JfiHgSV/MW; the Social Animal. ed. Elliott ronson, e . ew York: . . Pany) 1981) 325—24. W H Freeman and Com:
themselves, conditions were arranged so that they would “discover" one anorher.
When the Eagles first saw the Rattlers using what they regarded as utheir" ball field and “their" hiking trail, it sparked demands fora competition. As had been planned, the stat? arranged a four-day tournament including basketball. tug-of-war, a treasure hunt. and other events. The experimenters promised the winners a trophy, badges, and mulribladed pocketknives. Both groups worked hard in practice. cheered on their teammates, and booed and insulted the competition Hostilities escalated as the tournament progressed. culminating in a flag burning when the Eagles lost the tug-of-war.
The Eagles ultimately won the tournament and cullecred the trophy and pocketknives. But while they were celebrating their victory, the Rattlers raided their cabins and stole their prizes. The rivalry quickly escalated into a fulllblt)wn war. Name calling, fist fights, eahin raids. and food wars occurred around the Clock. The experiment had successfully transformed twenty—rwo normal boys into two gangs of violent troublemakers full of hostilities, prejudices. and resentments.
Sherif and his colleagues had set up this experiment to understand how intergroup conflict and hostilities develop and how they can be resolved. Conflict. Sheriffound, arises out of a perceived incompatibility of goals: “what one party desires, the other party sees as harmful to its interests."” The primary source ofconflict is competition. In the conflict between the Eagles and the Rattlers. each group sought to defend its swimming and playing territory; each stole the other's most valued possessions; and each engaged in 2thletic competition with the knowledge that only the winners would receive new pocketknives. The resulting escalation in hosrilities thus arose out of competition for limited material resources.
The Robber’s Cave experiment shows how easy it is for group competition to escalate
[Page 13]
into hostility, prejudices, and violence. In
situations of eonfliet, groups demand loyalty, solidarity, and adherence to group norms.
Group members “close ranks” and present a
united front. lnteracrion or empathy with the
out—group is condemned, thereby widening
the gap between the groups and making further
conflict nearly inevitable. Group leaders take
advantage of the unifying elfecr of conflicr
to consolidate and strengthen their personal
power. This is what Sherif and his colleagues
found in the Robbet‘s Cave experiment. Historical evidence suggests that the same conditions tend to develop among competing
groups in the wider society.
Having accomplished their firsr goal, Sherif set out to discover how the two antagonistic groups might be brought together. Their first approach to establishing intergroup harmony was based on the assumption that pleasant contacts between members of conflicting groups would reduce friction. Thus the Eagles and the Rattlers were brought together for social events: going to movies, eating in the same dining room, intergrnup parties, and so on. Far from reducing conflicr, each time they were brought together the conflicts between them only multiplied. The Eagles and Rattlers used the situations as additional Opportunities to bcrate and attack one anotheri In the dining hall line they shoved each other aside; they threw food and paper at each others' tables; an Eagle touched by a Rattler was warned by his fellow Eagles to brush “the dirt” from his clothes. Thus under pleasant conditions the 1’le between the two groups grew wider and deeper.
Then Shcrif and his research team hit upon an interesdng ideat They returned to the assumption that just as competition creates Conflict and friction. working in a common endeavor should promote harmony. They dCCided to create problems that would adversely affect bath groups and that could not bmolved unless the Eagles and Rattlers worked together. To test this hypothesis, Sherif cre ____4
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THE JOURNEY our OF THE RACIAL DIVIDE 13
ate'da series of urgent, natural challenges requiring cooperative action from both groups of boys.
The first problem they created was a breakdown in the water supply. Water was delivered to Robbet's Cave through pipes connected to a tank about a mile away. The experimenters arranged to interrupt it and called the rival groups together to inform them of the crisis. Both groups immediately volunteered to search for the water—line trouble and worked together harmoniously until the camp’s water supply had been fully restored.
Another problem emerged when the boys requested a movie. When they were told that the camp could not afford to rent one, the two groups got together, figured out how much each group would need to contribute, chose the film by a vote, and then enjoyed watching it together.
On another day the two groups went on a hike to a lake some distance from the camp. A large truck, they were told, had been sent for the food. But at just the time when everyone was getting quite hungry, they were informed that the truck, which was still some distance from where they were, and which the experimenters themselves had disabled, would not start. After a brief consultation, the boys decided to get a rope and pull together in an effort to start the truck lnterestingly, the same rope they had used in their acrimonious tug-of—war was used in the cooperative effort to get the truck started.
The cooperative efforts between the Eagles and the Rattlers did not immediately dispel all hostility. Following the resolution of the first few crises, the Eagles and Rattlers immediately returned to bickering and name calling. But gradually, as they faced and overcame an increasing number of wide-ranglng problems, the cooperative acts began to reduce friction and conflict. During the latter
part of the three—week experiment the anhe Eagles and the Rattlers
ta onism between t ‘ ‘ g f collective pride and
gave way to a sense 0
14 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996-97
solidarity. Out of the two contending groups they were becoming one. Sherif noted that gradually the members of the two groups began to feel more friendly toward each other: The boys stopped shoving in the meal line. They no longer called each other names, and sat together at the table. New friendships developed between individuals in the two groups. In the end the groups were actively seeking opportunities to mingle, to entertain and “treat" each other.
They decided to hold a joint campfire.
They took turns presenting skits and songs.
Members of both groups requested that
they go home together on the same bus,
rather than on the separate buses in which they had come. On the way the bus stopped for refreshments. One group still had five dollars which they had won as a prize in
a contest. They decided to spend this sum
on refreshments. On their own initiative
they invited their former rivals to be their guests for malted milks.”
As we contemplate the way out of the racial divide, much can be learned from the Robber’s Cave study. Crises create what Shetif and his colleagues call “superordinate tasks"ptoblems so difficult or complex that no group working alone can possibly solve them. Thus superordinate tasks force into cooperation groups who would otherwise be unwilling to work with, or even associate with, one another. Examples of superordinate tasks that have forced the whole planet into consultation include threats to the ecosystem such as global warming and the proliferation of nuclear and nonnuclear wastes, threats to the life and health of millions of the earth’s peoples due to the spread of AIDS, global eConomic
\ 14. Shetif, “Experiments in Grou C H‘ " ' RmdinngbnuttbsSacx'a/Anima1326. P 0" ‘Cl, m 15. Martin Luther King It The W/nrdt a M '
. i a. Erin 11.54%” King, Ir. (New York: Newmarket Pref; 198;)
crises occasioned by the transition from a military-based economic system to one that is more suitable to the maintenance of peace. and mass migration of refugees from wartorn, economically devasrated, or politically oppressive regions of the globe.
Sherif’s study shows that when antagonistic groups are forced to work together for mutually important goals, their attitudes about one anorhet also tend to Change. Might not the deepening crises in the social, economic, and political fabric of our nation impel us to consider transracial cooperative ventures heretofore untried? Might not our collective striving lead us further out of the racial divide?
Martin Luther King, Jr., once said that “All men are interdependent. . . . When we rise in the morning, we go into the bathroom where we reach for a sponge provided for us by a Pacific Islander. We reach for soap that is created for us by a European. Then at the table we drink coffee which is provided for us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West African. Before we leave for our jobs we are already beholden to more than half of the world."” That black and white Americans are interdependent, that our futures are intimately intertwined, that there is little chance of this nation’s maintaining its standing in the world community with so many of its black citizens living in poverty or in jail is becoming increasingly obvious. If for none other than selfish reasons, blacks and whites are compelled by circumstances to attend to one another’s needs. What is critical for us is that our collective efforts be animated by a new spirit. Those ventures should be microcosmic as well as macrocosmict They begin with responses to personal situ ations such as the one facing my Student and me.
Recognizing 1/]: Spirit
Animating Oneness
OF THE many scientific truths discovered in the twentieth century, none is more profound
in its implications than is the knowledge of interdependence. From the smallest particles of matter to the grandest stars and planets, the universe is a tightly woven fabric of interconnected energies, entities, and processes. In the biological world the unity of diverse parts is the cause and sign of life, while disunity is the cause and sign of death. If we want to know if an organism is dying, we examine whether its diverse component parts are able [0 function together in some coordinated fashion. In animals we might monitor vital signs—respitation, heart rate, liver and kidney functioning, digestion, and so on. These diverse systems cannot simply act independently. They must function in such a manner that the entire system benefits. In the absence of constant feedback concerning the health and needs of the whole, the functioning of each component patt becomes increasingly impaired. As a result, the whole organism begins to die. In addition, a living system survives—not because every component part has the same characteristics—but because every part is different. This metaphor may also be applied to the social world.
For example, on a societal level the nations of the world, which are themselves made up ofcthnic, racial, religious, and cultural groups, constitute the diverse parts that must work together in some harmonious fashion if humanity is to prosper fully and evolve. Within a society member groups that interact only by competition and conflict will be unable to cultivate or use society’s limited resources in the most effective way. The conflicts that divide blacks from whites, women from men, Muslims from Jews, conservatives from liberals, the middle—class and walthy from the poor, and so on all pose serious threats (0 the future viability of the
16. William A. Henry, “Beyond the Melting Pot," 77m” Apr. 1990: 28.
!__4
—f—< THE JOURNEY OUT OF THE RACIAL DIVIDE 15
Fountry and World. Changes now taking place in America‘s demographic makeup will only exacerbate these conflicts if a deeper understanding of the value and uses of diversity as components of oneness leading to human happiness and prosperity are not cultivated.
In the twenty—first century, for example, racial and ethnic groups in the United States will grow to outnumber whites. The Hispanic population will increase by about 21 percent, Asians by 22 percent, blacks by 12 percent, and whites by less than 3 percent. Within twenty—five years the number of Americans who are Hispanic or nonwhite will have doubled to nearly 115 million, while the white population will have barely increased at all. In about siXty years the typical American will no longer trace his or her ancestry back to Europe but to Asia, Africa, South or Central America, the Middle or Far East, or the Pacific Islands. As Timewriter Wlliam A. Henry III observed, “The former majority will learn, as a normal part of everyday life, the meaning of the Latin slogan—E PLURIBUS UNUM, one formed from many.”.6
For many of the nation’s students the “browning of America” is already a visible reality. Forty percent of New York’s elementary and secondary school children are ethnic minorities. In California, Hispanics, Asians, and African-Americans outnumber white students. Large numbers of Vietnamese call San Jose their home, and thousands of Hmong refugees live in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every state, city, and town in America has begun to feel the realization of the vision expressed by Emma Iazarus in her welcoming poem “The New Colossus”:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
\Vith conquering limbs astride from land
to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall
stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon—hand
16 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996797
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes
command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities
frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!”
cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your
poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest—tost to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Every year about 100 million people will leave their native homes in search of greater economic, political, or religious freedom. The destination of choice for the majority continues to be Ametica. If we are to draw from the enormous human capital that new immigrants bring, we will have to do more to make diversity work. But what method should we use?
