igh 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 Baha'i 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-Baha. 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 Baha'u'llah.
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.

Let them call to mind, fearlessly and determinedly, the example and
conduct of 'Abdu'l-Baha while in their midst. Let them remember His
courage, His genuine love, His informal and indiscriminating fellowship,
His contempt for and impatience of criticism, tempered by His tact and
wisdom. Let them revive and perpetuate the memory of those unforgettable
and historic episodes and occasions on which He so strikingly demonstrated
His keen sense of justice, His spontaneous sympathy for the downtrodden,
His ever-abiding sense of the oneness of the human race, His overflowing
love for its members, and His displeasure with those who dared to flout
His wishes, to deride His methods, to challenge His principles, or to
nullify His acts.

To discriminate against any race, on the gr