Park Gathering Helps Promote Ethnic Unity : Religion: Bahais hold county event ‘to break the chains of racism.’

Stringing together brightly colored ribbons urging ethnic unity, a small crowd assembled in downtown Ventura’s Mission Park on Sunday and pledged to defeat racism.

The gathering commemorated the 36th annual Race Unity Day of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais. Sunday’s event was the first time the Bahais have celebrated Race Unity Day in Ventura County, where about 200 Bahai members practice their faith.

Led by Ventura Mayor Greg Carson, about 70 Bahais and other county residents joined hands and ribbons to form a “chain of unity to break the chains of racism.”

“We have to start looking at ourselves as one family, at our community as one home,” said Carson, who acted as master of ceremonies for the event.

Participants in Sunday’s event sang Bahai songs and listened to an hourlong program of speeches before capping the event with the ribbon-tying ceremony.

Carol Hurtt, a criminal and juvenile justice consultant from Oxnard, addressed the crowd on a problem older and more knotted than the gnarled fig tree shading the tiny stage from which she spoke.

“How can our children learn about unity when the majority of adults in this country do not have adult friends of other races they invite into their homes on a regular basis?” Hurtt said. “The concept of world peace begins with me.”

Baptist Pastor Virgil Nelson urged the crowd to strive for “religious as well as racial unity.’

And Hoda Mahmoudi, chairwoman of the Sociology Department at Cal Lutheran University, spoke of the importance of reaching out to minorities.

“Whether in the workplace, at home or in school, we must always make room for the minority,” she said.

Racial equality is one of the central themes of the Bahai faith, which claims more than 5 million members from 2,100 ethnic groups and tribes worldwide. The Bahai faith was founded in Persia in the mid-1800s and was introduced in this country around the turn of the century.

Carol Woodle of Port Hueneme listened intently during the speeches, nodding frequently.

“My mother is Filipino and Chinese and my father is black,” Woodle said. “It is a No. 1 priority for my children to understand the importance of unity.”

Cristina Cramer, a Bahai from Fillmore, brought her son, Matthew, 5, to the event.

“I’ve heard most of this before,” she said. “But I’m glad we’re starting to hold more events in this county.”