While science has illuminated the laws and principles that facilitate the unific functioning of diverse syStems in the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms, we are only recently beginning to understand the unific forces that harmonize the diverse needs and interests of human beings. The most potent of these forces is love. Love is not a luxury reserved for starry—eyed youth. It is the bond that unites families, communities, and natlons.
True love—as distinguished from mere infatuation—is reflected in a myriad of principles and values that make family and community life possible. Among these principles
. 17. Bahá’ínternationalCommunity, Office of PubllC Information, Thel’mpm'lj flHttmankind’(Wilmctte, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing TruSt, nid.) 7—8.
18. Bahá’u’lláh, 7215/41: of Ba/M'u'lla'b rumth {1 (r thtllfitdb-i-Athu, comp. Research Department oft’hc Universal House of Justice, trans. Habib Tallermdeh et
al.‘ 15t ps ed. (Wilmette, Ill. Bahá’í P h‘ ‘ ' ‘ 1988) 164' u ltshlng Irust.
are juStice, fidelity, compassion. trustworthiness, courtesy, forbearance, self-sacrifice. and a willingness to pursue and defend that which is right and true. Whenever these values are distorted or undeveloped, the spirit of love begins to dissipate. The result is chaos, confusion, violence, and a gradual Collapse of the social order, If ethnic and race relations in America are in a critical condition, the situation can be improved only through a wider, more sincere application of these loverclatcd principles.
Of all lovc-related values. justice is the most important. for it regulates the expres. sion of individual self-intetests by requiring that the rights and needs of others be taken into consideration when determininga course of action. In this way justice embndies the recognition of interdependence and makes community life pussihle. In the absence of justice, disunity. conflict, and resentments arc catalymd, and the xncinl world becomes dangerous and unpredictable
ln ilS recent statement entitled 77)! I’m:perity ofHumanl’iml. the Bahá’í International Community's Office of Public Information explains that there are many levels on which to understand justice. On an individual level justice is that uniquely human power that enables us tu distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong It is an eantial aspect of conscience and serves as a guide In human acrion, A cummitment to justice requires fair-mindcdness and equity in one's treatment of others"
On a group or community level the su.\‘taining pillars of justice are reward and punishment. The fear of punishment and the hope of reward are powerful stabilizing elements in a community: “Justice hath a mighty force at its command," wrote Bahá’u’lláh. the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, “It is none other than reward and punishment for the deeds of men. By the power of this force the tabernacle of order is established throughout the world. . . .""‘ When justly applied. these twin
[Page 17]
forces provide a potent means for individual
and collective safety and development. In the
absence of justice, rewards and punishments
become the instruments of domination, exploitation, and abuse. In such a context some
prosper at the expense of others; some have
their needs and interests gratified while the
efforts and needs of Others g0 unrecognized
Once we fully accept the concept of the
oneness of humankind, whenever we witness
great wealth amidst galling poverty, we can
besure that injustice has played a major role.
]u5t how important reward and punishment, hope and fear, are to the well-being of individuals and society can be seen in the research of two social scientists who have developed the concept of ponib/e selves. Hazel Markus and Paula Nurius have shown that young people’s willingness to delay immediate gratification and to work hard for important future goals is dependent upon assessments they make about their future possible selves. Everyone, according to the researchers, has a set of “feared selves" and “hoped for selves." A feared possible self might include the image of “me in prison,” while a hoped-for self might include the image of “me as a donor." What is important about their work is that it has shown that people mu5t have both hopes and fears if they are to achieve important goals. Young people who have feared selves (“me in prison”) without corresponding hoped-for selves (“me as a docror”) will not be deterred from crime by threats of imprisonment. Fear influences an individual's behavior only if it threatens the loss of a valued possible self. Thus, if an individual can see no real options for becoming what he or she dreams of becoming, you cannot prevent such an individual from
19, Sec Hazel Markus and Paula Nurius, "Possible Selves,” Amerimn Payrlmlogixl 41 (1986) 954—69. ,
20- 366 Michael Tonry, Malign thltn: Rate, Cf"!!! dndl‘r‘nlkbmmr in Amnim (New York: Oxford U Press, 1995) 1-50.
- __‘
‘fi
THE JOURNEY OUT OF THE RACIAL DIVIDE 17
Committing Crimes by increasing the severity of threats. This is one reason why our present approach to crime in the inner cities is so ineffective.”
In an unjust situation people’s hoped-for selves cannot be realized, As a result, their feared selves no longer serve as deterrents. They ngW to disregard the justice-related principles that govern community life because they do HOE expect to derive the benefits associated with respecting the rights of others, Correspondingly, the threatened loss of freedom, in the absence of viable options for exercising freedom, is meaningless. The consequence is lawlessness and a collapse of civil society. Within many inner—city communities the loss of hope has resulted in an eclipse of fear; and when hope and fear are arrested, these twin forces are incapable of either constraining destructive impulses or unleashing human potential.
Michael Tonry, author of Malign Neglect: Race Crime and Punishment in America, reports that the number of African—Americans in prison since 1980 has tripled; that between 1979 and 1992 the percentage of blacks among those admitted to state and federal prisons grew from 39 to 54 percent; that incarceration rates for blacks in 1991 were nearly seven times higher than those for whites; and that in 1991, in the nation’s capital, 42 percent of black males aged 18 to 35 were in jail, on parole, or awaiting trial. The figure for Baltimore was 56 percent?" To some these high rates of incarceration suggest the presence of bad genes or irremediable character flaws; to others they suggest a need to look more carefully at the structure of present-day society. . ‘
Because a commitment to justice as one expression of love is the enly means whereby unity of thought and action can be achieved, a concern for justice is indispensable to the progress of all societtes. In a statemetit tan thle f justice in social and economic eve role 0 . International Commu opment, the Bahá’í
18 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996797
nity made the following observation:
justice is the practical expression of awareness that, in the achievement of human progress, the interests of the individual and those of society are inextricably linked. To the extent that justice becomes a guiding concern of human interaction, :1 consultative climate is encouraged that permits options to be examined dispassionater and appropriate courses of action selected. In such a climate the perennial tendencies toward manipulation and partisanship are far less likely to deflect the decision—making process.
. . . Concern forjustice protects the task of defining progress from the temptation to sacrifice the weII-being of the generality of humankind—and even of the planet itseIf—to the advantages which technological breakthroughs can make avaiIabIe [O priviIeged minorities. In design and planning, it ensures that limited resources are not diverted to the pursuit of projects extraneous to a community’s essential social or economic priorities. Above all, only development programs that are perceived as meeting their needs and as being just and equitable can hope to engage the commitment of the masses of humanity, upon whom implementation depends. The relevant human qualities of honesty, a willingness to work, and a spirit of cooperation ate successfuIIy harnessed to the accomplishment of enormously demanding collective goals when every member of society—indeed every component group within society—can trust that they are protected by standatds and assured of benefits that apply equaIIy to 3“.“
21. Bahá’í IntetnationaI Communit Pr ' HumankindB—9. Y 0’1”"0’ ”f
22. Loti McCIaughIin Noguchi, Paul Lample, and Holly Hanson, Exploring a merwarkfbr MoralEdum
- ian (Rivetia Beach. FIotida: Palabta Publications, 1992)
When we undetStand that the acknowledgment of interdependence is the supreme mural need of the age and that it is the practical expression of justice, arising from love for huma nity, we have added anather guidepost on the path toward a unified. racially harmonious society.
From Cbild/mad and Adolescent: t0 Mnturity OF ALI. of the phases of human development, none—with the exception of the first few months of Iifc—is characrerized by as much tumult. confusion, and transformation as is adolescence. For those familiar with the processes of growth, the upheavals that attend the adolescent phase of development are understood as necessary precursors to the young person’s Iong—awaited coming of age. During the past Century and a haIfhumanity has experienced rapid, revolutionary change in nearly every aspeCt of life. The glubality and diversity of change renders a developmental metaphor more than apt. In the words of writers Lori McCIaughlin Noguchi, Paul Lample, and Holly Hanson, writers on moral leadership and moral education: Whether in government or law, in science or industry, or in the relationships between individuals and nations, reevaluation and innovation have become the ruIc. New knowledge and new understandings ate uprooting age-old practices everywhere Society, in a“ its aspecrs, economic, pee Iitical and cultural, is undergoing a process of fundamental transformation. Accelerated change in so many areas of human life has posed unprecedented ChalIenges to previously accepted moral codes and belief systems. The deepening crisis in which mankind finds itself starkly demonstrates the inability of these systems to satisfy the demands of an age of transformation.22 If the challenges of the present hour are to be met. the attitudes, thoughts, and habits
[Page 19]
of childhood will no longer suffice. Collectively, we are called upon to abandon the
ways of youth and to develop those qualities
of mind, heart, and behavior that will enable
us to respond befittingly t0 the pressing requirements of a new age. McClaughlin,
lample, and Hanson point out that it is
within the context of humanity’s passage [0
maturity, as well as for the development of
a civilization that embodies the principle of
unity in diversity, that a new, all embracing
process of inStitutional and individual transformation must take place.
In all spheres of existence, order, within the context of change, is governed by rules. The laws of thermodynamics, the laws of motion, the law of the conservation of mass and energy, and so on all regulate processes of change in nature. Likewise. the orderly transformation of individuals and societies must be governed by laws and principles. The principles of transformation that are applicable to this stage in humanity’s evolution must facilitate the establishment of harmony between the blacks and whites of America:
Let the white make a supreme effort in their resolve to contribute their share to the solution of this problem, to abandon once for all their usually inherent and at times subconscious sense of superiority, to correct their tendency towards revealing a patronizing attitude towards the members of the «other race, to persuade them through their intimate, spontaneous and informal association with them of the genuinencss Of their friendship and the sincerity of their intentions. and to master their impatience of any lack of responsiveness on the part of a people who have received, for
23. Shoghi Effendi Tbrfldllflll ofDit/inrjunirt, lst l7S Ed- (Wilmette, lll.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1990) 40.
24. The poem appears on pages 22—25 in this issue,
THE JOURNEY OUT OF THE RACIAL DlVlDE 19
so long a PCriod, Such grievous and slowhealing wounds. Let the . . i [blacks], thl'nugh a corresponding effort on their P3", Show by every means in their power the warmth of their response, their readiness to forget the past, and their ability to Wipe out every trace of suspicion that may still linger in their hearts and minds. Let neither think that the solution of so vast a problem is a matter that exclusively concerns the other. Let neither think that such a problem Can either easily or 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.”
