It has been over ten years since I had the memorable experience of attending a weekend Baha’i Race Unity Conference in Charleston, SC. Yet the indelible impression left upon me by one speaker, in particular, has had a profound influence on my overall perspective of the unfoldment of our American society.
The speaker was Dr. C. Eric Lincoln, professor emeritus of Religion and Culture, at Duke University, who spoke on the Broken Back Beagle theory commonly used throughout this nation, most notably in the South. To illustrate his point, Dr. Lincoln used a popular Southern quote, “If you break the beagle’s back he can’t bring the rabbit back.” It is then good for nothing and must be taken care of for the rest of its life.
Dr. Lincoln gave three life-altering experiences, which introduced him to the depth and gravity of racial hate through the misconception of white supremacy, starting with his first horrifying exposure to it as a child. I can never get past the first without breaking into tears. The three lessons well learned, “with scars, I will carry to my grave,” he commented, equaled what he termed as, “The niggerization of an entire race,” to make them societal liabilities for the rest of their lives.
Apply this concept to our nation’s court-ordered desegregation of public schools, workplaces, lunch counters, other eating and public places, housing, etc. implemented in the past and present in a way to keep the beagle’s back broken. Yet it is becoming obvious, through the aid of many social and federal programs that more and more are beating the odds and raising isolated glass ceilings.
Of course, there are those who managed to break through and have been known to march to the same drummer as their oppressors once they are perceived to be “free at last.” Untold others, however, have devoted themselves and their progress to the upliftment of their own race as well as to the betterment of society as a whole, ever cognizant of the fact, as Jesse Jackson puts it, “It doesn’t matter what ship you came over here on, we’re all in the same boat now!”
While watching Jesse just last week as he appeared on the Tavis Smiley Show, I was struck by his reference to the slow, painful progress of African-Americans from the dehumanizing level of being personal property, to being addressed as Mr. and Mrs., to doctor, attorney, judge, Mayor, Senator, to Governor, Congressmen and Congresswomen and candidates for the presidency of the nation. We have come too far, he warns the confused youth of today, for you to degrade yourselves with such demeaning dress fads and disrespect of self and women as expressed in many popular video and rap releases. This is living testimony to the fact that no proud Black History has been taught in public school systems over the past 50 years, not to the detriment of one race alone but to the detriment of the entire nation.
“Blacks and Whites must understand that no real change will come about without close association, fellowship, and friendship among diverse people,” state the Baha’i Writings. Therefore, “We appeal to the individual American because the transformation of a whole nation ultimately depends on the initiative and change of character of the individuals who compose it.”
The Baha’i community is offered worldwide as an example of creating models of unity. The transformation of a whole nation ultimately depends on the initiative and change of character of the individuals who compose it.”
The Baha’i community is offered worldwide as an example of creating models of unity.
