When We In-visibilize Our Nobility

When We In/visibilize VAWA have provided federal grant funding to support relevant community-based ini-

Our Nobility . . . ber of advancements, including, but not limited to: stronger criminal SAHAR D. SATTARZADEH accountability for domestic violence to tribal lands, and inclusion of Dost thou deem thyself a small for the LGBTQ+ community. Reauthori- and puny form, zation of the bill expired in When thou foldest within thyself the greater world? Hadith (qtd. in Bahá’u’lláh, The Call of the Divine Beloved) congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house- U / V ularly for Black, Indigenous, In October 2011, an international faith- based women’s rights non-governmen- tal organization (NGO) convened a press briefing for invited members of of governmental action regarding Miss- the United States Congress and their ing and Murdered Indigenous Women, staff in the U.S. Capitol Building in Girls, Transgender, and Two-Spirit Washington, D.C. The briefing was an advocacy initiative to address the Vi- olence Against Women Act (VAWA)1 Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), has also 1 Introduced by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, VAWA became the first form of U.S. legislation representing a multidimensional approach to strengthening local, state, trib- al, and federal responses to gender-based violence and violence against women and LGBTQ+ communities, specifically relat- ing to crimes associated with dating vio- lence, domestic violence or intimate part- ner violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The dual purpose of the bill is to “ensur[e] victim safety and offender accountabili- ty” (Office of Violence Against Women). Throughout the years, reauthorizations of 78 The Journal tiatives; they have also resulted in a num- laws, housing protections for victims, extending partial protections 2019, and at the time of writing this, the U.S. House of Representatives approved reauthoriza- tion, H.R.1620 - Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2021 (www. bill/1620/text) with enhancements, partic- underrepre- sented ethnic/racial groups, two-spirit and LGBTQ+ communities, which is currently facing obstacles in the Senate. Responding to the long absence, avoidance, and silence People (MMIWGT2S), the first-ever Indigenous person and woman of color to hold a U.S. Cabinet position, Secretary of the Interior established a new Missing and Murdered Unit (MMU) within the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services “to pro- vide leadership and direction for cross-de- partmental and interagency work involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives . . . [and] help put the full weight of the federal government into investigating these cases and marshal law enforcement resources across federal agen- cies and throughout Indian country” (DOI News). On May 4, 2021, President Joe Biden proclaimed May 5 as the National Day of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Day, including his of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

since its reauthorization had expired this point. It was my turn to approach that year, and therefore, was again up the microphone and share my story. for reauthorization for the 2012 fiscal “Thank you for inviting me to speak year. Along with three other women about this very important issue,” I be- from diverse faith backgrounds, repre- gan. “I want to clarify, however, that I senting religious or interfaith domestic do not self-identify as a ‘victim’ . . .” violence organizations and programs, I The consistent frequency and weight was invited by the NGO to partici- of this gender-based “justice” vernac- pate on an Interfaith Domestic Violence ular was already too familiar. Even Coalition panel for the press brief- when considering the purpose of our ing. When I was introduced to speak, gathering and the title of the federal however, the last words of the introduc- law, the Violence Against Women Act, tion caught me off-guard: “. . . and she for example, the emphasis clearly falls is a victim of domestic violence.” on the victimized body of women, dis- Despite having jotted down talking regarding the accountability of the per- points in advance, suddenly, I felt petrators of that violence. Having ex- ill-prepared and out of place. An intense perienced all the predetermined stages sensation of heat overpowered my be- of “Battered Woman Syndrome,” while ing. There was no intention to present simultaneously self-diagnosing it on myself as the victim on display for the occasion, is another reminder of how event; to be honest, I had never actu- such branding creates new, problematic ally shared my abusive relationship opportunities for those of us who have history with the conveners. The emcee endured abusive relationships to be sys- of the event, a white Christian clergy- tematically beaten up and diminished woman introduced as a “survivor” of by ourselves and others—even if only domestic violence, shared the obstacles symbolically—over and over again. It she had faced due to a deficient, broken becomes a gendered burden to bear. In system. It was a story she chose to tell. attempting to identify the “disease,” we While there was likely no malintent still become “diseased,” pathologizing on the part of the sponsoring NGO, I our experiences of abuse. Despite the still could not help but feel exploited shared anecdotes of victimization and and tokenized as the poster “victim” trauma that may (or may not) have for the briefing. I never consented to been expected of me at the congressio- such a representation. My nobility nal hearing, I refused to go there. That was instantly invisibilized, flanking in refusal was a resistance to how I was the shadows of my “trauma.” Never- introduced, to how I was scripted to theless, there was no running away at perform. Ironically, being introduced as a victim took me completely “off- script” of my own pre-drafted words; commitment to protecting Native commu- yet, it also challenged me to create a nities through the reauthorization of VAWA new narrative for myself. (The White House). When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . . 79