One of my dearly loved friends, Rhea Harmsen, is a biracial poet who has captured America’s racial quandary in a powerful reply to James Russell Lowell’s epic poem, “The Present Crisis.” While “The Present Crisis" was written more than a century ago, Harmsen’s poem-”On Restitution and Absolution”—was written in 1994.24 She explains that after reading Lowell’s poem she found herself almost communing with the writer who had devoted much of his poetry in the 18405 to the abolitionist cause. She was struck by the poet’s words that “In the gain or loss of one race all the rest have equal claim” and by his characterization of slavery as a-corpse crawling around unburied, calling for its own burial and final rest. . ,
In her poem Harmsen deplets a centurys exacerbation of the racial division, lamenting that when our forefathers introduced that evil (slavery)
. . where our trusting feet played,
They enslaved their children’s children in
a trackless round of hate.
20 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996—97
They defined the most great issue that would challenge us today.
She cries out, mW/ho will give us restitution? ‘Who will grant us absolution?m and mDo we even have volition to break with our tradition?m Then she intimates that it is within our power to win these elusive prizes. Explaining that American blacks and whites are “As two saplings grown entwined, who cannot be divided,” she asserts that “our destinies can’t be parted” and that “one brorher's restitution is the other’s absolution." She invokes milestones in the nation’s “soulstruggles” for racial unity and reminds us that the visions and prophesies of unity that abound in Biblical scripture bear directly on the current American race dilemma.
Recently I wrote to Rhea about her poem: “It is 6:21 AM. and several months since we last spoke about “Restitution.” A day has rarely passed when I did not think of it; ”Restitution” haunts me. Its cadence and deep tones reverberate in the deep wells of pain and confusion that echo from this land. One gets the image of a people, bath black and white, wandering in tears in a vast desert, filled with regret that slavery and its aftermath has been visited upon us. The whites are confused by the guilt that they have been asked to shoulder. lIt wasn’t me,’ they seem to cry. The blacks groan with resentment and bitter agony that no heartfelt apology is oHered. And 50, side by side, yet so far apart, we wander together in this desert, secretly hoping that the other will reach out and embrace, but wondering how much all of it will cost.” . The cost of our collective healing will be inner and outer transformation. Both black
25. Shoghi Effendi (through his secy.) to Bahá’í lnter—Racial Teaching Committee, 27 May 1957, quoted in Gayle Morrison, 7b May: the erd: Louis C. Grtgmy and the Advancement 1f Racial Unity in Amerir foreword by Glenford El Mitchell (Wilmette. III Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982) 294. "
and white Americans, as Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, points out, have prejudices [0 overcome: “one, the prejudice which is built up in the minds of a people who have conquered and imposed their will, and the ether the reattionary prejudice of those who have been . . . sorely put upon."”
For many years social scientists believed that the prejudices dividing black and white Americans would spontaneously disappear through a process they called ucahon replacement"——a theory predicated on the notion that each successive generation, because of increasing interracial contact, would quite naturally be less prejudiced than the preceding one. While on the face of it. such a theory sounds reasonable. the last several decades have taught us that mere contact between antagonistic groups is net sufficient to change deeply entrenched prejudices. What we are learning now is that the prejudice that thvides white and black Americans is so deep and so institutionalized that it will take a mighty effort and a great vision on the part of both races to overcome it. Furthermore. as we learned from the Robber's Cave study. it will likely require that we cooperate in applying solutions to the superurdinate problems that now threaten our happiness and well being‘
Envisioning the Destiny afAmtrit-a THE ideals of freedom and liberty, of the equality and dignity ofall peoples, expressed in the American Constitution: the humanitarian aspiration embodied in the inspired. welcoming poem etched on the base of the Statue of Liberty; America’s beautiful and spacious skies, her rich and diverse landscape; and her multicolored, multitalented peoplesall bear witness to the greatness of this country and to the loftiness of the vision that has given it wings. On these wings America has soared to great heights. In the Bahá’í view its future will be more glorious still.
[Page 21]
[f America is to realize her great destiny,
she will do so, not because a few wise and
noble leadets—of whatever race or culturehave saved us. Nor can the effort of will
required for this. or for any other similar
task, be “summoned up merely by appeals for
action against the countless ills afflicting
society. It must be galvanized by a vision of
human prosperity in the fullest sense of the
term—an awakening to the possibilities of
the spiritual and material wull—bcing now
brought within grasp?“ As has been suggested, America’s destiny also hinges upon its
ability to catalyze and coordinate the untapped capacities that now lie fallow in its
largely minority populations who inhabit her
neglected cities.
26. Bahá’í international Community. I’mx/n'rily Of Humanl'ind I.
27. See ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. S(ltrliom from the \Vriiing: 17f Hba'u'l—Bnha’, comp. Research Department of the Universal House ofjusticc, ll’LlnS‘ Committee at [hL‘ lialté’i Wotld Centre and MarLit-h (jail (Haifa: Bihfi'l World Centre, 1978) 24.
28‘ Bahá’u’lláh, quoted in ‘Abnlu'l-Bithfi, 7712 Promfllgatian Of Univma/ I’rm‘r: 711M; Delivered by ‘Abdu '1MA during Hi; Vim m 1/1: I [nixed 5mm and szadu in 1912, comp‘ Howard MacNun, 2d ed, (Wilmette, ll|.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982) 454.
f—fi
TI IE JOURNEY OUT OF THE RACiAL DIVIDE 21
We are not likely to do this if we do not believe in the rich potentialities of all persons, irrespective of race, creed, or national origin. With the publication of books like The Bell Curve and with the reemergence of caustic assaults on the dignity and station of the poor, we add momentum to the longheld assumption that America’s problems arise out of an unwillingness of a few with bad genes to do their part. Such thinking cloaks the nation in cynicism and prevents us from stepping into the next millennium in full stride.
You will recall the young white student who entered my office to chat. When 1 next saw him, he called out, “Hello Professor Penn. We must get together soon for one of out talks." His smile bespoke friendship and respect, and I felt myself feeling the same for him. Friendship is hard to come by when we fix our gaze on otherness, notes ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’, Bahá’u’lláh’s sun and appointed successor. But when we welcome all with the eye of oneness, real unity becomes possible.27 “Regard yc not one another as strangers. . . is Bahá’u’lláh’s admonition; “Of one tree are all ye the fruit and of one bough the leaves."" This consciousness of oneness is the knowledge that illumines the way out of the fad?“
divide.
22
WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996—97
On Restitution and Absolution (Meditations on James Russell Lowell’s “The Present Crisis")
From the cauldron that’s America, now in full rolling hoil,
Feel the heat of convolution, smell the stench of bubbling oil. Arms reach out from bloody soil, for relief of human misery. Mingled voice of white and black call on heaven to take pir‘y‘ On the people of this nation, ‘cross the heartland and the Cities.
Where the sheet-covered figures now march by light of day, And by night roam the youth gangs sacking unsuspecting prcyi Where retreat into tribalism is our new found insanity, Self-hate and righteous bigotry reach a level of profanity
And America is drowning in her own inhumanity.
Race relations in America, it’s like entering a maze.
The racism in our fibers is a cancerous malaise.
In some hearts there’s deep despair, while the poor hope no morei ‘Nearh the barely restrained violence dwells a lust for retribution There dwells an anger deeply rooted in unjust pcrsccutiun,
While a hoard of TV pundits puke the wound in fascination, Mesmcrized by all its festering, paralyzed by Complications,
A new wayward generation can’t transcend its own confusion
The past beckons ever-prcscnt, calling out for resolution,
While the future looms so imminent, with the threat of no solutions.
The momentum of decay is now measured hy the hour
As the race-relatcd incidents descend in steady shower,
Each assault deals loss of hope, each new verdict heightens panic. Feel the fall of a great country, sinking like the great Titanic. Rearing now for its third gasp, as it drowns in the Atlantic.
One great canvas holds the anguish now reflected in all eyes, Our faces all turn upward, voices qucstion darkened skits: “Who will give us restitution?” “Who will grant us absolution?” “When will come illumination, when an end to tribulation?”
« . . ‘ Do we even have volition to break With our tradition?"
ON RESTITU'I'ION AND ABSOLUTION
White sisrcr, black mother, come (0 table, eat your supper. Whirc father, black brother! Cool your anger, case that hunger. Cast the load and sit you down! Break your bread; pass it round.
Hush your mouth, do some listening! Drink the gall of your own history.
Humhly look inro each eye. Bow your head; eat your pic . . . II
The children ga rigs today. you see, who live by hatred's rule
Only mimic what was learned in our forefathers) school.
thn they led that Cyclops, Slavery, where our trusting feet played, To the offspring of that monster thcy sentenced us as prey.
They enslaved their children’s children in a trackless round of hate.
They defined the most great issue that would challenge us today As we struggle ru retricvc our wounded children from the fray, From the claws of Slavcty’s offspring, IndiFference and Sclf—hatei We glance behind to roads lung forgutrcn in dismay,
Where the bars bones of history, show both greatness and disgrace.
It was the white man's portion to be this land’s oppressor, Blundcring into rhis great drama Oft to plunder and divest her. And now even when immigmdng lately t0 the scene,
He is hurdcncd as accessory to our forefathers sin.
Now he t(itcs a weary load in the color of his skin.
And it full to the black race to bc sacrificial lanib. Then, (he vicrims free of sin on the stage of this land. . d But like the children of the Israelites when freed from their bon age
Some wcnt wandering in the desert, some turned to idolatry,
Seduced by every idol, now the tools of their own carnage.
So while white man did battle with the demons in his head The black man had to wresric with the dragon in his bed. While (hr: one lost his faith in succumbing to his greed, The other rcapcd grace by overcom'irig eVil deeiis, f
For even beneath oppression the spirit can wan er rec.
111
At this pass, this great juncture, when the. starsdaziatlllj:l‘iig::d And the fruitagc of our aetions have all ripene. n [his convergence. From the forces of the universe we must questlio u, ence
WC musr ask the divine purpose in the cyciica [6156’s Ecourges.
Of Moscs' children's bondage; of Pharaohs peop
23
24
WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996797
On the shores of this new nation were we destined here to tncct? Some came fleeing intolerance, some came shackled hy Ihcll’ feet. Are we then: to chart a course through God's primordial maze: Meant to play out age old themes upon this nation's stage; ‘ Search the meaning of the cosmos through kaleidoscope of race?
Could it be our Revolution, from which our freedom grew, Won that privilege of dignity only for the few?
And the truth we found self-evident, but still chose to deny Entombed in our constitution a poison-laden lie;
An incongruity we’ve struggled ever since to rectify?
For as each century came full circle we came inching towards (ht: truth. By the strife of good and evil our thirst for freedom grew:
Fighting for emancipation our whole nation ngnnizcd;
Marching for desegregation we were further purified;
It but remains to ask the present hour: “Where docs our crisis lie?"
[V
For our country’s schizophrenia there must be a resolution,
Lest the strain of our dis—union prove the final dissolution
Into shards of shattered principle, into stripes of shredded drmmi What began in incongruity mu3t forever be made clean.
In the river—tide of history we may never swim upstream!
