Rev. W.R. Casey (left), Rev. Warren Blakney and Booker T. Washington Assistant Principal Michael Mims: The three men believe that tension doesn't have to exist between races
Tulsa remains a city divided by race, according to a group of pastors and leaders involved in an upcoming Unity Day service to seek racial reconciliation.
The Unity Day service will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday at Greater Progressive Baptist Church, 1970 N. Boston Place.
"We've got a long way to go, particularly in this area," said the Rev. Warren Blakney, pastor of North Peoria Church of Christ.
"We want to think we're better because we have an African American president," he said.
"But his election has brought out some things, more racial violence, more white on black crime since he was elected," he said, noting the Good Friday shootings last year in which two whites allegedly shot five blacks at random in north Tulsa, killing three of them.
The Rev. W.R. Casey, president of the Christian Ministers Alliance, one of the sponsors of the Unity Day service, said the service will focus on bettering race relations in a time when the church remains one of the most segregated entities in the world.
Michael Mims, assistant principal of Booker T. Washington High School, who will be among the honorees at the service, said he sees young people interact daily.
"What I see at school is very encouraging, kids that love and care for each other across racial lines," he said.
"When kids love each other, they don't look at (race)."
The Rev. Donnell McBee, pastor of the new Wings of a Dove Christian Center in Sapulpa, said that when blacks and whites get together, and get to know each other, racial walls come down.
"Friendship is not about skin color," he said. "God is a God of one lifestyle; his lifestyle brings people together."
Blakney said the service is not about coming together to sing "kumbaya," but about coming together as a community to "address our issues."
He said young black men have high levels of unemployment and incarceration, and the teen suicide rate is high.
The Rev. Chris Lindsey, pastor of Fellowship Freewill Baptist Church in Sapulpa, will preach at the Unity Day service.
Special music will be provided by the church's praise team; the Burnin' Black Gospel Choir, Oklahoma State University; the Charles Page High School Choir; and Wagoner High School Choir.
In addition to the Christian Ministers Alliance, the program is sponsored by the Tulsa Chapter of the NAACP and the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Society.
Bill Sherman 918-581-8398
bill.sherman@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Bettering race relations is a theme of Unity Day
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