Simultaneously, I had been volun- intend to serve. While I shared my per- teering as a “Court Companion and spectives during the training sessions, I Victim Advocate” at the “Abused am not sure whether anyone was recep- Persons Program” (titles that remain), tive to them. One thing was for certain: an initiative of the county health de- the program and the court system only partment where I lived at the time. viewed us as “victims.” Volunteering for the program was a In such systems, we are inherently self-prescribed attempt to heal from victims—before we even arrive, grant- leaving an abusive relationship (which ing us the latitude to perform victim- many, I recognize, are not privileged to hood; and then, there are those unwrit- do, due to varying circumstances) by ten codes deciphering who deserves hoping to support others who had also protection, who deserves the abuse, experienced domestic or intimate part- who deserves or should be “rescued” or ner violence. Among the program staff “saved,” and who should be doing the and our cohort of volunteers, I was the rescuing or saving; this savior complex only one who had openly verbalized extends across many interesting di- experiencing an abusive relationship, mensions and planes (Cole). Becoming revealing a close-up understanding a “battered woman” not only emerges of how “justice” falls short. While I from a historical, patriarchal norma- sensed a genuine collective desire to tive script. Its imprint deepens when help those victimized by abuse, the it becomes economized, ethnicized, program lacked sufficient, relevant geographized, Indigenized, and/or ra- educational and economic resources, cialized, and so on, particularly when and most importantly, it lacked any examined through the lens of colonial epistemic experience—or what Deer histories—justifying, normalizing, and refers to as “the kind of knowledge reproducing diverse forms of violence we gain from experiencing something; against Indigenous, Black, ethnic/ a visceral knowledge that can invoke racial, and gendered bodies (for ex- the physical senses and the genius of ample, see Deer; Hammad; Hartman; memory” (14)—from its targeted pop- Ritchie; Sharpe). This victimhood is ulation, thus neglecting the insightful, oftentimes internalized, especially for vital contributions that could be shared already marginalized and underrepre- with the program. The dichotomies sented communities. Ultimately, if the of “victim” and “offender” used in oppression persists “long enough and the space are dehumanizing and di- effectively enough, you [may] begin to minish the possibility of any inherent do it to yourself . . . becom[ing] a col- nobility. Therefore, despite their good laborator” (Baldwin and Giovanni 17). intentions, the program staff’s efforts For five years, I was in a relationship seemed paternalistic and surface-level with a man who was economically, at most, disregarding the diverse so- emotionally, physically, psychological- ciocultural contexts of the people they ly, and spiritually abusive towards me. 80 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

My former partner’s abuse was fueled a silent corner, hidden from view . . . by evident preexisting insecurities that until dear, beloved souls gave me “per- swiftly avalanched from the “intel” he mission” to share it. The companionate collected during his frequent violations words of Saidiya Hartman on being of my privacy, including reading my influenced by DuBois’s use of memoir journal entries about my interrogations in The Souls of Black Folk and Dusk of uninvited advances from men and the of Dawn—inspired by Chandler and details of a gang rape I had endured just Spivak’s terminology—confirmed that a year prior to meeting him. His mother this “autobiographical example . . . had tragically passed away from ad- is not a personal story that folds onto vanced ovarian cancer during the early itself; it’s not about navel gazing, it’s weeks of our courtship. Coincidentally, really about trying to look at histori- I was diagnosed with an early stage of cal and social process and one’s own ovarian cancer two weeks following formation as a window onto social and her earthly departure. Oddly enough, historical processes, as an example of I assumed my cancer diagnosis would them” (Saunders 5). Lorde’s reference serve as a form of protection or shield to her personal story in The Cancer from the abuse, perhaps an unyielding Journals as “not academic,” but rather bond between us; but instead, it swiftly as “a piece of life-saving equipment” became irrelevant, invisible. Our rela- that “kept [her] alive during the time tionship ended in 2009, and two years that [she] wrote it” (Lorde et al. 11), later—two months after that congres- likewise encouraged me to reconcile sional press briefing—I was formally and feel at ease to open up and share diagnosed with having post-traumatic this story; the urge to share this now is stress disorder (PTSD). Two years lat- simply because it finally manifested as er, we attempted to give the relationship a rupture I needed to address. And in another try, but it had already failed the the words of Lorde, “now it’s out there, first time. The relationship was an ac- the umbilical cord is cut, it has a life of celerant to a lingering disbelief in my its own” (2). It is no longer “mine,” nor own nobility. All of my relationships— does it belong to me. regardless of shape or form—were Silence formerly functioned as a mirrors of a distorted reality, reflecting protective armor—for my own guilt the neglect of my spiritual self. and shame and for my former partner, To be truthful, it has taken me well from the backbiting, verbal abuse, over a decade to share this personal and judgments projected from others experience openly and publicly. Obvi- in their attempts to slander his char- ously, I am not the first to share such acter. In addition to unlearning unjust an account; nor will I be the last, un- sociocultural norms and other forms fortunately. Initially resistant to being of socialization (we do not often free- the center of attention, to be centered ly speak about “these kinds of issues” at all, this story was safeguarded in in Azeri/Iranian/Persian households), When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . . 81