To redeem our great nation from the brink of destruction, Retrieve its mangled soul from the pit of its corruption, Let us wade in the water trusting ever in His grace.
And thus, coax a resolution from the iron [CL‘ll‘l of fate Where we all gain restitution for humanity's mistakes,
In America’s march triumphant towards spiritual evolution Then one brother’s restitution is the other's ahsolutioni
The one who shows forgiveness heals the wound in his own soul; His mistrust once relinquished severs slavery’s last hold. Breathing peace where resentment once took a heavy tall
The other, who through trial overcomes his own denial, Or wrenches from his gut an unconscious racist hilc. When relinquishing supremacy his redemption will attain. ln becoming brother’s keeper he’ll wipe from his hand the
. stain Of the slaying of poor Abel by his wandering brother (Tait
L
[Page 25]
ON RESTITU’I‘ION AND ABSOULTION
Thus, for each man and race to his challenge overcome; To determinc what his Station, in darkness or in sun.
To the measure cach man caters to his love or [0 his hate, Or voices. by his silence, his collusion with race,
Turns the tide of this nation and of our commingled fate.
We're merged, blood with blood, our destinies can’t be parted,
As two saplings grown entwined, who cannot be divided.
By the sheer sweat Of sinew, by the act of conscious will,
We must turn our sights up mountain, scaling back on back until We plant the flag of oneness On the peak of highest hill.
As wc'n: made from the same dust, dwell in the same land,
We must become one soul, be the lion and the lamb.
We must eat with the same mouth and walk with the same feet Until the signs ()foncncss make the round complete.
And though darkness be upon us, we dare not accept defeat.
For a glorious vision beckons, in prophecies of old,
Of a day when former enemies will willingly take hold
Of the weapons of their hatred, gladly to transform
Them into instruments of healing, to remove that crown of thorns From the brow of all their brethren, and witness peace be born.
And America’s share in breathing life into this vision ls to heal the wound within, to cure her own division. For our cver—present crisis is mirrored in all nations Where old enemies now rise in burning conflagration, Yet, dare we raise up the first hate-free generation?
A global race, devoted to advance civilization . Y, And ransom all “those who have trespassed against us. For leading by example is our only global power ' And with each of our soul-struggles we are hastening
. . . , er. When humanity, 115 one, yields [l'HS planets finest How ——Rhea Harmsen
the hour
Copynyu 0 1997 by RM: Humsen
25
27
Letters from a Nineteenth-Century
Kansas Bahá’í
BY DUANE 1.. HERRMANN
ENTERPRISE, Kansas, has “the distinction
of having had the second group of Bahá’ís in North America," the first having been formed in Chicago in 1894.l Two letters survive from the person responsible For the Bahá’í teachings coming to Kansas so early: Barbara Ehrsam, a resident of Enterprise and a student of Ibrahim George Kheiralla, who introduced the Bahá’í Faith to North America. She invited Kheiralla to come to Enterprise during the summer of 1897. He and his family stayed seven weeks in her home, where he gave classes in her parlor. He left behind a small group of Bahá’ís. Although the Enterprise Bahá’í’s corresponded for a time with a number of Bahá’ís in the United States, Kheiralla remained the only personal contact they had with the larger Bahá’í community. Twice in 1899—On 3 May and 14 November—Ehrsam wrote to Maude Lamson, Kheiralla’s secretary, seeking more Contact with Bahá’ís and more information about the Bahá’í Faith. The inability of Bahá’í’s in other parts of the country to visit Enterprise and the lack of responses from the few correspondents and most particularly from Kheiralla were nut sufficient to sustain Ehrsam’s commitment to the Bahá'r’ Faithi
Copyright © 1997 by National Spiritual Assembly Of the Bahá’ís of the United States,
1. Robert H Stockman, T/Izflaha’ ‘I’Fait/z inAmzrim: Origim. 1892—1900, Volume 1 (Wilmctm. III.: Bahá’í’ Publishing Trust, 1985) 105.
2‘ Some of the other cities where Bahá’ís resided wet: Chicago. New York, and Kenosha, Wisconsin.
At the end of the nineteenth century, Enterprise, Kansas, was one of the few Cities in the Unired States where the Bahá’í teachings had been systematically taught and a group of people had accepted them.2 Though Enterprise had the second Bahá’í’ group, it was the smallest locality in the size of its general population and the number of its Bahá’í’s, as well as the most remote.
Barbara Ehrsam was one of the founders of the town of Enterprise and, by the turn of the century, its most prominent woman. She had been born Barbara Senn in Switzerland in 1843. Her parents brought the family [0 America in 1854 and settled in Grasshopper Falls, Kansas. In 1860, shortly before her seventeenth birthday, she married Joseph Hilty, a fellow Swiss immigrant. They produced two Children, Leonhard and Josephine, before Joseph went to serve in the Civil War. He survived his brief enlistment only to be killed by a horse after returning home. This left Barbara alone with a small child, an infant, and a 160—acre farm.
Barbara’s brother, Michael Senn, not yet married, joined her to help work the farm. Eventually the two decided to relocate from northeast Kansas to central Kansas where their sister, Elizabeth, and her Swiss immigrant husband, Christian Hoffman, were creating a new settlement on the open prairie. Nine years earlier the Hoffmans had moved west to settle near Louden’s Falls on the Smokey Hill River. On the falls Hoffman, a milier, built a mill that prospered, and plans for founding a town began to crystalize.
In 1869 Barbara rented her Grasshopper
28 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996797
BARBARA EHRSAM the first Babe“ in Enterprise, Kansas
Falls farm and with her children, her brother, and four wagons ofgoods set out for Louden’s Falls. When she arrived, she and Michael, with the help of other settlers, built a twostory frame store and stocked it. In 1873 the town of Enterprise was platted around her store and Hoffman’s mill.
In 1874 Barbara married Jacob Ehrsam, another Swiss immigrant and a machinist who had helped build the mill and who had become Hoffman’s right-hand man. After the mill was finished, he had started his own machine company, which remained in operation until the summer of 1996. Barbara’s and
3‘ Edward G. Nelson, The Company and 1/): Cammunity (Lawrence. Kansas: Bureau of Business Research, School of Business. University of Kansas, 1956) 3121
4. “Teaches Strange Things,” Abilene Weekly Chm"x‘tk [Abilene, Kansas] 16 July 1897: l,
5. Nelson, Company and II): Community 292.
61 “Teaches Strange Things," Abilene Wnfly Chmnid: 16 July 1897: 1.
Z The Bahá’í Faith is awotld religion, but Kheiralla
sometimes gave the impression that it was a secret organization.
Jacob’s first baby was the first white child born at the site. Together they had five more before Barbara decided eight was the limit, By 1894, at the age of fifty—one, she was worn out in body and spirit. jacob had built her the fancieSt house in [0W1], but it was no comfort in her search for spiritual satisfaCtiun as well as physical health.‘
Barbara Ehtsam’s search For spiritual knowledge was wide ranging, including Christian Science; Dowieism, a millennial group headquartered in Zion, Illinois; and the Bahá’í Faith. Her investigation of th- Bahá’í Faith, which revolved around Kheiralla and his teachings, caused an uproar. The new teacha ings were maligned as being “fanatical." “Nap Platonism," and a mix of “Arabic mysticism, German rationalism, mesmerism. etc.”
Ehrsam had learned about Kheiralla through her daughter, Josephine Hilty, who was studying music in Chicago.‘ The Alzi/mr W/ee/zél Chronicle, published in the county seat, reported that “Miss Josie Hilty. who knew the ‘1)0ctor’ in Chicago 1 . . is said [0 have embraced the doctrine he teaches.“
Ibrahim thiralla was of Syrian background and had converted to the Bahá’í Faith shortly before coming to the United States from Egypt in 1892, hoping to become wealthy. His financial ambitions were soon frustrated, but when he discovered the profitability of being a “doctor" and “healer" (his medical titie came from a mail-order school). he turned to the healing professions Noting the social obsession in the United States with secret and fraternal societies and “orders." he found that it was not a great step from claims of physical healing to spiritual healing. He used his scant knowledge of the Bahá’í Faith to create a partially secret society. which he unfolded in a series of public talks and twelve private lessons.”
Kheiralla's teaching effort in Enterprise appears to have followed the same pattern he later used in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and New York City. He gave public lectures partly based
LETTE ‘ ' ‘
IE FROM A NINETEEN FH-ChNTURY KANSAS Bahá’í 29
on his small pamphlet called Za<ti—et Al—Ia/i: Th! Identity and the Permna/it] of God,” Newspaper articles often quoted or reworded some the pamphlet’s contents. Kheiralla’s statement in the pamphlet that “the name of the Order is known only to those who have taken the teaching” is almost identical to the last line of the first newspaper article published in Enterprise: “the name of the order is only revealed to those who have taken all the teachings." The article went on to summarize aspects of the pamphlet, noting that Kheiralla “teaches the Oneness and Singleness of God; also whence we came, why we are here and where we are going. He gives to his private pupils the key to the sealed books of the Bible which he uses to verify his teachings. He believes the truth is in the Bible but that the Bible is nor the truth.”
Kheitalla’s private lessons were a mixture of his own ideas and the very little he knew about the Bahá’í teachings. He devised
a series of graduated lectures, the earliest
dealing with such general issues as the
immortality of the soul, the nature of the mind, and the need to believe in God.
Later lectures dealt increasingly with Bib lical prophecy concerning the second ad vent and the existence of a “Greatest Name" of God by which the believer might enter into a special relationship with the divine.
Finally, for those who had taken all the
8, See I(btahim]. George thitalla. ZI—ti—tt-AI-h/I: 771’ Mimi!) and 1b: I’manality of God (n.p., 1896), guotcd in Stockman, Build? Faith in America: Origins
8-53.
9, Kheirailz. Zz-Ii—el-AHab. quoted in Stockman, Md'lFait/J in Amnita: Origins 50; “The Bible Is Not the Truth,” Entnpritejouma/ [Enterprise, Kansas] 15 July 1397: 1.
101 Peter Smith. “The American Bahá’í CommuniW- 1894—1917:A Preliminary Survey,” in Sluditt. Val. '88, 90.
IL “The Bible I; N0t the Truth." Enmprisrjourml [E“"'Prise. Kansas] 15 July 1897: 1.
BARBARA EmtsAM‘s HOUSE in Enterptise, Kansas, were Ibtahim George Kheiralia stayed for seven weeks in 1897. giving lessons on the Bahá’í FfliIhs
lectures and shown themselves worthy, Kheiralla delivered the “pith” of his message: that God had returned to earth in the person of Bahá’u’lláh [the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith], and that now his Son, Jesus Christ [‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh’s won and appointed successor], was living in Akka. Those who believed were given the Greatest Name and told to write a letter or sign a form letter to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá confessing their belief..0 Kheiralla’s public lectures and private lessons generated considerable newspaper coverage. “THE BIBLE IS NOT THE TRUTH" proclaimed a front—page story in the Emerpritt journal on 15 July 1897.“ Additional articles appeared in the Abilene newspapers, and smaller notices continued in the Enterprise paper, which was owned by Christian Hoffman, Ehrsam’s brothet—in—law. Some of the articles were reprinted as far away as Topeka, Lawrence, Salina, Leavenworth, and Kansas City. These news articles may hethe first extensive press coverage of the activities of the American Bahá’í community. Thelr content was not accurate according to currently available sources, but Kheitaila insisted on secrecy: “These teachings are pnvate and
you are not to mention them to any one, they
- 4;
30 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996A97
are not secret, but private, and we trust to your honor. We do not ask you to take any obligation or oath. These teachings are private for many reasons.”‘2 Hence those who did not take the classes never really knew what was being taught (a fault on which the press remarked).
In his 1897 visit to Enterprise, Kheiralla did not complete the sequence of classes, as he had in Chicago, for he was in town only seven weeks. To give all of the lessons, which usually took three months, he had to double them up—giving two a week, as the Enterprirefourmzlreported. The newspaper reported that Kheiralla might return to continue his lectures, which suggests that he did not complete the lessons.
Nor did Kheiralla, as has been presumed, hold a private ceremony during which he bestowed upon the new believers the “Greatest Name,” which is a form of the name of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, which means the Glory of God.X3 In May 1899 Ehtsam mentioned in her first letter to
12. "The Soul," from a Trud‘i—knowet Lessons manuscript, p. 1., Kenosha Papers, National Bahá’íArchives, WIIXDCHC, Ill. See also Stockman , Ba/m’ ’iFaill) inAmm'aI: Orllgim 60~611
13. Enterprimjaumal (Enterprise, Kansas] 26 Aug. 1897: 1; Stockman, Balm"! Faith in America, Origin: 109; see also Peter Smith, “The American Bahá’í Community, 1894—1917: A Preliminary Survey,” in Studiu 'm Bdbl 11nd Bahá’í History Valumc One, ed. Moojan Momen (Los Angeles, Kalimét Press. 1982) 90.
14. Barbara Ehtsam to Maude Iamson, 13 May 199‘), Maude Lammn Papers, National Bahá’íAtchives, Wilmette, III. For the complete text of this letter and her letter dated 14 November 1899. which is also in the Maude Lamson Papers. see page 35.
15, “Supplication Book of Students in Miscellaneous Cities, 1894—1899,” in Bahá’í Enrollment Lisr. United States, Collection, 1894—1900, National Bahá’í Archives, Wilmette, Ill.
16 Lua and Edward Getsinger, two prominent early American Bahá’ís, were among the fitsr Americans to visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Akka, Palestine.
Kheiralla’s secretary that Kheimlla had “hoped that Mr. Chace [Thornton Chase, the first
rson in North American to become a Bahá’í] could of stop of [xiv] and give us some more lessons or perhaps the Cream! Name," presumably shortly after Kheiralln’s 1987 visit.“ In the same letter Ehrsam wrote that “My daughter, . . . has given me the Greatesr Name. . . ." Notations in the “Supplication Book of Students in Miscellaneous Cities, 1895" indicate that nine of the Enterprise Bahá’ís eventually received the Greatest Name. but these notatiuns were made in September 1899 and probably reflect Josephine Hilty‘s efforts.”
When Kheiralla left Enterprise in 1897, the new Bahá’ís were alone without books. magazines, or sustained contact with other Bahá’ís. After two years of isolation their desperation grew until Ehrsam finally wrote on 3 May 1899 to Kheiralla’s secretary, Maude Lamson: “This is the first time I started to write to you although I wished tn have done so many times since I had these teachings." Why did she wait so long to write? She explains: “I have been very ill for nearly twu years, but now have gained much strength the last three weeks that I have hopes of becoming well again." Her hope was not to be realized, for she was plagued with ill health during the latter part of her life.
Much of Ehrsam’s May 1899 letter refers to her desire for contact with other Bahá’í»: uThe Dts stay was so brief"; “I thought it might be possible that they [the Getsingers"‘] could stop on the way back [to California from Aklta] with us for a few days”; “What has become oer. Chace?” These new Bahá’ín wanted to learn more. but “with no one [0 instruct” them, they were at a loss Her plea for information about Kheiralla is wrenching: “please lett me know when you expect the Dr to come at inform me if he should already be in Chicago." Ehrsam’s question about Kheiralla’s return to Chicago was based on information she had received from Mrst
[Page 31]
LETTERS FROM A NINETEENTH-CENTURY KANSAS BAHA’I 31
Bell about Kheiralla’s and the Getsingers’ 1898—99 pilgrimage to Akka to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the possible dates of their return.
In her May 18991etter Ehrsam mentioned Bahá’í’s with whom she had contacr. One was the enigmatic Mrs. Bell, about whom no other information has been found. Another was Ehrsam’s daughter, Josephine Hilty Kimmel, who was married and living in Sti Louis and who is mentioned in the “SupplL cation Book of Misc. Cities,” which lists Bahá’ís in St. Louis. A third Bahá’í was “Mrs Hilry in Enterprise.” This was Ehrsam’s daughtervin-law, Rose Abbuehl Hilty, who had married Ehtsam’s oldest son, Leonhard, in Grasshopper Falls, Kansas, on 1 january 1882.'7
In the May letter Ehrsam also said that “one of the believers here" had written to Thornton Chase but that Chase had Stopped writing. A search of Chase’s correspondence discloses that this Bahá’í was John Ahramsun and that Chase and Abramson had corresponded in 1898. A modern history of Enterprise described Abramson as “a cousin’s son from Switzerland” who had come to Enterprise to live with the Ehrsams “after a few years in Palestine with a missionary. Although but a boy of fifteen (in 1888), he spoke German, English and Arabic fluently and added much energy to the family life in Enterprise.""' Stockman speculates that Abramson may be the first North American of Jewish descent to accept the Bahá’í Revelation.”
In her second letter, dated 14 November 1899. Ehrsam mentioned no additional Bahá’ís with whom she had had contact, but she gave more infomation about her relationship With
12 Nelson. Company 11nd III: Community 235.
18. Nelson. Camping and 1/1! Cnmmunil] 293.
I9. Stockman. Babd'tFaiI/I in Amerita: Origin: 110.
211A spiritual assembly is a local Bahá’í governing Council.
her dauEh'Cr‘in-laW: “It is now impossible for Mrs Hilty to come to Chicago, for she had to have a very difficult operation perFormed. That was done in September but altho she is doing well, she will have to waith a longer time to getr strong and able to take a long journey. She will write you er long. We live close and see one another every day.” A trip to Chicago at that time by one of the Bahá’í: would have provided a very valuable link, but there is no evidence that such a trip was ever made.
In her May letter Ehrsam referred once to all the new Bahá’ís, suggesting that they thought of themselves collectively as a group: “We are a little band of believers here. . . This is crucial in determining whether the individuals in Enterprise should be considered a Bahá’í community. Although the Enterprise Bahá’ís might not be recognized as such by 19905 scandards—they did not elecr a spiritual assembly or consultative body, or even Choose oficers—the fact that they considered themselves to have an identity separate from that of other religious groups legitimizes them as a Bahá’í community of the 1890s.”
In the May letter Ehrsam asked about the book Kheitalla had told her he was writing when he was in Enterprise: “We are verry eager to gett the Drs book as soon as it is published. So please inform me when it IS expected . . . in print. . . .” Her November letter repeated the request: “Is It done at If not finished when can we expect to have it. Such was her desperation that she offered to pay For the book ahead of time: If it be desirably, I will send the money at once and wait for the book." The book Ehrsatn was so eager to receive was Be/m' ‘U 1147?, which was published in 1900. B-ut whether ihrsameeyfl purchased the book 15 tmcertain egalllls d accuracyof its contentsinunediately e un er a pal]. In late 1899 Kheiralla began to quastion ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s authority and rewrote IS book to incorporate some of his uncertainty.
fnfi
!___4
32 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996—97
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’ sent a Persian teacher to the United States to talk to Kheiralla and revive his Faith, but the efforts were unsuccessful, and Kheiralla broke with the Bahá’í community in mid 1900. The majority of the Bahá’ís in the United States remained loyal to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but Kheiralla’s disaEection was an enormous blow to their morale and made it even more difficult for them to assist the struggling community in the middle of the Kansas prairies.
In her November letter Ehrsam also expressed her longing for more of the Bahá’í Faith’s spiritual truths: “We talk much about the blessed truth and long to hear and know more abouth ‘Oh God give me Knowledge faith and love’ [it] is the desire of my heart at all times." The quotation is from a prayer Kheiralla gave to his students, who believed it to be a Bahá’í prayer, but it was Kheiralla’s own creation.
Despite Ehrsam’s May and November 1899 letters, the Enterprise Bahá’ís remained deprived of further contact as well as more information about the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. In place of literature they could only hope for letters, the sharing of which was common during the first decades of the Bahá’í Faith in the United States, especially when a Bahá’í had seen ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Letters about such experiences were passed around and copied so that others could also learn from the experience. In her first letter in May 1899 Ehrsam chided Kheiralla’s secretary: “You promised in the letter to my Daughter to send her, also Mrs Hilty in Enterprise 3 copie of Mrs Gezingers letter or perhaps some of the Dts, but we have not seen anithing of the kind yet: and it is nearly 5 weeks ago.” At the
21. Nelson, Company and the Community 145.
22. "News from the Occident: United States," Star of the WI! (28 April 1911): 9.
23. “Teacher Strange Things,” Abikne \Vnkl Chronicle [Abilene, Kansas] 16 July 1897: l. 1
end she cried out: “Now please lctt us have the letters we will gladly copie them and send them back withought delay."
Since Ehrsam’s May 1899 letter did n0! help to relieve the isolation of the Enterprise Bahá’ís, her November letter began abruptly: “Its been such a long time since I heard of you.” One letter after two years of no contact was not sufficient. How could she and her fellow “band of believers” learn more about the Bahá’í Faith when no information or support was available from those who knew more than they?
