Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize that they were the big things. One must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose. In the finalreckoning we are not the disciple of this or what person but rather the disciple of God. The 1997 President’s Initiative on Race elicited numerous comments regarding its intent and focus. One such comment was made by Jefferson Fish, a psychologist at St. John’s University in New York, who said: “This dialogue on race is driving me up the wall. Nobody is asking the questions, ‘What is race?’ It is a biologically meaningless category” (quoted in Petit, 1998: A1). Biologists, geneticists, and physical anthropologists, among others, long ago reached a common understanding that race is not a “scientific” concept rooted in discernible biological differences. Nevertheless, race is commonly and popularly defined in terms of biological traits—phenotypic differences in skin colour, hair texture, and other physical attributes, often perceived as surface manifestation of deeper, underlying differences in intelligence, temperament, physical prowess; and sexuality. This, although race may have no biological meaning, as used in reference to human differences, it has an extremely important and highly contested social one. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

Clearly, there is an enormous gap between the scientific rejection of race as a concept, and the popular acceptance of it as an important organizing principle of individual identity and collective consciousness. However, merely asserting that race is socially constructed does not get a how specific racial concepts come into existence, what the fundamental determinants of racialization are, and how race articulates with other major axes of stratification and “difference,” such as gender and class. Each of these topics would require an extensive treatise on possible variables shaping our collective notions of race. The following discussion is much more modest. I attempt to survey ways of thinking about, bringing into context, and interrogating the changing meaning of race in the United States of America. My intent is to raise a series of points to be used as frames of reference, to facilitate and deepen the conversation about race. My general point is that the meaning of race in the United States has been and probably always will be fluid and subject to multiple determinations. Race cannot be seen simply as an objective fact, nor treated as an independent variable. Attempting to do so only serves, ultimately, to emphasize the importance of critically examining how specific concepts of race are conceived of and deployed in areas such as social-science research, public-policy initiatives, cultural representations, and political discourse. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

Real issues and debates about race—from the Federal Standards for Racial and Ethnic Classification to studies of economic inequality—need to be approached from a perspective that makes the concept of race problematic. A second point is the importance of discerning the relationship between race and racism, and being attentive to transformation in the nature of “racialized power.” The distribution of power—and its expression in structure, ideologies, and practices at various institutional and individual levels—is significantly racialized in our society. Shifts in what “race” means are indictive of reconfigurations in the nature of “racialized power” and emphasize the need to interrogate specific concepts of racism. The present historical moment is unique, with respect to racial meanings. Since the end of World War II, there has been an epochal shift in the global racial order that had persisted for centuries. The horrors of fascism and a wave of anticolonialism facilitated a rupture with biologic and eugenic concepts of race, and challenged the ideology(ies) of White supremacy on a number of important fronts. Scholarly projects in genetics, cultural anthropology, and history, among others, were fundamentally rethought, and antiracist initiatives became a crucial part of democratic political projects throughout the World. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

In the United States, the Civil Rights Movement was instrumental in challenging and subsequently dismantling patterns of Jim Crow segregation. (The original “Jim Crow” was a character in a nineteenth-century act, a negative stereotype of a Black man. As encoded in laws discrimination the phrase refers to both legally enforced and traditionally sanctioned limitations of Blacks rights, primarily in the U.S. South.) The strategic push of the Movement in its initial phase was toward racial integration in various institutional arenas—exempli gratia, schools, public transportation, and public accommodations—and the extension of legal equality for all regardless if “Colour.” This took place in a national context of economic growth and the expansion of the role and scope of the federal government. Times have changes and ironies abound. Domestic economic restructuring and the transnational flow of capital and labour have created a new economic context for situating race and racism. The federal government’s ability to expand social programs, redistribute resources, and ensure social justice has been dramatically curtailed by fiscal constraints and the rejection of liberal social reforms of the 1960s. Demographically, the nation is becoming more diverse and open to inclusion because more ethic groups are now growing and visible. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

All these changes have had a tremendous impact on racial identity, consciousness, and politics. Racial discourse is now littered with confused and contradictory meanings. The notion of “colour-blindness” is now more likely to be advanced by political groups seeking to dismantle policies, such as affirmative action, initially designed to mitigate racial inequality. Calls to get “beyond race” are popularly expressed, and any hint of race consciousness is viewed as racism. In this transformed political landscape, traditional civil rights organizations have experienced a crisis of mission, political values, and strategic orientation. Integrationist versus “separate-but-equal” remedies for persistent racial disparities have been revisited in a new light. Ore often the calls are for “self-help” and for private support to tackle problems of crime, unemployment, and drug abuse. The civil rights establishment confronts a puzzling dilemma—formal, legal equality has been significantly achieved, but substantive racial inequality in employment, housing, and health care remains, and in many cases has deepened. All this provides an historical context in which to situate evolving racial meanings. Over the past 50 years changes in the meaning of race have been shaped by, and in turn have shaped, broader global/epochal shifts in racial formation. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