gossip and backbiting, unfortunately, for justice and healing they evoke. had already emerged among a number Even those secret well-intentioned of those privy to this particular slice of “intervention” plans among a few clus- my life. Even in the deafening secrets ters of friends deeply rooted in social and silence, I heard people talking. justice activism, which I learned of Aside from the desire to avoid being years later, backfired in unhealthy, tox- “exposed” to and judged by the world, I ic modes, even dissolving friendships. had no interest in presenting the self-in- All I desired was to avoid being (mis) flicted image of damaged “victim” or represented or replicating the “danger recovering “survivor.” Both “victim” in damage-centered [narratives] . . . [as and “survivor” still give way/weight to a] pathologizing approach in which the the experience of trauma, albeit differ- oppression singularly defines a com- ently.2 The thought of others projecting munity” (Tuck 413), such as women such a negative status upon me felt in violent relationships. Tuck suggests disempowering. In the same instance, considering desire-based frameworks there was no desire on my part to triv- instead. ialize or delegitimize the injustice or My desire to seek liberation from diminish the urgency of domestic/in- the entanglements and fetters of dam- timate partner/gender-based violence. age and victimhood is neither unique Similarly, I did not wish to undermine nor limited to my personal experiences the genuine empathy and aspirations with intimate partner, domestic, gen- der-based, and sexual violence. There 2 For me, “survivor” has been asso- are extensive systems and structures in ciated with “surviving”: cancer, rape, and our societies where a duality of visibi- domestic violence. Like “victim,” there- lized trauma and invisibilized nobility fore, I believe “survivor,” as a construct, is reproduced and normalized, particu- still anchors an individual’s trauma or pain larly in the realm of justice. Many have and centers the damage or scars there- created—through comedy and humor, from, limiting it to the human body—not writing, research, the arts, and social the capacities of the soul—therefore, em- action—humanizing narratives that phasizing the scars that remain from such experiences, not the healing, growth, and push back against one-sided or domi- progress. Thus, instead of transcending our nant narratives of victimhood (for ex- pain and suffering—accepting it happened, ample, see @regcharging (Charging); grieving it, and so on—we become stuck Bida; Dougher; Madden; Noah; Rodri- in limbo within a projected and/or internal- guez). Like Tuck, “I invite you to join ized, one-dimensional posture of survivor me in re-visioning [representations] in of our own individual and collective mak- our communities not only to recognize ing. There is no desire on my part to deny the need to document the effects of op- the name “survivor” for those who wish to pression on our communities but also claim it; it is solely a personal preference to consider the long-term repercussions not to be perceived as a survivor or surviv- of thinking of ourselves as broken” ing. Living is also an option. 82 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

(409)—moving beyond satisfaction it? What examples in the world could with representations of desire—mov- I learn and draw from? How can we ing along to recognition of and belief authentically and humbly engage in in our inherent spiritual reality—visi- social action and the relevant discours- bilizing nobility for ourselves and our es of society to “assail” the injustices communities, especially in numerous and inequities of this world, while discourses about (in)justice and (in)eq- concurrently amplifying the spiritual uity. Most importantly, in this journey reality—the nobility (and therefore, of renewal and reimagination, this vis- constructive resiliency) of the soul? ibilizing of nobility demands that we These questions have since evolved look at members of our human family into two broader questions that I am who endure injustices and inequities— still aiming to “perfect.” First, how can in varying degrees—with new eyes. we reconceptualize and participate in They are not merely damaged bodies a body politic where we visibilize and or spiritually disembodied beings, as center nobility in public discourses and too frequently depicted, but so much social actions on the various entangled more. They are souls, embodiments of dimensions of injustice and inequity, nobility or noble-embodied beings. including academic and activist spaces (and their convergences)? Second, how R R , do exemplary narratives of constructive V J /N resilience help us honor and recognize the nobility of peoples and communi- My soul simultaneously aches and ties without delegitimizing and deny- smiles whenever I ponder the Bahá’í ing the social forces of oppression that perspective on the relationship be- exist and persist in the world? These tween our inherent nobility and justice: questions, I imagine, are only a few of “Justice is a noble quality and injus- those I will live with all the days of my tice an iniquity” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris life, on this earthly plane, attempting to Talks 79), particularly due to the hor- humbly explore and learn from. rific accumulation of dehumanization It is my belief that visibilizing the we are currently enduring. Learning inherent nobility of human souls is this, however, has also forced me to a key ingredient in the possibility of question how, for decades, I could con- reimagining resistance as constructive ceive of the inherent spiritual nobility resilience. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes: of others and their justice while deny- ing my own. But if “[j]ustice is a no- In the world of existence there ble quality,” what is true nobility, and is nothing so important as spirit, what role(s) does it play in response to nothing so essential as the spirit of oppression, (in)justice, and (in)equity? man. The spirit of man is the most What does nobility look like in the face noble of phenomena . . . the col- of oppression, and would I recognize lective center of all human virtues When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . . 83