Considering the lack of letters, literature, and visits from other Bahá’ís, it is surprising that any Enterprise Bahá’í’s weathered the lack of news and remained faithful. One who did was Mrs. Mary M. F. Miller. In 1899 she was listed as a Bahá’í in Kansas City; later she moved to Enterprise, where she and her husband had lived decades earlier. They had known the HOEnians since at least 1868.31 The Millers had pioneered on the prairie and founded the Methodist church in Lyona Mr, Miller was a Methodist minister and had conducted the first worship service in the I—Ioffmans’ cabin before Enterprise was founded. Mrs. Miller Continued her association with the Bahá’ís and until her death in 1911 contributed to the fund to build the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, a major undertaking of the U.S. Bahá’í community. Her obituary appeared in Star of the “75!, the first Bahá’í magazine published in the United States.22
Another Bahá’í who remained firm in her faith was Ehrsam’s daughter—in—law, Rose Hilty. One of Rose’s daughters was the “little girl named Hilty,” to whom the newspaper referred as being slightly cured of blindness by Kheiralla.Z3 Rose and Mrs. Miller, together with more than four hundred American Bahá’ís, signed a petition to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, which was sent to Him on 4 July 1905. In 1906 Rose moved with her family to Topeka, becoming the first Bahá’í in the capital city
fi—fi LE'I‘TL‘ ‘ ‘ " RS FROM A NINLFEENTI'l-CENTURY KANSAS Bahá’í 33
fi\
g
011(ansax.“ She was (he only Bahá’í (hcrc unnl about 1914 whcn Burtha Hyde became
. 24.1}Ihlcxof'Abdu'I-Bahzi. "Tn (hL‘ beloved offlud In gcncrfnl in America (Upon 111cm ht l’uha Ullah).v lrans.A1| Kuli Khan. 5 January 1906. in Cambridge. 51355.. Topdu Bahá’í Archivcs, 'l'upcka. Kansas.
25. Duane 1,. chmnnn. “Bertha: An c.lrly Amariiln Bahá’í ualwan." in Hrrul/I 0/ 1/)? Sand) Julv»$up(ember 1991: 467481 /
26: Duane 1.. Hcrrnmnn. "( lrcnx Rcsults Can (Iumc fff)!“ Small Actions: Ruse Hilty and [1|C'111Pckfl Bahá’í 1.xhrary," in Forum 2:2 (1993): 49451. For xldditional Ihformmiun on (he dcvulupmcnr nf (he 8411;“ Faith in M'mfl's, see also Dunne L Hcrrmann, “Thu Bahá’í Faith m Kansas. 1897—194 'n (fammmlily Hixmrin: iiulfia m the [3de am! [úth '1’ Rr/tgiun, 1b/umt.6, ed.
chard Hollingcr (1,05 Angclus: Kalimét Press, 1992) 80—108. 11"‘27' Bahai 'lkmplc Unhy ledger hooks, National BaaIr\r<.‘1\ivcs, Wilmuuc. 111.
‘Anhu‘l—BAHA (fmm'fow. scarcd, third from right) :1: dn- 1 May 1912 ground—breaking ceremony for the Baha i Huusc uf \X’urship (u he built in Wilmette, Illinois Kansas Bahd'x’ Elsbcrh Frey, wearing a widL‘vbrim hat, is standing al the far left.
a Bahá’í through her mother, Ellen May Hyde, and sister, Mable Hyde Paine, in Urbana, Illinois. Hilry and Hyde worked together :0 build a Bahá’í community, but when Hyde moved in 1921, Hilty was alone again.25 She subscribed to Star of the 1%“ from its first appearance in 1910 unti1 her death in 1933 and also bought Bahá’x’ books as each new one was published. When she died, her library was given to the Topeka Bahá’í community and formed the basis of the Current Topeka Bahá’í Library.26 Hilry also contributed to the fund [0 build the Bahá’í House of Worship.”
[11 December 1911, shortly before ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited the United States and Canada to strengthen the Bahá’í community, a Feature 1’ Faith appeared in
article on the Bahá’ a general interest, na Eyerybody’: Magazine,
34 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 199647
tionally circulated magazine.“ Ehrsam wrote to Hilty, calling her attention to it and commenting that She had never thought Kheiralla’s secrecy was right.29 That correspondence, plus a contribution to the Temple fund, are all the evidence found to date of Ehrsam’s commitment to the Bahá’í Faith after 1899.30
The Kansan who made the most evident and documented commitment to the Bahá’í Faith was Elizabeth Frey, the wife of Enterprise’s postmaster. Not only did she maintain her commitment, but she taught the Faith to her daughter, Elsbeth, who had been too young to attend Kheiralla's classest The two traveled to Chicago in 1912 to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Elsbeth appears in photographs of the 1 May ceremony during which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the cornerstone for the House of Warship to be built in Wilmette. Residents of Enterprise remember Mrs. Frey's holding “religious meetings” in her home.3| Elsbeth became an active Bahá’í in St. Joseph, Missouri, where she taught school for many years and continued to be an active Bahá’í until her death in Denver, Colorado, in 1970. She came back to Kansas at least once for a conference in Wichita in 1955.32
28. Ethel Stefana Stevens, “Light in the Lantern," Evrrybndy} Magazine, 25.6 (Dec. 1911): 775—86.
29. Barbara Ehtsam to Rose Hilty, 4 December 1912, 28 December 1912‘ Copies in possession of the author courtesy of Mrs. Constance Downs, granddaughter of Rose Hilty.
30. Bahai Temple Unity ledger books, National Bahá’í Archives,
3L Helen Erickson to Duane L. Hettmann, 23 October 1980.
32. The \Vichita Eagle (Wichita, Kansas], September 1955, containsaconference photograph with names of attendees.
33. F. C. Havinghursr, “The Social Development of Enterptlse, Kansas,” M.A. thesis, Kansas State College 1919. 39. i
34. See Duane L. Hetrmann, Tb: Baht? Faith in Karma, :mrt 1897(Topeka. Kansas: Buffalo Press, 1994).
Considering the isolation and the lack of information and support available to the Enterprise Bahá’ís, it is not surprising that the group eventually ceased to exist. F. C. Havinghurst, in his 1919 Masrer’s thesis, criticized the Hoffman-Ehrsam family for net interacting with the ordinary citizens. He noted, however, that their “idiosyncrasies were bound to destroy any influence for good which these leaders might have had among the average, church people of the town, and it served to deepen the wide chasm between the church and non-church groups in the town."33
The experience of Enterprise is unique in the early history of the Bahá’í Faith in North America. Batbara's two letters written in 1899 provide windows to the times and condition of the American Bahá’í community before the turn of the century. They providea glimpse of the eagerness of isolated Bahá’ís for information about the Bahá’í teachings and the activities of their fellow believers, and they help illuminate the ignorance about the basic Bahá’í teachings that charaCterized those years. More than any other nineteenth-century American Bahá’í community, Enterprise was isolated from the rest of the community It is amazing that any interest in the new religion survived. Yet the achievements of the Enterprise Bahá’ís are still felt today: the Topeka Bahá’í community, its Spiritual Assembly and the Bahá’í library have direct roots in Enterprise." From Topeka the Bahá’í Faith has spread to more than one hundred localities in Kansas. And Kansas Bahá’ís have settled in several dozen foreign countries to share their Faith. In spite of its isolated beginning in Enterprise, the Kansas Bahá’í community has been continuous and growing for a century.
Here follows the complete text of the Barbara Ehrsam’s letters to Kheiralla’s secretary, printed without corrections of grammar, spelling, or context.
a
LETTERS FROM A NINETEENTH—CENTURY KANSAS BAHA’I 35
MRS. 3mm EHRSAM To MRS. MAUDE LAMSON, MAY 3, 1899
Enterprise May 3/99 Mrs Iamscn
Dar Madam:
This is the first time I started (0 write to you although I wished to have done so many times since Iliad these Inching; which makes a bond of unity between us. My daughter Mrs Kimmel of St Louis formerly Miss HiIty has given me the Greatest Name (with your permission) while there on a visit, Ihave been vcn'y ill for nearly twoo years but have now gained much strength the last 3 weeks that I have hopc of becoming well again. We ate a little band ofbelievets here but have no one to instruct us. The Drs stay was so brief and he hoped that Mr Chace could of stop of and give us some more lessons or perhaps the Greatest Namz. I undersrood Mrs Bell to say that Mrs and Mr Gezinger would ‘ go back to California after there return from Acca and I thought it might be possible that they could stop on the way back with us at [eat for a few days. We are verry eager to gett the Dts book as soon as it is published. So please inform me when it is expected to (be outh) in print and if the Gctzingers intend to go to Oakland again. What has become of Mr Chace? He used to write to one of the believers here but no one has heard lately. And please Iett me know when you expect the Dr (0 come 0t inform me if he should already be in Chicago. I have something to impart to him. You promissed in the letter to my Daughter to send her, also Mrs Hilty in Enterprise :3 copie of Mts Celingers letter or perhaps some of the Drs but we have not seen anithinghf the kind yett and it is nearly 5 weeks ago. Now please lett us have the letters we WIII gladly copie them and send them
back withought delay. Hoping I am not asking to much of you I remain yours ttuly ‘ Mrs J, B. Ehrsam '
Enterprise Kansas
MRS. 3mm EHRSAM T0 MRS. MAUDE LAMSON, NOVEMBER 14’ 1899
Enterprise Nof 14/99 [
My dear Mrs Lamson. - ' d f bl ‘ Its been such a long time since I heard of you. Of course you know how 1! was, how Sick an ee 2 ‘
like
I have been and therefore unable to write. But thank God I “TI mUCh be-[fmr ingnghzlidvyli); can i (0 know Ibouth the Drs wherebouts. also abouth his book 15 1[ done (erI “2:; for the book. Len we “P“! "3 hIVE il- H il b: dCSiflbl)’ I WI” send the money at once ance and knowledge at the me know how the believers are prospering and how Ihe)’ giow mil” for Mrs Hilty to come to hadquaners. Has Mrs Khairalla arrived in Chicago. It IS now 1mg??? :13; done in September but Chingo- {0" Sb: hid ‘0 have 3 ““7 difficult operation performed aton and able to take a long altho she is doing well, she will have to waith a longer time (0 gfiftgthegr every daYImlmcy. She will write to you ct long. We live close and see ink ow more abouth “Oh God give ‘
Wt talk much abouth the blessed truth and long [0 hear an n ’ me Knowledge faith and love" is the desier of m)’
hearth at all times. . B. Ehrsam. Hoping I0 hear from you soon I remain yours for the truth Mrs J
WMWM MW
\
36
WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996797
Can Poetry Promote Peace?