The massive influx of new immigrant groups has destabilized specific concepts of race, led to a proliferation of identity position, and challenged prevailing modes of political and cultural organization. When we assess the changes in, and issues relevant to, racial meaning created in demographics shifts, heterogeneity is an important term to consider. Heterogeneity is the existence of differences and differential relationships within a bound category. Over the past several decades, there has been increasing diversity among so-called racial groups. Our collective understanding of who Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are has undergone a fundamental revision as new groups entered the country. The liberalization of immigration laws beginning in 1965, political instability in various areas of the World, and labour migration set in motion by global economic restructuring all contributed to an influx of new groups—Laotians, Guatemalans, Haitians, and Sudanese, among others. In the United States of America, many of these immigrants encounter an interesting dilemma. Although they may stress their national origins and ethnic identities, they are continually racialized as part of a broader group. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

Many first-generation Black immigrants from, for example, Jamaica, Ethiopia, or Trinidad, distance themselves from, subscribe to negative stereotypes of, and believe that, as ethnic immigrants, they are accorded a higher status than, Black Americans. Children of Black immigrants, who lack their parents’ distinctive accents, have more choice in assuming different identities. Some try to defy racial classification as “Black Americas” by strategically asserting their ethnic identity in specific encounters with Whites. Others simply see themselves as “Americans.” Panethnic organization and identity constitute one distinct political/cultural response to increasing heterogeneity. Panethnicity is defined as the development of bridging organizations and solidarities among subgroups of ethnic collectives that are often seen as homogeneous by outsiders; such a development, they claim, is a crucial feature of ethnic change, supplanting both assimilation and ethnic particularism as he direction of change for racial/ethnic minorities. The rise of panethnicity is a response to racialization, driven by a dynamic relationship between the group being racialized and the state Elites representing panethnic groups find it advantageous to make political demands backed by the numbers and resources panethnic can mobilize. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

The state, in turn, can more easily manage claims by recognizing and responding to large blocs, as opposed to dealing with specific claims from a plethora of ethically defined interest groups. Different dynamics of inclusion and exclusion are continually expressed. Conflict often occur over the precise definition and boundaries of various radically defined groups and their adequate representation in census counts, reapportionment debates, and minority set-aside programs. The increasing heterogeneity of racial categories raises several questions for research to answer. It has been suggested that an individual’s social identity divides up the World of people and places for one, and that one’s personal identity does this too, although differently. It is these frames of reference one must apply in studying the daily round of a particular stigmatized person, as one wends one’s way to and from one’s place of work, one’ place of residence, one’s place of shopping, and the places where one participates in recreation. A key concept here is the daily round, for it is the daily round that links that individual to one’s several social situations. And one studies the daily round with a special perspective in mind. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

Having this unique perspective, to the extent that the individual is a discredited person, one looks for the routine cycle of restrictions one faces regarding social acceptance; to the extent that one is discreditable, for the contingencies one faces in managing information about oneself. For example, an individual of an underrepresented racial group can expect, as suggested, to cease gradually to be a shocking surprise to those in one’s own neighbourhood, and there one can obtain a small measure of acceptance; at the same time, trying to limit one’s exposure to the community will have less effect here than they will in parts of the city where one is unknown and otherwise treated less well. Some of the common techniques the individual with a secret identity employs in managing crucial information about oneself can now be considered. Obviously, one strategy is to conceal or obliterate signs that have come to be stigma symbols. Name-changing is a well-know example. A person who has a substance abuse issues provides another example: [Re a New Orleans anti-drug drive:] “Law enforcement began stopping addicts on the street and examining their arms for needle marks. If they found marks, they pressured the addict to sign a statement admitting one’s condition so one could be charged under the ‘drug addicts law.’ #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

