We have all been children. Maybe not all of us have been or will be parents, but we have all had the experience of being a child. No matter what race, what class, what culture we come from, we have all felt that peculiar smallness. We have watched the grown-ups come and go. We have tried to measure the meaning of our lives against their erratic and often contradictory motions.

Lev and I have been asked to help facilitate the annual Green Acre Race Unity day (I almost wrote Racy Unity – yikes! that’s something else entirely!) this year on June 6 at the bucolic campus in Eliot, Maine.

I’m pulling together some ideas now, and this blog entry serves two purposes:
1. As an invitation to all our beloved readers to come join us and share your brilliant insights! You can register for Green Acre here!
2. As a sounding board for some of the ideas we’ve been playing with. Here is the original blurb:
“Though the reality of the soul transcends race, our spiritual journey on this plane is shaped by racialized experiences. During this weekend we will examine findings from social science, the Baha’i Writings, and stories from our own communities, including children’s classes and junior youth activities, to better understand how we can build and maintain unity in our neighborhoods.”

Since we’ve written that, we’ve really wanted to highlight the idea of developing ourselves as human resources and the need to be in learning mode as we engage in the process of striving for race unity. Furthermore, I’m thinking about the difference between the questions raised by “racial equality” and “race unity” – racial equality as removing and avoiding disparities (a lack of negative) but racial unity as taking it to the next level – friendly interactions (a presence of positive).

Session 1:
A. The importance of this topic: “The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.” Baha’u'llah
B. Racial Equality
a. Reflection on Baha’i writings on justice, truth: “Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues.” -Abdu’l-Baha; “The light of men is justice; quench it not with the contrary winds of oppression and tyranny. The purpose of justice is the appearance of unity among people.” -Baha’u'llah
b. Challenges re: power: e.g. majority-minority, Seguy and Dovidio’s work, money and media influence, privilege, health issues, disparities in the legal and criminal justice system, where are we now, etc (the social science)

Session 2:
C. Racial Unity
a. Reflection on Baha’i writings on fellowship, unity, love: “Consort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness.” Abdu’l-Baha
b. Challenges re: cultural differences: e.g. Joy Degruy-Leary’s work, Black and White styles in conflict book, pluralistic ignorance research, different cultural norms and practices such as use of first names and politeness, where are we now, etc (the social science)
D. The spiritual qualities needed for engaging in this process: A careful exploration.

Session 3:
Panel Discussion: something like “Taking a posture of learning about race unity” – but catchier …whom to invite?

Session 4:
Breakout groups/ Training to take concrete actions upon returning to our home communities: this is the central and most important part of the day! Putting what we’ve learned into practice. We’ve got some great ideas here…

More later, I’m in a meeting now…
Love
N