A REVIEW OF 072 Prejudire: A GlobalPerspettive, ED. DANIELA GIOSEI—‘FI (NEW YORK: ANCHOR DOUBLEDAY, 1993, 716 mans) AND UmettlingAmerim.-An Anthology of Comtmporary Multirultumll’oetry, ED. MARIA MAZZIOTTI GILLAN AND JENNIFER GILLAN (NEW YORK: VIKING PENGUIN, 1994, 406 PAGES)
BY PETER E. MURPHY
n Prq'udice: A Global Perspective and Umrttling America: An Anthology of
Contemporary Multicultural Pottiy are two valuable collections of modern and contemporary literature that expose the flesh and illumine the souls of many of the world's penple They include the work of hundreds of writers from around the globe, many whose names and views are familiar, and many more whose voices have not yet reached a wide audience‘ Though designed as thematic, multicultural readers for university courses, these anthologies have a comprehensive scope that makes them useful on several levels for anyone striving to develop a world-cmbmcing vision. Both anthologies contain literature not only from the maltreated but, surprisingly, from those perceived as being the oppressors, thus destroying easy stereotypes and building a foundation to understand the cyclical nature of bigotry and all its abhorrent synonyms. On the literary level those engaged in realizing a global society will not only learn much from the poems, short fiction, and essays in these
0 deeper perspective obtained from reading
collections, but they will enjoy th . from ordmary
well-crafted language that difl‘crcntiates poetry and ammo prose discourse. Daniela Gioscl‘fi begins the mass
tion that casts one eye on a barbaric hiStory o . . T b] d on the atrocities of the present, including those m Bosma and Afnca. mu 6
by all forms of injustice, GioscH‘l examines prejudice 1n Ilts :nany forms: genocide, racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, and ntonoculturalsnm: douiicurren; predicament," she writes, “is one of global demxse, and grtiat mm ,5’ ast 3111) WBSt, South and North, are warning uS that the planets salvatmn can 6 accomplished only through world unity an that use our human potential, our earthly. reiou knowledge for a rapidly advancing omniade.
ive On Prq'ua'ite with a fifty—page introducf bigotry while focusing the other
d the end ofwaSteful war economies rces, and our intelligence and
Copyright © 1997 by Peter E. Murphy,
!___4
38
WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996797
Though not a Bahá’í, Giosefli espouses global-minded views that cottcut with the Bahá’í teachings. Asserting that all humans areof one raceishe writes. If we are to survive, race prejudice and nationalism must give way to international cooperation. It is time for all to count themselves planetary citizens in nonviolent civil disobedience against outmoded military technocracies everywhere across the biosphere. But despite the lessons of slavery and the HolocauSt and numerous genocides from the Rape of Nanklng to Armenia t0 Babi Yar and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ethnocentric ideas still govern our political decisions and stifle our ability to
rise above human follyi .
Giosefli describes the apathy that is symptomatic of our age as upsychic numbing . . . a psychic malaise which prepares us to accept genocide and omnicide . . . a conditioned response to a glut of horror. . . . Humane feelings which might bring action are so utterly drenched in blood, so to speak, that one can no longer see ‘red’ or feel the outrage or emotional pain that might motivate action." This indifference to social chaos parallels the “spiritual lethargy” of which Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921 to 1957, warned, and the uparalysis of will,” which the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing and legislative body of the Bahá’í Faith, cautions against more recently in The Promise of “Varldece:
This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a deep—seated conviction of
the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which has led to the reluctance
to entertain the possibility of subordinating national self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an unwillingness to face courageously the far—reaching implications of establishing a world authority.‘
Although her essay exudes urgency, Gioseffi sees hope in some of the same movements praised in The Promise of 1V0rld Peace, including religious movements. She describes the outcome of a World Conference of Religions held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1970, where representatives of many of the world religions—Bahá’í, Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, Hindu,]ew, Muslim, Shintoisr, Sikh, Zoroastrian and others—assembled to "try to articulate a concrete universal basic ethic of all religions in the service of world society." They concluded
that all shared a conviction of the fundamental unity of the human family,
of the equality and dignity of all human beings; a sense of the Sacredness
of the individual conscience, and of the values of an interracial human community; a recognition that might is not right, that national power is not self—suffiaent and absolute; a belief that love, compassion, unselfishness,
1. Sheghi Effendi. Baku”! Adminmmtion: Salaried Message: 1922—1932, 7th ed. (Wilmette 111.: Baháf Publishing Trust, 1974) 131; The Universal House of Justice, The Promise of V/orla" Peace: 7b lhtl’wplt; af II): WirldOX/ilmctte, 111,: Bah.“ Publishing Trust, 1985) 23‘
[Page 39]
f—fi
CAN POETRY PROMOTE PEACE? 39
and the forc-e Of innor truth and spirit have ultimately greater power than
hate: prejudice, enmity, and self—inrerest; a sense of Obligation to stand on
the Side of the poor and the oppressed as against the rich and the oppressors; arid a profound hope that goodwill [xiv] finally prevail.
Giosefh' not only applauds “The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights"; she includes it in her appendix together with “The Seville Statement on Violence," statements on race published by UNESCO International Scholars, 3 “Disabled People’s Bill of Rights,” and other documents, including addresses of twenty-four national and international organizations such as Amnesty International, The Anti-Defamation League, Cultural Survival, Foundation for Humanity, Greenpeace, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, the National Institute against Prejudice, and The World Council of Indigenous Peoples.
While the introducrory essay and the closing appendix alone would make OnPrtjudite a valuable resource, its pulse beats in the hundreds of selections organized in its three secrions: “On Xenophobia and Genocide: The Past and the Present,” “Cultural Destruction and Cultural Affirmation,” and “Beyond Culture and Prejudice, Toward Pride and Tolerance.” It features prose by celebrated writers such as Joseph Conrad, Frederick Douglass, Tolstoy, and Voltaire; imprisoned writers such as Ghandi, Geronimo, Malcolm X, and Nelson Mandela; and women writers such as Marilyn French, Gish Jen, Toni Morrison, and Virginia Woolf Even politicians are included, with essays From Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Al Gore. _ ‘
Although the value of On Prq'udit‘t’ springs from the strength and diversxry of its short ficdon, memoirs, and essays, it also contains a glaze of poetry by an international assortment of writers such as Bei Dao, Joseph Bruchac,‘Jayn€ Cortez, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Garcia Lorca, Philip Levine, Edna St. Vlncem
Millay. Carole Stone, Walt Whitman, William Butler Years, and others: While ming exactness, the reciprocal chains that
ts settle less ambitiously with or anger. Maya Angelou, the wn when she read at President d faith in these stanzas
many of the poets reveal with disc: bind oppressors and the oppressed, somo poe merely expressing pain, outrage, frustration, African-American poet who became well kno . Clinton’s inaugural in 1993, professes determination an
from “Still I Rise”: . h. ‘ You may Wrne me down In [Story ‘
With your bitter, twisted lies, A You may trod me in the. very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll use.
You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, 1 You may kill me with your hatefu ness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise,
b~—_._._,_o___.___..w_.m . ...V MM.”
40
WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996797
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancescors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise. ‘
Although Angelou’s language and imagery are unsophisticated, the Poem:
tone echoes in its repetition the music and tradition of spirituals that lgmtcd the hope of the ancestors she praises. A less familiar poet, Dennis Brutus, whu has lived in exile in the United States since leaving South Africa in the 19603, uses a more restrained rhythm and thyme to express hope in “Yes, Mandela," his tribute to the South African President:
Yes, Mandela, some of us
we admit embarrassedly
wept to see you step free
so erectly, so elegantly
shrug OE the prisoned years
a blanket cobwebbed of pain and grime:
behind, the island’s sea sand,
harsh, white and treacherous
ahead, jagged rocks and crannies bladed crevices of racism and deceit
in the salt island air
you swung your hammer grimly stoic facing the dim path of interminable years, now, vision blurred with tears
we see you step out to our salutes
beating our burden of hopes and fears and impress your radiance
on the gray morning air.
Both Angleou and Brutus use the dawn to symbolize the hnpefulness that has arisen out of centuries of oppression, bur Brutus’ diction is more subtle, and his choice of images, more complex and surprising, Unlike Angelou’s “daybreak that’s wondrously clear," Brutus’ “hopes and fears” illumine “the gray morning air,” anticipating the struggle after the struggle, who live in the promising land must recu
In “For Medgar Evers," D
when the people nsrruct themselves intn a nation. avld Ignatow, an American poet of Jewish de
’7—“
CAN POETRY PROMOTE PEACE? 41
scent, weaves a denser and darker fabric of expectancy in his memorial oem to the slain civil rights worker. P
They're afraid of me
because I remind them of the ground.
The harder they step on me
the closer I am pressed to earth,
and hard, hard they step,
growing more frightened
and vicious.
Will I live? They will lie in the earth buried in me and above them a tree will grow l for shade. lgnatow's ambiguous ending pleasantly complicates the abomination of op— ‘ ptession. The question “Will I live?n is resolved in the elaborate image of the murderers being absorbed by and becoming what they have attempted to destroy. Out of this crime. beauty grows thick with benevolent umbrage that promises to protect future generations from the atrocities of the present. Noticeably missing from On Prejudice is Robert Hayden. A Fellow of the Academy of American Poets and long-time poetry editor of “York! Orderbefore his death in 1980, Hayden was the first African—American honored bx the Library of Congress as its Consultant in Poetry before that position was Ritllled Poet laureate Of the United States. Poems such as “Middle Passage and “Night. Death, Mississippi" are among the most moving and highly crafted i poems describing the experience of Africans in Amenca. They would add ‘ Significantly to the depth and quality of the poemszresentcd here. ‘ d. lt is impossible to sample or even li5t all the contnbutors to On Preju tfte. hilt the variety of cultures and ethnic backgrounds Included reflect thallt o 3 large, diverse American city. While too many of these volees have b66251 ehcen thmughour history, in this book they have the opportttmty to 5mg. metICSSlndians alone, are represented by writers from ten dlfferent nanve gatISOd. Abénaki, Apache, Chippewa, Cree, Laguna/Lakota, Mohayvk, Qttawaiuetin-o); l Sank, and Sioux. Anyone searching for a world-embracnrtgwsnon ericnjccs this Chorus of voices and rccogniZC in the cacophony of Ell erentdeg) eriencc and expressions the familiarity of human thought, emotlon, an p
that binds humanity together as one race‘ _ Maria Mazziottl Gillan
While OnPrtjudiz-rpresents mostly nonfictnoh prose, , Gems that aim w and Jennifer Gillan have collecred in Umett/mg Aarzerzmeliican Rather than challenge all conceptions of what xt means to“; {CAflanil’ poetry, the editors make an inclusive, wcll—defined anthology of me 1
' ” w' “ oems that directly 0 ‘ ‘ ’ ' of vmces 1th p ch se Instead, to ‘cteatc a PlurallSKlC play
. . n ceded. The address the instability of American IdentitY- - ' ' They have suce
¥ _4__4
42
WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996-97
five sections of Umeztling America are stages in the cohtintiil pathologxfind (eventual) healing of prejudice: “Uprooting,” “Performing, Naming, Ncgotiating,” “Rc-envisioning." ‘ .
As the title of the collection implies, the poets selected evmce a particu‘larly American inteteSt as shown by a random selection of titles, “Portrait of Assimilation” (Chtystos), “We Never Stopped Crossing Borders" (Luis J Rodriguez), “How I Learned English” (Gregory Djanikinn), “We Are AmenCans Now, We Live in the Tundra” (Marilyn Chin), “Notes for a Poem on Being Asian American” (Dwight Okita), and “So Mexicans Arc 'Ihking Jobs 11mm Americans” (Jimmy Santiago Baca).
