Eugene hosts Race Unity Celebration 2023

by Marcia Veach, Eugene, Oregon

More than 75 people—Bahá’ís and friends—joined the “chorus of voices raised in support of oneness, equality, and justice” at the Race Unity Celebration and picnic in Eugene, Oregon, on July 30.

The event was free and open to the public with potluck food and a program designed by local Bahá’ís to encourage grassroots conversation between community members of all backgrounds and ages.

The theme was inspired by the Ridván 2023 message from the Universal House of Justice, which is the supreme ruling body of the Bahá’í Faith and written every year to the Bahá’í world.

Janelle Neyman introduced the afternoon’s program by quoting the House of Justice: “Racism is defined as a ‘profound moral deviation.’” She emphasized the Bahá’í principle of unity in diversity, saying “To remedy this, we must strive to see each other as ‘vari-colored flowers of one garden,’ as ‘branches of one tree.’”

Several youth led the group in singing a couple of songs, including We Shall Overcome, for which they provided handouts of the words.

Activities encourage grassroots conversation and creativity

Attendees were then invited to join breakout groups, which included arts and crafts, prose and poetry, drama, music or discussion. In addition to the theme, four passages from the July 2020 message of the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá’ís of the US were shared to provide food for thought and inspire creativity.

After each group had an opportunity to create something related to race unity, everyone came together to share pizza—provided by the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Eugene—as well as potluck items provided by the Bahá’í community. There was a lot of watermelon!

Presentations give each attendee a voice

During the picnic, the groups took turns presenting what they created. Two of the elders who came had consulted and come up with a song to sing, with a bit of a tweak. Instead of “Jesus loves the little children,” they sang “God loves all the little children…” and then noted that Bahá’ís accept that Jesus is one of God’s Manifestations.

Several people read poetry and the music group sang the chorus of a song they were developing based on the theme sentence from the Ridván message. “We’re going to finish and present it at a future meeting!” said Logan McClain, the facilitator of that group.

Barb Nakai introduced the poetry group to a form called diamante. Each poem is made up of seven lines formatted into the shape of a diamond and used to compare two opposites. “This type of poetry can demonstrate how hate can be transformed into love,” Barb explained.

While many people gathered under a canopy with art instructor Pani Soltani to draw and color pictures, a couple of the youth took some sidewalk chalk to a paved path through the park and wrote out one of the passages from the July 2020 message: “Ultimately, the power to transform the world is effected by love, love originating from the relationship with the divine, love ablaze among members of a community, love extended without restriction to every human being… You are channels for this divine love; let it flow through you for all who cross your path. There can be no rest until the destined outcome is achieved.”

The drama team’s inter-generational skit was the high point of the presentations, according to Marcia Veach. Two groups of adults–one wearing hats, the other bare-headed—stood apart from each other and made unkind comments about the opposite group. Two children showed up with a big sign that said, “WAIT! THERE’S ANOTHER WAY!” They handed the adults the passage from the House’s 2020 message that said: “Racism cannot be rooted out by contest and conflict. It must be supplanted by the establishment of just relationships among individuals, communities, and institutions of society that will uplift all and will not designate anyone as ‘other’. The change required is not merely social and economic, but above all moral and spiritual.” The adults read the passage aloud and then came together.

Ron Shufflebarger hosted an information table throughout the event, which included educational materials on from the Equal Justice Initiative and shareable cards with firm but loving anti-racism messages. Other materials available included flyers for an upcoming Black Cultural Festival; information about free bystander intervention training through the Right to Be organization; and brochures from the state of Oregon’s Stand Against Hate program and bias reporting hotline.

These materials reinforced the message that lasting unity doesn’t happen at a single event and offered some options that anyone might do in the coming days and weeks, so that each might continue to be an integral part of “the chorus of voices raised in support of oneness, equality and justice…”

The afternoon’s program concluded with a game suggested for children’s classes. It started with a few people striking poses at the base of the amphitheater seats. Others gradually joined them, creating a human sculpture that had everyone smiling and surely demonstrated the unity in diversity Janelle highlighted in her opening remarks!

“Let all associate, therefore, in this great human garden even as flowers grow and blend together side by side without discord or disagreement between them.” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá