A Mother’s Advice on Raising Champions for Race Unity

“My kids don’t need my opinion. They need my love,” says Wilma Ellis Kazemzadeh, a Baha’i living in the Los Angeles area. “They already know my opinion. It’s been stated to them all their life,” she says.

In this short clip from “The Race Unity Project,” Wilma reflects on the lessons that she has learned from being a parent and grandparent and offers her Baha’i-inspired advice on how children should be guided. Produced by Journalism for Change, Inc, a nonprofit media organization founded by filmmaker and human rights activist Maziar Bahari, the project tells “the century-long story of the American Baha’i community and its efforts — as well as its tests and challenges — in promoting race unity.”

As a Baha’i mother, Wilma understands how important it is to raise children with a moral and spiritual foundation — and to be champions for race unity. The Baha’i Writings say:

“Let the mothers consider that whatever concerneth the education of children is of the first importance. Let them put forth every effort in this regard, for when the bough is green and tender it will grow in whatever way ye train it. Therefore is it incumbent upon the mothers to rear their little ones even as a gardener tendeth his young plants. Let them strive by day and by night to establish within their children faith and certitude, the fear of God, the love of the Beloved of the worlds, and all good qualities and traits.”

Watch as Wilma explains why loving guidance is needed at every age and offers her perspective on how parents should spend their time. “These are basics that simply every single generation has to know,” she says.