So this is a work blog, where I ever so occasionally post stories of my work exploits, and I guess today is no different. What did I do at work today? I checked my twitter account for tech updates. Honestly, that is all. I found I had difficulty concentrating on work afterward, after I saw the videos of two more black people killed by police, in my country, in circumstances that seem manifestly unjust. I work from home. I went downstairs and held my wife, and we talked and wept. I'm writing down a few of my thoughts on this day.
A few days ago I helped a black friend of mine, along with his white wife and cocoa-colored children, prepare to move from Portland to San Francisco. I washed walls and took down curtains while they were packing up the U-Haul. At some point in the day, I found out that his drivers' license and passport had been misplaced in the hectic process. I prayed that he would not get stopped by police while driving his kids down I-5. I was very worried. I suppose I thought that having a license would make a difference.
My wife is south Indian, with very dark skin. She looks black. Our kids, through some trick of genetics, are even whiter than me. People sometimes ask her if she's their babysitter. This is a little off-putting, but to me it's a forgivable, even understandable mistake. It's not like they are suspecting her of abusing the kids or something.
People try to solve problems with the tools they know. Technologists try to solve racism with technology, reporters try to solve it with reporting. Et cetera.
My wife and I are Bahá'ís, so the solution for most problems centers around education. This is most efficient when you reach people as children or youth, but it works on adults too: when I lived in Israel I knew a 95-year-old Iranian man whose grandmother had carefully taught him in childhood that if you threw a stone at a Jew and broke his back, you would get a higher place in heaven. When he became a Bahá'í he abandoned those prejudices. He lived for much of his life in Israel, associating with Jews from all walks of life, from shop merchants to mayors to the President of Israel. He did not throw stones.
In the past my wife and I have run children's classes and youth groups for our neighbors' kids — the Bahá'í community has some materials I like that teach morality and spiritual inquisitiveness without focusing on doctrine and religious exclusivity — but lately, after we moved to a new place and had kids of our own, we have not found the time and energy to do so. This morning my wife decided that we need to start a children's class in our neighborhood. She is tired of words; she wants action. This is the best action she knows how to take; this is her fighting back against injustice. It feels deeply correct to me. People try to solve problems with the tools they know, but also: I can't think of a better way to solve racial hatred than by teaching something better.
The diversity in the human family should be the cause of love and harmony, as it is in music where many different notes blend together in the making of a perfect chord. If you meet those of different race and colour from yourself, do not mistrust them and withdraw yourself into your shell of conventionality, but rather be glad and show them kindness. Think of them as different coloured roses growing in the beautiful garden of humanity, and rejoice to be among them. -'Abdu'l-Bahá
In 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited the United States. It was a big deal. Four years ago I helped create a website to commemorate the hundred-year anniversary. I love the story of how he gently encouraged a group of white children to appreciate the black child among their number. At an all-white reception held in his honor in Washington D.C., he defied social conventions by demanding that the black man who had accompanied him from Howard University, where he had spoken earlier that day, be allowed to join the dinner party — and then seated him in the place of honor. In 1920, he directed the Bahá'ís to host a ground-breaking series of "Race Amity Conferences." He warned that if the racial hatred in America were not addressed there would be "great difficulties" and "hardships," that it would cause "the streets of American cities to run with blood."
A couple years ago I decided to create a Bahá'í "quote of the day" site. I never really finished it — it's hard to find energy for personal web projects after working on web stuff all day — but I had all the quotes picked out so I threw them online and then forgot about it. July 6 didn't mean anything at the time, but today I re-discovered the passage I had chosen for it, and now it's just heart-breaking.
In every century a particular and central theme is, in accordance with the requirements of that century, confirmed by God. In this illumined age that which is confirmed is the oneness of the world of humanity. -'Abdu'l-Bahá
I've never before read the phrase "the requirements of that century" as something ominous.
My wife had to drive to town this afternoon. She didn't let on at first, but she was a little bit afraid to go. I didn't say anything at first, but I was a little bit afraid to let her go without me. I went along. We talked about it in the car.
I guess that's it for now. To my black colleagues, if any of you managed to get any work done today, you're made of stronger stuff than me.