LAPLACE — Baha’i community members of St. John the Baptist Parish invite the public to join them for prayers, food and fellowship today to celebrate Race Unity Day.

The gathering is from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Greenwood Park Pavilion, located across the street from LaPlace Elementary School in LaPlace.

For more information, call Kenny Broussard at 985-652-6513.

“The purpose of Race Unity Day is to focus attention on racial prejudice, which Baha’is believe is the most challenging moral issue facing our nation,” Broussard said.

“Writing in the mid-1800s, Baha’u’llah, Founder of the Baha’i Faith, stated unequivocally that humanity is a single race and called on the world to recognize the principle of human oneness in all spheres.”

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States inaugurated Race Unity Day in 1957 to promote racial harmony and understanding.

Since then, communities throughout the country have held celebrations, open to the public, on the second weekend in June.

Local educator Genevieve Gomez added, “worldwide, Baha’is have sought to build a model of racial integration by embracing people from all races, backgrounds and classes of society.”