Policing and Racism
On June 8, 2020, Hoda Mahmoudi, Research Professor and Chair, The Bahá’ì Chair for World Peace gave a statement at the opening of the town hall meeting on Policing and Racism in America. The town hall was sponsored by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park.
Dear Friends,
I greet you with a heavy heart, with a heart scarred by the lesions of hate and discrimination, and with a heart angered over the systems which support a kind of lurking evil.
I greet you as a person in need – of answers, of pathways forward, of hope.
And I greet you as a fellow worker, determined to play a part, any part that I am allowed, to help right this ship, before the time is passable that it cannot be saved.
One simply cannot imagine a new peace without new policing, and one cannot imagine new policing without a new peace.
Policing is not the creation of peace, it is the preservation of peace. It aligns itself with the goals, values, and preferences of communities that already exist. Police are not to dictate – they are not dictators – they are to act through organized, statutory consent – a consent of the people, by the decree of the people, for the benefit of the people.
In order to secure peace, the police must abide within the unspoken platforms of consent and practice. These platforms, when performed well, support the bridge of peace we all must cross.
Peace arises not from being ruled, but from when those in authority obey the rules. Lawlessness at the top spreads outwardly. Lawlessness must be called out where it first occurs.
Peace isn’t an agreement between unequal parties, peace is a coalition of equal parties – of communities striving for an accurate, helpful arrangement. Policing must follow community standards and be informed by history, policy, and the legacy of racism; it must be sensitive, deferential, careful, and supportive. Policing must honor pre-existing communities, and should look to shore up, build up, and continue with the work already being done in these communities.
I do not understand what it is like to be a black man, or to be a black woman, in this country. I do not know what it is like to walk in another’s shoes.
But I do know wrong when I see it.
It is wrong that that those individuals charged with our protection become a menace.
It is wrong when some of us are constrained in intolerable ways.
It is wrong when some people’s movements are tightly regulated.
It is wrong that the cost of being black in this country is astronomically, dangerously, unimaginably high.
It is wrong that some people’s lives are seen as less than, unworthy of fair and just treatment.
But let me also say this.
It is wrong to wait too long.
It is wrong to pause before justice.
It is wrong to sit idly by.
Here is a quote so many of you know (quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.):
“When you see hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters…then you will understand why we find it so difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.”
Legitimate and unavoidable impatience is not a moral evil, it is a moral good. Impatience with injustice is a righteous act. Impatience with injustice is a loving act. Impatience with injustice is a hopeful act. Impatience with injustice is a God-fearing act.
A determination to change – to change the way bodies, minds, and hearts are policed – is a determination to change the future. A determination to change is a determination to preserve and sanctify the lives of those who have been killed.
George Floyd.
Breonna Taylor.
So many others.
For peace to ever occur, we ourselves must demand that policing change. To care about peace is to insist upon this. We can tolerate nothing less. A peaceful future is a God-given hope, but the battle for peace lies in our hands.
It must be won.
You can watch the video of the town hall here.
About the Author:
Professor Hoda Mahmoudi holds the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland. Dr. Mahmoudi develops a sound scientific basis for knowledge and strategies that explore the role of social actors and structures in removing obstacles to peace and creating paths to a better world. For more information about Hoda: Bahá’í Chair for World Peace website.
Thank you for these words of supreme hope and wisdom
Spot on… I would only leave you all with this (below). Do note – as with ALL Shoghi Effendi’s messages to America – it was in the present tense… In other words, “won’t this be wonderful some time in the future when these injustices, these wrongs, these needs and wants are fulfilled by some other Baha’is?”
No. The Guardian said this Most Vital and Challenging Issue, this Double Crusade MUST begin NOW.
And as Councillor Anello said in my apartment back in 1987: “Unless and until the Baha’is in America live, eat and breath the Guardian’s Vision for America they will always fail.”
Two quotes that we should consider:
“There is so much suffering, such a great and desperate need for a true remedy and the Bahá’ís should realize their sacred obligation is to deliver the Message to their fellow men at once, AND ON AS LARGE A SCALE AS POSSIBLE. If they fail to do so, they are really partly responsible for prolonging the agony of humanity.” (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, December 18, 1943)
“Humanity, through suffering and turmoil, is swiftly moving on towards its destiny; if we be loiterers, if we fail to play our part surely others will be called upon to take up our task as ministers to the crying needs of this afflicted world.” Shoghi Effendi Baha’i Administration, p. 66.
Jim Harrison
Prof History
Dear Hoda,
Thank you for expressing these much needed words at this time of trial, difficulty and ordeal. It is, indeed, wrong to wait. And I’m afraid we have been waiting. I feel completely immersed in the events of the last two, going on three weeks, praying for our world, looking deeply within and trying to learn as much as i can. We, in the Baha’i world have SUCH resources – the gift ofDivine Guidance that has been streaming into our consciousness for so long. One article that had great importance for me is the interview with Khalil Muhammad ( of Harvard) on Police Brutality. I hope you can access it. Also, Christiane Amanpour’s interview with Bill Moyers on June 10th. We do need to raise our voices as White or white-passing folks after listening and trying to learn the truth of our American heritage and history. Thank you again so very much!
Sending love, Carol