. . . the cause of the illumination and hypervisibility of injustice and of this world. (Promulgation inequity on a number of intersecting 239–40) levels. The global COVID-19 pandem- ic, combined with a rampant, height- Imagine if we all saw one another ened response to worldly injustices of through this lens: as spirits, as nuclei anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, an- of human virtues, as radiant lights— ti-Asian violence, extremes of poverty even amidst pain and suffering. When and wealth, vaccine apartheid, xeno- reflecting on this imagery, I cannot phobia, racism, and patriarchy, and the help but reflect on the analogies de- list goes on—despite their persistence scribed by the Central Figures of the for centuries—have been characterized Bahá’í Faith regarding the entangled by varying calls for public action. Most relationship between the most globally of these movements have been moti- oppressed communities—as the “pupil vated by the necessities of collective of the eye,”—a metaphor distinctly in- justice, while others have been fueled troduced by Bahá’u’lláh for people of by demands for individual liberties. African descent—as portals of light, Mass public outcry is usually synon- and Indigenous peoples as beacons of ymous with or derived from—but not light who will become “so illumined as limited to—terms and concepts such as to enlighten the whole world” (Tablets activism, boycott, demonstration, pro- of the Divine Plan 32). This spiritual test, resistance, and social movements, reality cannot be reduced to coinci- for example. The most prolific scholars dence. What if narratives of injustice of “social movement studies,” par- and inequity faced by communities ticularly those educated and residing were paralleled by these noble quali- within a factory-like white, patriarchal ties they possess? How might a nobil- Euro-American system of formal high- ity framework yield new opportunities er education, limit their definitions of for reimagining noble souls and their collective action to criteria character- capacities of constructive thought and istic of contention and oppositionality. action in the face of injustice? While These conditions are clearly the most I fully advocate the necessity of un- mediatized and popularized, but there earthing and studying all facets of are also more humanizing elements of oppression, stopping at the paralysis social change that are almost always of damage or victimhood from such hidden from view. While the study of oppression seems incomplete, falling social movements is important, these short, and even a missed opportunity. criteria limit the possibilities of social Why not, rather, prepare and seek out change and the inherent capacities and pathways of transcendence through contributions of humankind, especially that oppression? the persistent efforts of those catego- Today, more than ever, we are im- rized and segmented as “marginalized” mersed in a cumulative amplification “oppressed,” “underserved,” and so on. 84 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