'I'he America in which these writers live, though rich in ethnic diversity, is poor in charity, a poverty ofspirit that leads to much “unsettling." Americans enjoy the myth that they relish rugged individuality, but they are not always hospitable to those whose skin color, religion, language, or CllSIUn‘IS are different from their own. In the xenophobic Nineties, Americans need to appreciate the shared hopes, dreams, and fears of all humans, as the manipulative make scapegoats out of the tired, poor, and hungry who have come hen: pursuing the same life, liberty, and happiness that Iong—time citizens’ ancestors have before them. The poets in this volume illustrate how the newcomers have managed to persevere and frequently prosper, even when this nation declares war on them. Consider these stanzas from Dwight Okitn's “In Response to Executive Order 9066,” the mandate that imprisoned Americans of Japanese descent during World War II.
I saw Denise today in Geography class.
She was sitting on the other side of the mom. “You‘re trying to start a war," she said, “giving, secrets away to the Enemy, Why can’t you keep your big mourh shut?
I didn’t know what to say.
I gave her a packet of tomato seeds
and asked her to plant them for me, told her
when the first tomato ripened
she'd miss me. Told from a child’s point of view, this poem shows the innocence and the strength of the young to offer, in the face of rejection and hatred for yivencss and faith, qualities that create unity in a fragmented world. I ike than23 in this collection, Okita’s poem tcHCCts both the vulnerability and dignity thit man ' Americans, new and established, have shown in response to ncill ethnicy sexual, and religious prejudice. . ‘ ’ ,
Gerald Stern, an American Jew, alsn writes about a childhood memor f
the same era. His, however, is from a sadder but wiser adult perspectiyvemlrii
“ V . .. . 'Ihe Detncmg, he describes the exact moment near the end of World War II when innocence and experience collide.
CAN POETRY PROMOTE PFACE? 43
E In all these rotten shops, in all this broken furniture l and wrinkled tics and baseball trophies and coEee pots ‘ l have never seen a post—war l’hilco
l with the automatic eye
I nor heard Ravcl‘s “Bolero” the way I did
l
l
l
l
5
in 1945 in that tiny living room on Beechwood Boulevard, nor danced as I did then, my knives all Hashing, my hair all streaming, my mother red with laughter, my father cupping his left hand under his armpit, doing the dance 2 _ of old Ukraine, the sound of his skin half drum, i half fart, the world at last a meadow, the three of us whirling and singing, the three of us , screaming and falling, as if we were dying, as if we could never stnp—in 1945— I in Pittsburgh, beautiful filthy Pittsburgh, home , of (hi: evil Mcllons, 5,000 miles away ‘ from the 0(th dancing—in Poland and Germanyoh (20d of mercy, oh wild God. The living rooms of childhood arc joyously preserved in the tnemory and imagination of the poet as he shows his family’s inspired dancmgi Has the : family lcamcd that the war has ended, or is the family‘s joy unrelated to‘tl'IC i cVents of the world? The poem is Furnished with the ambivalent disappttintmcnrs of their American city, “beautiful filthy Pittsburgh,” and the American barons who manage it, the “evil Mcllons.” Amidst the family} raucous pleasure Stern abruptly conjures the ghosts of six million Jews: Tl'us understatement makes a far more powerful pocm than if he had proclaimed the obvmusil‘hc 1945" and “the other dancing—in Poland and G'etmanyf: are enough to plunge [hC reader‘s imagination into the [host horidlc :ttlofcxtics (:f the century. The last line, “oh God of mercy, oh wild God is a gray? half curse, and blurs the dichotomy between rapture and remorse I at I e s cakt't has convc cd so brilliantly. . . Pl‘ike ()kita’s arid Stern‘s, many of the poems in Ifmettlmg Amgrmztatr: childhood rcmcmhranccs. Gregory Djanikian, who emigrated from gill; his 7 the United States as a child, writes about infatuation With a classmate :1 ' ' f “In the Elementary School Chair. I new country in [l'HS excerpt tom . b Waves i There was Linda Deemer Wltl’l her am 81' i And lovely fruited plains, . And she was part of Amtrlca r00 Along with sun and SPaCIOUS 519' Though untouchable, and 8.5 distant As purple mountains of majesty.
whisper of “
we sang,
WtWHNWM»; ”WWW
n “This is my country,
WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996797
And a few years ago there would have been A scent of figs in the air, mangoes, And someone playing the oud along a clear stream. . .
As the poem concludes, the boy has lost his sweetheart to the “high socmty of the hallway”; he remains rooted to the classroom Hoot thinking,
One day I was going to tell her something.
Des Moines, I was saying to myself,
Baton Rouge. Terre Haute. Boise. The poem merges his yearning for his American girl with his new American language, both of which he longs to taste more fully. This poem, like others in Umettling America, shows the speaker encountering his or her own new world while trying to hold fast to or adapt the old world of his family, culture, language, or race. Like Djanikian, other poets in this anthology are humorous, Charming, and insightful in showing how individuals learn to navigate the racial and ethnic gulfs separating the peoples of many continents who live here.
Many poets in Umettling America write about the spread of the cancer of racism, and some, such as Cheryl Clarke, resound with the bitterness of the wounded. l-Ier poem “14th Street Was Gutted in 1968" describes the human firestorm that erupted in the Newark riots.
14th Street was gutted in 1968.
Fire was started on one side of the street.
Flames licked a trail of gasoline to the other side. For several blocks a gauntlet Of flames.
For several days debris smoldered with the stench of buildings we had known all our lives. Had known all our lives. I recalled the death of Otis Redding. My sense of place was cauterized.
Since that time the city has become a buffalo nearly a dinosaur and,
as with everything else white men have wanted
for themselves,
endangered
or'extinct.
While some critics will defend or rationalize Clarke’s animosity, her stereotyping of “white men” is as erroneous and immoral as the avarice and destruction of which they are accused. Neither white indifference nor black rage will lead to the taCial peace envisioned by Bahá’ís. Clarke’s artless generalization advaneesneither human rights not poetry. The integrity of both are slaughterecl in its blind sweep that ignites fires that continue to burn in our Cities and in our heatts. This is not to say that rage cannot be artful, but it takes a greatei: commitment to justice and [0 the craft of poetry to succeed. Lucille Clifton illustrates the difference between righteous and self—righteous anger in
her poem ‘Sam,” which subtly illuminates the life of one black man who has suffered from America’s racism.
CAN POETRY PROMOTE peace?
45
if he could have kept
the sky in his dark hand
he would have pulled it down
and held it.
it would have called him lord
as did the skinny women
in Virginia. if he
could have gone to school
he would have learned to write
his story and not live it.
if he could have done better
he would have. oh stars
and stripes forever,
what did you do to my father? Clifton’s allegation against America is both poignant and surprising, but it works because she has displayed the torn carcass of its not so innocent victim. She indites the adminisuative and economic racism that stole her ancestors here and enslaved them for centuries before releasing them to a thirsty land of shared crops and unfulfilled promises. She does not give in to easy generalizations that destroy all prospects of nurturing unity. Unlike Clarke’s poem, which recklessly scatters shrapnel among the innocent, “Sam” is a scalpel which makes an incision in the reader's heart as a necessary part of the healing
America’s role in bringing about the oneness of humanity is unparalleled.
Yet America, the melting pot and the Salad bowl, has been for centuries the country where people from every nation have come to live and to work and to continue their ancient wars while waging new ones against each other. African-Amcricans, Asian-Americans, European-Americans, Hispanic—Americans, Jewish-Americans, Middle-Eastern-Americans, Native—AmericansI—the hyphens in these designations can separate us, or they can they can imn us the same way they join the words together. Those committed to .seeing the world and its people as one will enjoy the poems in Umeztli-ngAmerzca hecause they already understand and consent to the purpose that unites them."1 he best of On Prq'uditeand UmettlingAmerim use startling imagery and pleasing must: to demonstrate the extraordinarily common loves and concerns that give meaning to all our lives. These collections make clear that: desgite the pervastve disorder at the end of the millennium, the similarities Within the human species are greater than its differences. On Prejudice and Urumlnag Amefzm welcome the reader to taste the exotic and the strange, and find it Familiar. The essays, stories, and poetry they offer are sometimes sorrowful, sometimes shrill, sometimes angry, and sometimes humorous. But they are frequently beautiful and always compelling.
A \
46
WORLD ORDER: WINTER 1996797
The Anatomy of a Poem
You’ve got to give us more information],
The words are a picture, yes, but incomplete.
We need to know who was with you, what [llL‘ weather was like, If you had laughed or not that day,
And how many times the telephone rang.
We are not modern doctors,
We want not the symptoms, but the cause. We will treat that,
We will take it out by the room if necessary What’s that? Speak up, boy! You say you have hung your soul out [0 dryDon’t you know that all the neighbors, passing by, Will now know that today is Satu rday And much more about you than is conveniently Necessary? Move your clotheslinc, son! Didn’t you know that’s why the backs of houses exist? Where if you musr disclose your soul, It takes some work to get a glimpse. Our advice is to Stop it. All that exposure can’t be good for it, And as for your poem, whatever happened to it, Take two aspirin, and if it comes back again, Give us a ring.
—R. D. Huff
Copyright © 1997 by R. D, Hufl'
f #3.: mg rid 1:39;..
[Page 48]
Authors 8C Artists
DUANE L. HERMMANN, who makes a third appearance in \Vorldordtr, has for the past two decades been investigating the early history of the Kansas Bahá’í community, which will celebrate its centenary in 1997. His publications include poetry, essays, and a short book on the Kansas Bahá’í's.
RHEA HARMSEN holds a doctorate in plant breeding and plant genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a poet and novelist who writes about gender equality and race relations. She edits Race Unity News; her first collection of poetry is entitled Language of the Spirits
R. D‘ HUFF, who lives in Venezuela, makes a first appearance in \Varld Order.
PETER E. MURPHY, whose review of three books by and about Robert Hayden appeared in World Order's Fall 1987/Winter 1987-438 issue, teaches English and crcative writing in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His poems have been published in numerous journals, including era' Order, and have been anthologized in several collections. He has been a poetry advisor and
educational consultant to the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Education Testing Service, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and the PBS television series on poetry entitled “Moyers: Power of the Word."
MICHAEL L. PENN, a regular contributor to Wr/d Order, is a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Franklin 8( Marshall college in Pennsylvania. He is currently working on two books— Dtsecmtian of the Temple, an examination of the global problem of Violence against women and girls, and Hope, Hopelexmm‘, andAmeritan Race Relations, a study of the psychohistorical attitudes about the viability of healthy relationship between blacks and whites during the last three decades.
ART CREDITS: Cover design by John SolarL,
Steve Garrigues; pp. 1, 3, 6, 27, photographs.
Steve Garrigues; p. 28, photograph, courtesy
Kalimét Press; pp. 29, 33, photographs, courtesy National Bahá’í Archives; p. 36, photograph, 1;“?J‘ Knospe; p. 47, photograph, Sharone urns.
