Group urge end to racism

The peace symbol on College Green provided the perfect backdrop for anti-racism messages heard on Friday afternoon as part of a Good Friday celebration. The celebration was organized by many Christian groups, including Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Students for Christ, Campus Crusade for Christ, the Newman Center and the Christian Legal Society. Fourth year Graduate student Liz Broadwell, a liaison to the Newman Center, said the event has been held annually for many years, and has a tradition of its own. "It's a tradition of many years standing, weather permitting, for people to gather to sing, pray and witness," she explained. This year's theme was "racial reconciliation," and involved speakers giving testimony about how their faith helped them to overcome racism, organizers said Friday. "We've been concerned about racism for a long time, and we wanted to do something about it," Campus Crusade for Christ staff member Paulette Thomas said. At 1 p.m., Thomas introduced speakers and their message of hope. "In view of all the racial things that have been happening around campus, we wanted to make a statement," Thomas said. "To say there is hope and that we think this hope can be found in spiritual faith, particularly the Christian faith." First year Law student Sharon Small said she wanted to speak primarily to black students, but added her message could affect the entire campus community. "Racism has created a gulf between us, a yawning chasm that must be bridged before we can achieve harmony and progress in our society," she said. "I believe Christ is that bridge." Following other speeches two performing arts groups -- Full Measure and Shaba -- sang a series of religious Easter-related songs for the crowd. College freshman Reuben Wetherbee said he was excited that so many separate groups came together to worship. "I think it's really good," he said, "The Christian community never gets together. It's good that we're acknowledging our faith in God and in his death." Wharton sophomore Michael Kuo shared those sentiments. "It's a really great show of unity among Christians," Kuo said, "It's beneficial to Christians and non-Christians. Christians can focus more on what this means to them and non-Christians may understand what Good Friday means to Christians." At any given time in the five hour celebration, there were over 100 students and faculty members participating in the festivities. Many listeners also sang with a five member band that played throughout the day.