Such criteria visibilize negative imag- disadvantage, dysfunction, and differ- ery of collective action, while invisibi- ence (80). lizing the inherent nobility of individ- In a message to Bahá’í students uals and communities engaged in such denied access to higher education in action and their pursuit of justice and Iran, the Universal House of Justice equity. The intensity of discourses and addressed the historical oppression of actions revolving around racial injus- their Bábí and Bahá’í spiritual ances- tice, anti-Indigeneity, and anti-Black- tors, as well as their complementary ness in the United States and globally inheritance of a constructively resil- reveals that this trend in visibilizing ient spiritual capacity to advance be- suffering while invisibilizing nobility yond that same oppression: “You, too, is nothing new. However, the case for demonstrate such noble qualities and, naming and centering inherent nobility holding fast to these same principles, is a novel, Bahá’í-inspired perspective. you belie the slander purveyed against In the process of spiritually excavat- your Faith” (9 Sept. 2007). ing my inherent nobility, I was pulled The Universal House of Justice also by the arts and scholarship that would notes the centuries-long lives of Afri- help me on this journey. In my re- can Americans in the United States as search, I encountered many artistic and evidence of constructive resilience and scholarly critiques of the hypervisibili- calls upon the African American com- ty of communities and peoples’ trauma munity to continue “to see in the recent and victimhood, as well as arguments turmoil opportunity rather than obsta- justifying the necessity to underscore cle” (4 Feb. 2018). Constructive resil- and center their suffering. There were ience, therefore, requires utilization of also works that visibilize the nobility the spiritually inherent noble qualities of communities that endure injustice of souls to “transcend” oppression, and how they constructively respond perceive what is possible “beyond the to systematic oppression. Represen- distress of difficulties [and obstacles] tations that piqued my attention were assailing them,” and transform them- those uniquely captured moments that selves and their communities through humanize and celebrate individual and deeds that advance “spiritual and so- collective joy, self-care, and preserva- cial development.” The beauty of con- tion in the midst of suffering just as structive resilience is its reliance upon much as they shed light on anger, grief, an internal power of the spirit of peo- and pain. They highlight the construc- ples and their communities. It also sur- tive resilience of communities popu- passes the quantitative frontiers of “re- larly portrayed on a default setting of silience” that have been amplified by “broken,” disrobed of our nobility and social actions and discourses emerging costumed in descriptors of deficiency across social media spaces, implying or what Walter (2016) calls the “five that #StillHere is commonly (mis) ‘Ds’ of data”: disparity, deprivation, interpreted and limited to a physical When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . . 85

resilience. Furthermore, constructive of Lakota women, men, and children at resilience is by no means restricted to Wounded Knee in 1890 (Brings Plen- the Bahá’í community; nor is there a ty). Sørensen maps constructive resis- singular method or understanding in tance, referring to “initiatives in which which constructive resilience can be people start to build the society they achieved (Karlberg). desire independently of the dominant Sumud (‫)دومص‬, an Arabic concept structures already in place” (49) and re- meaning steadfastness and “resilient lies on Vinthagen’s definition, where- resistance,” can be traced back to the by constructive resistance is understood tenth century. Palestinian women use to “transcend the whole phenomenon sumud as an explanation of their daily of being-against-something, turning existence and collective empowerment, into the proactive form of constructing particularly through a reaffirmation of ‘alternative’ or ‘prefigurative’ social their identity, a “preservation” of Pal- institutions which facilitate resistance” estinian culture, and a “nurturance” (7). These are only but a few concep- of the Palestinian community (Ryan). tual and theoretical frameworks that, holt explains how Rezilience (a com- like constructive resilience, visibilize bination of the slang term for reserva- nobility, the highest aspirations of in- tion, “rez,” and resilience), an Indige- dividuals and communities facing op- nous worldview, is an active teaching pression in its various forms. and learning practice for Indigenous The Universal House of Justice, in communities to “reclaim, relearn, and another message, praises the Iranian reconnect with their ancestral ways of Bahá’í community’s establishment of being” (72). Rezilience is an example the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education of Vizenor’s reference to Indigenous (BIHE) in response to the government’s survivance (Vizenor, Fugitive Poses; systematic denial of higher education to Vizenor, Survivance; Vizenor and Lee), all its Bahá’í citizenry as representative a “moving beyond [Indigenous] basic of “actions [that] are not confined to ef- survival in the face of overwhelming forts to seek justice” (1 Oct. 2014). Fur- cultural genocide to create spaces of thermore, the establishment of the BIHE synthesis and renewal” (Vizenor, Man- as an “unrelenting pursuit of knowledge ifest Manners 53). Survivance echoes is perhaps one of the most outstanding the sacredness of the Lakota word tak- examples of constructive resilience in ini, which is often simply translated to the modern age.” Alternative peaceful survivor, but it means “to come back to measures to sustain teaching and learn- life.” Takini, is about restoring Indige- ing within formal higher education have nous communities and moving beyond similarly been implemented through survival, recalling stories of the ances- “street academies” in Turkey (Aktas et tors and the historical trauma inherited, al.), underground universities in Kosovo most associated with the U.S. Army’s (Sommers and Buckland) and Poland Seventh Calvary massacre of hundreds (Garlinski), and educational programs 86 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