“If the law could find no marks on a person they usually let one go. If they found marks they would hold one for seventy-two hours and try to make one sign a statement.” It should be noted that since the physical equipment employed to mitigate the “primary” impairment of some encumbrance understandably becomes a stigma symbol, there will be a desire to reject using it. An example is the individual with declining eye sight who avoids wearing bifocal glasses because these might suggest advanced age. However, of course, this strategy can interfere with compensatory measures. Hence the making of this corrective equipment invisible will have a double function. The hard of hearing provide an illustration of the using of these unapparent correctives: “Aunt Mary [a hard of hearing relative] knew all about early sound receptors, innumerable variations of the ear trumpet. She had pictures showing how such receptors had been built into hats, ornamental combs, canteen, walking sticks; hidden in arm chairs, in flower vases for the dining-room table; even hidden in men’s beards.” A more current illustration is “inviso-blended lenses”—bifocals which do not show a “dividing line.” #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

The concealment of stigma symbols sometimes occurs along with a related process, the use of disidentifiers, as can be illustrated from the practices of James Berry, England’s first fully professionalized hangman: “It is doubtful whether violence on Berry was ever really planned, but his reception in the streets was such that he took good care whenever possible to avoid being recognized. He told one interviewer that on a number of occasions when travelling to Ireland he concealed his rope and straps about his person so that he was not given away by the Gladstone bag, which was almost as much a mark of his trade as the little black bag was of the Victorian doctor. His sense of isolation and being disliked by everyone he met probably explained the extraordinary episode when his wife an small son accompanied him to Ireland for an execution, although the explanation he offered was that it was to conceal his identity, since—he rightly guessed—no one would suppose that a man walking along holding the hand of a ten-year-old boy would be the executioner on his way to hang a murderer. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

Few are the teachers, guides, priests, and leaders of beings who do not put into their work the false opinions and favoured prejudices that they themselves have been taught or have acquired. Few, also, are those who have scrupulously striven to become as free from these things as they possibly could me. Such teachers are unable to free themselves from the relativity of their own position. Hence they give instructions which are pertinent only to those who wear the crown of the self-actualized. The appeal of a teacher will depende upon the depth of one’s own inspiration, and the appeal of one’s teaching will depend upon how well it fits in with the prevailing thought and the pressing need of one’s epoch. The modern teacher should be the individual of the World, not a person of the out of touch elite. One should be one who does not practise a fastidious ascetism, does not frown on human frailty. Such a person begins one’s teaching by making other people feel that wisdom is priceless and holiness is beautiful. One must so manage the two tendencies that they balance each other. Insofar as one deals with the eternal verities, one can utter only the old, old truth. Insofar as one belongs to one’s period one must restate them in a contemporary way. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

The possession of such power and influence, although it is directly limited to spiritual matters, is directly manifested in Worldly matters too; for people have to live and act in the World. One will gain more esteem as a teacher, and certainly as a leader, who is known to be honourable, conscious of one’s responsibilities and obligations, whose character is well-balanced and whose promises are solid, whose statements are backed by facts and whose doctrines are worthy of trust. One is a true messenger who seeks to keep one’s ego out of one’s work, who tries to bring God and humans together without oneself getting between them. Such a teacher would not claim to be an intermediary with God but rather a counsellor with humans. No master who is a true channel for the divine life will accept the adulation of others for oneself. Their flattery will never be allowed to fool one. Instead, one will always transfer it where it belongs—to that life itself. One will accept none of the homage for oneself; one knows it is not due to one, but to the higher power which intermittently uses one. One is not a leader anxious to appear infallible before the members of one’s group. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

An aspect of asking prayer is intercessory prayer— “for all the saints.” There are many worthy petitions to make, but “saints”—believers in Jesus Christ—are to have a large place in our prayers. Notice that this call to pray “for all the saints” occasions Paul’s request for prayer for oneself: “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should,” reports Ephesians 6.19-20. Paul knew what others’ prayers could do for him. Petitionary prayers for others beings grace to their lives. Few people know that the stupendous achievement of William Carey in India was fueled by his bedridden sister who prayed for him for over fifty years. Tennyson beautifully gave verse to Paul’s wisdom, saying: “If thou shouldest never see my face again, pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer than this World dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are people better than sheep or goats that nourish a blind life within the brain if, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round Earth is every way bound by god chains about the feet of God.” #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

