As to racial prejudice, the corrosion of which, for well-nigh a century, has bitten into the fiber, and attacked the whole social structure of American society, it should be regarded as constituting the most vital and challenging issue confronting the Bahá’í community at the present stage of its evolution. The ceaseless exertions which this issue of paramount importance calls for, the sacrifices it must impose, the care and vigilance it demands, the moral courage and fortitude it requires, the tact and sympathy it necessitates, invest this problem, which the American believers are still far from having satisfactorily resolved, with an urgency and importance that cannot be overestimated. White and Negro, high and low, young and old, whether newly converted to the Faith or not, all who stand identified with it must participate in, and lend their assistance, each according to his or her capacity, experience, and opportunities, to the common task of fulfilling the instructions, realizing the hopes, and following the example, of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Whether colored or noncolored, neither race has the right, or can conscientiously claim, to be regarded as absolved from such an obligation, as having realized such hopes, or having faithfully followed such an example. A long and thorny road, beset with pitfalls, still remains untraveled, both by the white and the Negro exponents of the redeeming Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. On the distance they cover, and the manner in which they travel that road, must depend, to an extent which few among them can imagine, the operation of those intangible influences which are indispensable to the spiritual triumph of the American believers and the material success of their newly launched enterprise.

Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice , p. 51 (circa 1930s)

 

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Racism  is a profound  deviation  from  the standard  of true morality.   It deprives a portion of humanity of the opportunity  to cultivate and express the full  range of their capability and to live a meaningful  and flourishing  life, while  blighting the progress of the rest of humankind.   It cannot  be rooted  out by contest and conflict.  It must  be supplanted  by the establishment of just relationships among individuals, communities, and  institutions of society that will  uplift all and will not designate anyone as "other ".   The change required  is not  merely social and economic, but above all moral and spiritual.  Within the context of the framework governing your activities, it is necessary  to carefully examine the forces  unfolding around  you to determine  where your energies might reinforce the most promising initiatives , what you should avoid, and  how you might lend a distinctive contribution.   It is not possible for you to effect the transformation envisioned  by Baha'u'llah merely  by adopting the perspectives, practices, concepts , criticisms, and  language of contemporary  society.  Your approach, instead, will  be distinguished  by maintaining a humble  posture of learning , weighing alternatives in the light of His teachings, consulting to harmonize differing views and shape collective action, and marching forward  with unbreakable  unity  in serried  lines.

Universal House of Justice, "Letter to the Baha'is of the United States", July 22, 2020