held in private homes, religious institu- computer screens, my therapist assigned tions, and offices for students in Pales- me homework: “Recite a prayer every tine (Zelkovitz). morning to recognize your own nobili- ty.” Mind. Blown. Her instructions were V N so simple, yet profoundly humbling. M Pray for my own nobility?!? Is that actually a thing? Prayers for the ances- While understanding the constructive tors, detachment, tests and difficulties, capacity of the soul outside of my- healing, steadfastness, (in)justice, love, self, the struggle to see it within me praise of the Creator, my mother and was still very real. After completing father, my brother, my profession . . . a remote session with my psychother- were among the primary motivations apist, the fog gradually began to clear for prostration and devotion. Never had for me. Several years had passed since praying for my own nobility (let alone my PTSD diagnosis, while trudging recognizing it) been on my mind up to along an evolving journey of disen- that point. Ever since that moment, I tanglement from its fetters. All this recite the following from The Hidden time, justice and equity had served Words of Bahá’u’lláh daily as part of as dual interlocking aspirations driv- my morning meditation routine: ing my activism, teaching, research, and writing, but my attempted efforts O Son of Spirit! were constantly falling short. Even my I created thee rich, why dost thou determination to highlight narratives bring thyself down to poverty? about the constructive, transformative Noble I made thee, wherewith capacities of “marginalized” and “op- dost thou abase thyself? Out of the pressed” peoples and communities essence of knowledge I gave thee seemed rather oxymoronic. Externally, being, why seekest thou enlight- I was wholeheartedly committed to enment from anyone beside Me? exposing (in)justice and the nobility Out of the clay of love I molded among the hearts, minds, and souls of thee, how dost thou busy thyself “the oppressed” (and the oppressors), with another? Turn thy sight unto but it was in competition with the inter- thyself, that thou mayest find Me nal invisibilization of my own nobility, standing within thee, mighty, pow- as well as a forgetfulness in the pursuit erful and self-subsisting. (#13, of justice for myself. From the Arabic) Clearly, this sudden pull to visibilize nobility was new and uncomfortable, O Son of Spirit! especially when related to my own Noble have I created thee, yet thou being. Just before our first session had hast abased thyself. Rise then unto concluded, and with more than thir- that for which thou wast created. teen thousand kilometers between our (#22, From the Arabic) When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . . 87

Reciting these sacred words and ab- with a tradition of African American sorbing their meaning is equivalent to thought that was significantly advanced looking into a new, undistorted mirror by Du Bois and that attempted to al- that still requires daily meditation and chemize a history of oppression into a application of my interpretation of source of pride and inspiration” (13). those words into action in every phase If the material or physical frame of of my life. In other words, I am still our bodies and the damage, harm, and working on truly seeing the nobility trauma inflicted upon them become and justice of my soul. our primary point of focus, then we Challenging the historically situated reproduce the same gaze that justifies Northwestern Hemispheric concept oppression—a perception that humans and identity of nobility (Leonhard are reduced to soulless bodies. We then and Wieland), this spiritual dimension lose sight of the core reality of the of nobility—not unique to the Bahá’í identity of our souls and their capac- teachings alone, not only reveals the ities of inherent nobility to withstand power of our spiritual ancestral lin- oppression and to do so constructively. eage, but also foreshadows the future of humankind and its inherent capac- O N S A ities to heal, transcend oppression, F and advance intergenerationally. “A striking aspect of Bahá’í belief,” Arb- It is my sincerest hope that calling for ab purports, “is the extraordinary op- the visibility of nobility (and its inher- timism it displays about humanity’s ent relationship to the soul) is not mis- future. Such hopefulness would be un- taken for a desire to avoid, dehumanize, tenable were it not for a profound con- erase, invisibilize, silence, minimize, viction, which arises from the Faith’s or disconnect the social realities of teachings, that the human being was bodies or trauma, injustice, and inequi- created noble” (175–76). Constructive ty in this world—nor to essentialize or resilience, therefore, is a sustainable, homogenize those social realities. Nor futuristic, intergenerational response to am I advocating for a partial visibility, oppression that is associated with our but rather, inviting you—all of us—to spiritual afterlives. consider one that is whole—one that Similarly, Smith’s argument for captures both the corporeal and spiritu- “centering the ‘pupil of the eye’” also al reality of humankind. For instance, exemplifies a noble spiritual station in “[i]dentify[ing] the achievement and defiance of an unceasing racial oppres- exhilaration in [B]lack life is not to sion endured for well over five centu- mute or minimize racism . . . there is ries. According to Smith, “interpreta- a spiritual majesty of joy in suffering” tions of the ‘pupil of the eye’ metaphor and an invitation to not only possibly that fix upon the spiritual perceptive- feel Black “pain but also the beauty ness of [B]lack people are in keeping of being human” (Perry). In a relevant 88 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

letter addressed to the U.S. Bahá’í me along the way. One of my favorite community regarding intensifying ra- guided meditations of Audre Lorde— cial injustices, the National Spiritual “[T]hat visibility which makes us most Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United vulnerable is that which also is the States wrote: “The language we use source of our greatest strength” (60)— and the attitudes we take, while not ig- comforts and assures me of the spiritu- noring the harsh realities that exist in al implications of being clothed in “no- the world, should appeal to the nobler bility,” even when feeling naked. We aspirations of our fellow-citizens” (25 are, after all, spiritually destined to be Feb. 2017). Accordingly, this is not an “dressed in royal robes, to walk in glory attempt to deny or delegitimize trauma, for ever and ever” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Se- injustice, and inequity and their multi- lections 317). We all are created noble, tudinous effects on peoples and groups, and nobility looks divine on us, would but to celebrate and center fellow souls you not agree? From the point of our that are created to endure and move conception—before our physical birth, through and break free of the cages of and beyond—through our spiritual af- such suffering. terlives/futures, our inherent nobility May this be an invitation to all of continues to insist, persist, and trans- us—especially to all the souls whose form into a new garment: bodies have been and continue to feel or be treated as branded, broken, O Thou Provider, O Thou Forgiv- damaged, erased, inferior, invisible, er! A noble soul hath ascended and/or—as non-human, as well as unto the Kingdom of reality, and those souls who, through their words, hastened from the mortal world thoughts, or deeds, choose to read, see, of dust to the realm of everlasting and engage with souls as damaged, glory. Exalt the station of this re- non-human, and ignoble—to visibi- cently arrived guest, and attire this lize nobility. Please join me in this long-standing servant with a new ever-evolving journey to consider why and wondrous robe. and how visibilizing nobility helps us O Thou Peerless Lord! Grant reimagine resistance as constructive Thy forgiveness and tender care resilience, to realize and celebrate so that this soul may be admitted our individual and collective inherent into the retreats of Thy mysteries nobility, and to actualize our spiritual and may become an intimate com- reality in our afterlives and our futures. panion in the assemblage of splen- It is my hope that these closing dours. Thou art the Giver, the Be- words and this invitation do not at all stower, the Ever-Loving. Thou art suggest that I have forgotten my vul- the Pardoner, the Tender, the Most nerability in feeling exposed. Beloved Powerful. (#11, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, revolutionary spiritual ancestors have Prayers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá) been holding my hand, accompanying When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . . 89

Although far from completing the work of visibilizing nobility, what keeps me going is knowing we were created noble, and our nobility never dies . . .

W C

‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Paris Talks. UK Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1972. ———. The Promulgation of Universal Peace. 2nd ed., US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982. ———. Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Bahá’í World Centre, 1982. ———. Tablets of the Divine Plan. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1993. ———. Prayers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Bahá’í World Centre, 2021. Aktas, Vezir, Marco Nilsson, Klas Borell, and Roland S. Persson. “Taking to the Streets: A Study of the Street Academy in Ankara.” British Journal of Educational Studies, vol. 68, no. 3, 2020, pp. 365–88. Arbab, Farzam. “Promoting a Discourse on Science, Religion, and Development.” The Lab, the Temple and the Market: Reflections at the Intersection of Science, Religion, and Development, edited by Sharon M. P. Harper, In- ternational Development Research Center, 2000, pp. 149–237. Bahá’u’lláh. The Hidden Words. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1985. ———. The Call of the Divine Beloved: Selected Mystical Works of Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’í World Centre, 2019. Baldwin, James, and Nikki Giovanni. A Dialogue. Lippincott, 1973. Bida, Eloy. Eloy Bida, www.eloybida.com Brings Plenty, Joseph. “Save Wounded Knee.” The New York Times. 11 April 2013. www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/opinion/save-wounded-knee.html @regcharging (Reg Charging). “Every news story on Natives ever.” Tik- Tok, 26 June 2020, 1:57 p.m., www.tiktok.com/@regcharging/vid- eo/6842714801869688070. DOI News. “Secretary Haaland Creates New Missing & Murdered Unit to Pur- sue Justice for Missing or Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.” U.S. Department of the Interior. www.doi.gov/news/secre- tary-haaland-creates-new-missing-murdered-unit-pursue-justice-miss- ing-or-murdered-american Deer, Sarah. The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America. U of Minnesota P, 2015. Dougher, Patrick. Patrick Dougher, www.godbodyart.com/ Garlinski, Józef. “The Polish Underground State (1939–45).” Journal of Contem- porary History, vol. 10, 1975, pp. 219–259. 90 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