How beautiful is the five-fold anatomy of petitionary prayer: In-Spirited—prayer  “in the Spirit;” continual—prayer “on all occasions;” varied—“all kinds of prayers and requests;” persistent—“be alert and always keep on praying;” and intercessory—“for all the saints.” Certainly we ae challenged and motivated. Joseph in Egypt saw the Nephites in vision—he prophesied of Joseph Smith, the latter-day seer; of Moses, who would deliver Israel; and of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. About 588-570 Before Christ. “And now I speak unto you, Joseph, my last-born. Thou wast born in the wilderness of mine afflictions; yea, in the days of my greatest sorrow did thy mother bear thee. And may the Lord consecrate also unto thee this land, which is a most precious land, for thine inheritance and the inheritance of thy seed with thy brethren, for thy security forever, if it so be that ye shall keep the commandments of the Holy One of Israel. And now, Joseph, my last-born, whom I have brought out of the wilderness of mine afflictions, may the Lord bless thee forever, for thy seed shall not utterly be destroyed. For behold, thou art the fruit of my loins; and I am a descendant of Joseph who was carried captive into Egypt. And great were the covenants of the Lord which he made unto Joseph. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

“Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the brining of them out of darkness unto light—yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom. For Joseph truly testified, saying: A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins. Yes, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the brining of the to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers. And I will give unto hi a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work. And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would rise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

“And Moses will I raise up, to deliver thy people out of the land of Egypt. However, a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins—and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them. Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter says, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord. And out of my weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. And thus the prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

“And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation. Yea, thus prophesied Joseph: I am sure of this thing, even as I am sure of the promise of Moses; for the Lord hath said unto me, I will preserve thy seed forever. And the Lord hath said: I will raise up a Moses; and I will give power unto him in a rod; and I will give judgment unto him in writing. Yet I will not loose his tongue, that he shall speak much, for I will not make him mighty in speaking. However, I will write unto him my law, by the finger of mine own hand and I will make a spokes-person for him. And the Lord said unto me also: I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokes-person. And I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokes-person of thy loins shall declare it. And the words which he shall write shall be the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

“And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the suppleness of their words. Because of their faith their words shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto their brethren who are the fruit of thy loins; and the weakness of their words will I make strong in their faith, unto the remembering of my covenants which I made unto thy fathers. And now, behold, my son Joseph, after this manner did my father of old prophesy. Wherefore, because of this covenant thou art blessed; for thy seed shall not be destroyed, for they shall hearken unto the words of the book. And there shall rise up one mighty among them, who shall do much good, both in word and indeed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren. And now, blessed art thou, Joseph. Behold, thou art little; wherefore hearken unto the words of thy brother, Nephi, and it shall be done unto thee even according to the words which I have spoken. Remember the words of thy dying father. Amen,” reports 2 Nephi 3.1-25. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

Sovereign Lord, our God, Almighty, we beseech Thee to save us all, Thou only Physicians of souls and bodies. Sanctify us all, Thou that healest every infirmary; and heal also this Thy servants. Raise them up from the end of pain by Thy tender mercy; visit them in mercy and compassion; drive away from them all sickness and infirmity; that being raised up by Thy mighty hand, they may serve Thee with all thankfulness; and that we, being made partakers of Thine ineffable benignity, may praise and glorify Thee, Who doest works great and wonderful, and worthy to be praised. For it is Thine to pity and to save; and to Thee we ascribe glory, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and forever, unto ages of ages. May the Lord forgive all thy sins and heal all thine infirmities, and save thy life from destruction, and satisfy thy desire in all things, Who only liveth and reigneth, One God in Trinity, through everlasting ages. Compassionate Lord, Thy mercies have brought me to the dawn of another day, wain will be its gifts unless I grow in grace, increase in knowledge, ripen for spiritual harvest. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

Let this day know Thee as Thou art, love Thee supremely, serve Thee wholly, admire Thee fully. Though grace let my will respond to Thee, knowing that power to obey is not in me, but that Thy free love alone enables me to serve Thee. Here then is my empty heart, overflow it with Thy choicest gifts; here is my blind understanding, chase away its mist of ignorance. O ever watchful Shepherd, lead, guide, tend me this day; without Thy restraining rod I err and stray; hedge up my pat lest I wander into unwholesome pleasure, direct my feet that I be not entangled in Satan’s secret snares, nor fall into his hidden traps. Defend me from assailing foes, from evil circumstances, from myself. My adversaries are part and parcel of my nature; they cling to me as my very skin; I cannot escape their contact. In my rising up and sitting down thy barnacle me; they entice with constant baits; my enemy is within the citadel; come with almighty power and cast him out, pierce him to death, and abolish in me every particle of carnal life this day. One who has found authentic peace within oneself is in a position to assist others who are still seekers, but one who has not yet transcended mere theories and erudite studies about peace can only give them some more thoughts to add to the burden they already carry. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21

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