Allegan, MI -- In celebration of Black History Month, many Christian organizations are raising an issue on racial discrimination in attempt to further embrace diversity and racial reconciliation.
Sponsored by the Citizens for Racial Healing, a fundraising concert “Souls in Harmony: A Celebration of Racial Healing” will be held Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Allegan High School performing arts center.
The group hopes to present gospel message through music and broaden the community’s perspective on diversity. The event includes nine performances from various churches and ministries.
Tom Bier, president of Citizens for Racial Healing and pastor of Main Street Ministries in Allegan, pointed out that Citizens for Racial Healing wanted to bring a positive message to the Allegan community.
"We want to educate people that there's a problem in Allegan," he said. "People don't always sense the problems minorities face."
Pastor Harriette Portrum of Grace Temple Church pointed out that the concert was a good ice breaker to introduce the community to start talking about diversity.
Alva Morgan, one of the group members, also commented on the purpose of the event saying the community needed to be aware of the issue on diversity.
"The whole idea of the concert is to educate," Morgan said, "We're not going to change the world tomorrow, but we can get people talking about (diversity) and sometimes they need a reason to do it. We try to provide that reason. Just the awareness of different groups is important."