Hammad, Suheir. “Not Your Erotic, Not Your Exotic.” YouTube, 29 Aug. 2010, www.youtu.be/xarc5PFknfw Hartman, Saidiya. Lose Your Mother: A Journey along the Atlantic Slave Route. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007. holt, renée. “Rezilience.” Education in Movement Spaces: Standing Rock to Chi- cago Freedom Square, edited by Alayna Eagle Shield, Django Paris, Rae Paris, and Timothy San Pedro, Routledge, 2020, pp. 67–76. Karlberg, Michael. “Constructive Resilience: The Bahá’í Response to Oppres- sion.” Peace & Change, vol. 35, no. 2, 2010, pp. 222–57. Leonhard, Jörn, and Christian Wieland. What Makes the Nobility Noble?: Compar- ative Perspectives from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century. Vanden- hoeck & Ruprecht, 2011. Lorde, Audre, Marge Piercy, Fran Moira, and Lorraine Sorrel. “Interview: Audre Lorde: Lit from Within.” Off Our Backs, vol. 12, no. 4, 1982, pp. 2–3, 11. ———. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Crossing Press, 1984. Madden, Tamara Natalie. Tamara Natalie Madden, www.tamaranataliemadden. org National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Letter to the American Bahá’í Community dated 25 Feb. 2017, www.bahai.us/static/ assets/20170225-NSA-on-America-and-the-Five-Year-Plan.pdf Noah, Trevor. “Trevor Noah: You Laugh But It’s True – UNICEF Fly.” YouTube, 25 Mar. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNqfFafXGLA. Office on Violence Against Women. “Archives.” U.S. Department of Justice, 19 Feb. 2020, www.justice.gov/archives/ovw/blog/violence-against-wom- en-act-ongoing-fixture-nation-s-response-domestic-violence-dating. Perry, Imani. “Racism Is Terrible. Blackness Is Not.” The Atlantic, 15 June 2020, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/racism-terrible-black- ness-not/613039/. Ritchie, Andrea. Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color. Beacon Press, 2017. Rodriguez, Favianna. Favianna Rodriguez, www.favianna.com Ryan, Caitlin. “Everyday Resilience as Resistance: Palestinian Women Practicing Sumud.” International Political Sociology, vol. 9, no. 4, 2015, pp. 299– 315. Saunders, Patricia J. “Fugitive Dreams of Diaspora: Conversations with Saidiya Hartman.” Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal, vol. 6, no. 1, 2008, p. 7. Sharpe, Christina. In the Wake: On Blackness and Being. Duke UP, 2016. Smith, Derik. “Centering the ‘Pupil of the Eye’: Blackness, Modernity, and the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.” Journal of Bahá’í Studies, vol. 29, no. 1–2, 2019, pp. 7–28. When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . . 91

Sommers, Marc, and Peter Buckland. Rebuilding the Education System in Kosovo. International Institute for Educational Planning, 2004. Sørensen, Majken Jul. “Constructive Resistance: Conceptualizing and Mapping the Terrain.” Journal of Resistance Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, 2016, pp. 49– 78. Tuck, Eve. “Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities.” Harvard Education- al Review, vol. 79, no. 3, 2009, pp. 409–28. The Universal House of Justice. To the Bahá’í students deprived of access to higher education in Iran, 9 Sept. 2007, www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/ the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20070909_001/1#018930558 ———. To the Bahá’ís of Iran, 1 Oct. 2014. ———. Letter to an individual, 4 Feb. 2018. Vinthagen, Stellan. “Political Undergrounds: Can Raging Riots and Everyday Theft Become Politics of Normality?” Unpublished paper, 2006. www. academia.edu/658457/Political_Undergrounds_Can_Raging_Riots_and_ Everyday_Theft_Become_Politics_of_Normality Vizenor, Gerald. Manifest Manners: Narratives on Postindian Survivance. U of Nebraska P, 1994. ———. Fugitive Poses: Native American Indian Scenes of Absence and Pres- ence. U of Nebraska P, 1998. ———. Survivance: Narratives of Native Presence. U of Nebraska P, 2008. Vizenor, Gerald, and A. Robert Lee. Postindian Conversations. U of Nebraska P, 1999. Walter, Maggie. “Data Politics and Indigenous Representation in Australian Sta- tistics.” Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an Agenda, edited by Tahu Kukutai and John Taylor, Australian National UP, 2016, pp. 79–97. The White House. “A Proclamation on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Per- sons Awareness Day, 2021,” Presidential Actions, www.whitehouse.gov/ briefi ng-room/presidential-actions/2021/05/04/a-proclamation-on-miss- ing-and-murdered-indigenous-persons-awareness-day-2021/ Zelkovitz, Ido. “Education, Revolution and Evolution: The Palestinian Universi- ties as Initiators of National Struggle 1972–1995.” History of Education, vol. 43, no. 3, 2014, pp. 387–407.