A Collision of Worldviews

John Fitzgerald Medina is of Native American (Yoeme/Apache) and Latino ancestry. He is one of ten children and was born and raised in an ancestral area that is now southeastern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. Medina’s father challenged the racial segregation of schools in the 1950s and 1960s, and he was deeply moved to see his son, John, become the first person of color to graduate as valedictorian from the local high school in 1982. John has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Arizona, and he worked for some years as an engineer with Hewlett Packard. He later changed careers and acquired a teaching credential and a Master of Arts degree in education from San Diego State University.  He considers the education profession his true calling and is currently in his twenty-seventh year as a public-school teacher.

John has been a member of the Bahá’í Faith since 1995. He is the author of two books—Faith, Physics, and Psychology: Rethinking Society and the Human Spirit and America’s Sacred Calling: Building a New Spiritual Reality (both Bahá’í Publishing). John is extensively involved in Bahá’í community-building efforts in his neighborhood in San Diego, California, which include efforts to advance the cause of racial justice, to heal the racial divide, and to serve the oneness of humanity. He has served and continues to serve in different capacities: Bahá’í children’s class teacher, animator for junior youth groups, study-circle tutor, devotional host, and fireside facilitator.