Race Unity Day 2005

Today was the 5th annual (my 1st) Race Unity Day held in Plaza de la constitution, St. Augustine, Florida. What a wonderful event in such a beautiful and open minded city. The oldest city in the U.S., actually. I wouldn't say that it was a HUGE turnout but it was certainly a quality turnout. It has been raining pretty badly everyday for the past week and we were worried that it would be rained out. But the Baha'is from all over Florida braved the weather and showed up anyway. As it turned out, when we arrived to help set up, the weather began to clear. And it remained bright and breezy the rest of the day. The event was hosted by the Baha'is of St. Johns County. At the start Mayor George Gardner said a few introductory words, then there were selected writings read by various Baha'is and George Via from the (?) community did a great job as MC.

There were 3 bands on the stage and a large drum circle in the rear of the park so there was lots of lively music. The first band Luis Mario Latin Jazz Band played...um, Latin Jazz type music that really got the people off their feet and moving. The second band Saba played original songs with more of a folk rock beat and played really tight for a guitar & drum ensemble. The third was the band Cornerstone who's members were what I call "earth children" (I mean that respectfully) who had a kind of indie/folk/reggae sound with guitars and conga(?) drums. All were very entertaining and we hope they will return next year. The first band is the house band for the Havana Cafe, across the street from the park. We all went there for dinner after the event. I have a lot of Puerto Rican & Cuban friends and have eaten a LOT of Cuban food, but the Havana Cafe is the best I've ever had...and did I mention they have live music? They even played the "Quando, Quando, Quando" song for me...sooo good.

We learned from several people throughout the day that yesterday there was a G@y Pride parade in the same area (thumbs up). We also learned that there was a large protest group that showed up and caused a lot of trouble (thumbs down). And nobody came out to protest what we were doing (thumbs up again). Growing up in San Francisco I learned tolerance of the differences in others at a very early age, which eventually grew into a sincere appreciation for the differences in others. Its times like this that I just have to thank Mom & Dad for being such cool, open-minded people.

Everything went great from start to finish. I am looking forward to next year.

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Since 1957, a day dedicated to improving race relations has been observed by American Baha'is.