Annual UNC race relations week to feature activism, art and discussion

By JENA WITTKAMP
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Baldemar Velasquez, a leading activist for farm laborers’ rights, will speak Oct. 15 during this year’s Race Relations Week at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Poetry, discussions, music, comedy and the annual homecoming stepshow also will be among the events from Oct. 12-18, all designed to spark dialogue about current and past campus race relations. Participants also will be prompted to reflect on the extraordinary lives of Tar Heels and leaders of the past, and from them, learn lessons for their own lives. All events will be free and open to the public.

"Our goal for this week is to provide the opportunity for someone to hear something or see something that makes them look into themselves and make a change," said Derwin Dubose, a sophomore from York, Ala., co-chair of the events.

"Coloring Extraordinary Lives" will be the theme for the week, organized by Students for the Advancement of Race Relations (SARR). A part of the Campus Y – UNC’s largest student group -- SARR is celebrating its 35^th anniversary.

"Race Relations Week is one of the Campus Y's most important efforts of the academic year," said Y Director Virginia Carson. "The work of understanding and appreciating all the different aspects of our society should never drop on our agenda. This year we will bring in an important Hispanic leader, Baldemar Velasquez, to focus on issues critical to low-income workers and to the growing Hispanic population in our state."

Velasquez, founder and president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee of the AFL-CIO will be the keynote presenter for the week, speaking at 7 p.m. Oct. 15 Gerard Hall. Velasquez is leading a North Carolina-based boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. He will discuss his efforts for farm workers and how others can work for immigrants. After his talk, he will perform a concert with his music group, the Baldemar Velasquez & Aguila Negra Band.

During the week, in the Pit and at all events, visitors and participants will be able to sign a Race Relations Banner to confirm the Birmingham Pledge, a personal declaration against racial prejudice. A Birmingham Pledge Foundation advances the document, named in connection with a racially motivated bombing at that city’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church some 40 years ago. At UNC, the banner will be taken to Greek houses, offices, organizational meetings and other places to publicize the pledge.

The week’s events are scheduled as follows:

Sunday (Oct. 12): Coffee Talk with Dean Smith and the Rev. Bob Seymour, retired minister of Chapel Hill’s Binkley Baptist Church. 7 p.m., 109 Graham Memorial Building. Join two civil rights pioneers in an informal setting to learn about the struggle for equality at Carolina. Co-sponsored by the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence and the Residence Hall Association.

Monday (Oct. 13): "Not Just Black and White: Race Relations and Being ‘Other,’" 7 p.m., 111 Carroll Hall. Black and white have dominated discussions of American race relations, but a panel of Carolina students and faculty will shed light on how it is to be "other" with regard to race relations. Co-sponsored by Sangam, the student group South Asian Awareness Organization.

Tuesday (Oct. 14): "Silent Sam: A Symbol of History or Racism?" 7 p.m., 116 Murphey Hall. Join the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, UNC’s oldest student organization, in a debate on what the Confederate monument’s significance is to the current student body.

Wednesday (Oct. 15): Keynote Event, "Baldemar Velasquez: An Extraordinary Life," 7 p.m., Gerard Hall. As founder and president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, Velasquez has worked for better treatment of America’s farm workers and equality for all. Learn about his extraordinary life and how to live one. His talk will be followed by a concert by Baldemar Velasquez & Aguila Negra Band at 8 p.m. in Gerard. Listeners will hear the traditional Tex-Mex music of the farm labor movement and learn the significance of song in social protest.

Thursday (Oct. 16): "Expressions After Dark," 10 p.m., 100 Hamilton Hall. The Chapel Hill Players (CHiPs), UNC’s improvisational comedy group, and the Ebony Readers/ Onyx Theatre, a performance group of the Black Student Movement, will team up for a night of laughs and expressive poetry.

Friday (Oct. 17): Race Relations Week Closing Ceremony and PhDivas, Noon, the Pit. The Executive Board of the Campus Y presents a walk of fame, honoring Carolina’s minority women faculty. Also, stop by to see the Race Relations Banner and the names of people who have signed the Birmingham Pledge.

Saturday (Oct. 18): The Annual Homecoming Stepshow, 9 p.m., Carmichael Auditorium. The National Pan-Hellenic Council will showcase fraternities and sororities from UNC and other universities from across the nation. Stepping is a dance form that combines elements of military drills with contemporary jazz and hip-hop moves.

A department in UNC's Division of Student Affairs, the Campus Y is dedicated to making the world a better place. Its mission is "the pursuit of social justice through the cultivation of pluralism." The Campus Y hosts 19 committees that promote social justice.

For more information, contact event co-chairs Derwin Dubose at derwin@email.unc.edu or Lily West at lilywest@email.unc.edu; visit the Campus Y Web site, http://campus-y.unc.edu; or call the Y at 962-2333.

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(Wittkamp, of Raleigh, is a senior majoring in women’s studies and journalism and mass communication.)

For more information about Velasquez, http://www.floc.com/html/BVbio.html

Contact: Derwin Dubose, 962-2333
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu