Weekend show to stress racial unity on campus

By BREE FOWLER
State News Staff Writer

MSU students will be treated to an entertaining celebration of interracial unity this weekend.

The Chicago Baha'i Youth Project, a group of multiracial performers, is visiting the Wilson Hall Auditorium to put on a production for interested students, said Rodney Patterson, director of the Office of Minority Student Affairs.

"They are an outstanding group. I have seen them perform in the past," Patterson said.

The performance is part of a program created at Wilson Hall called the Multi-Racial Unity Project, which encourages students in the dorms to form a shared community by giving students of different races more opportunities to interact and socialize.

"(Socialization between different races) really doesn't happen as much as we would like to happen," said Jeanne Gazel, coordinator of Building Community on Campus, a division of the Urban Affairs Program.

The Wilson Hall student committee in charge of the multiracial living program saw the Chicago performers during a group field trip to Chicago. The group was excited to learn they could bring the performers to MSU.

The Chicago Baha'i Youth Workshop was formed seven years ago to promote racial unity, equality of the sexes, peaceful conflict resolution and service to the community through the performing arts.

The group ranges in age from 13- to 24-year-olds, and are from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. They use dance with rap and hip-hop music, along with dramatic skits to bring their message across.

The program takes its major philosophies from the Bahai faith, but also draws from the teachings of all the world's major religions.

"They hear the message and instead of being one of one group hating another, it's one of helping each other and getting along," Gazel said.

The performance, which is free and open to the public, is at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Wilson Hall Auditorium. The event is sponsored by the MSU Multi-Racial Unity Project.