Poets share powerful message at Race and Religion Symposium

Students at Pittsburg State University will hear a powerful message during the Race and Religion Symposium on Monday, Oct. 30. Slam poets Bryonn Bain and Jason Carney will share their poetry and engage the audience in discussion at 7 p.m. in the Overman Student Center on the PSU campus. This free program is sponsored by the PSU Leadership Institute and the Office of Student Diversity and is open to the public.

At first blush, Bain and Carney wouldn't seem like a pair likely to share the stage. Bain, a Harvard graduate, is a black man who was once featured on "60 Minutes" because of his arrest by the New York City Police Department for a crime he didn't commit. He has dedicated his life to empowering communities of color through the arts, activism and education.

Carney's story couldn't be more different than Bain's. As an adolescent, he spent time in a juvenile detention center after a number of violent incidents involving gay bashing and racial intolerance. Carney's experience in the detention center changed his life. At the center, Carney got to know his HIV-positive roommate, who eventually died. Carney's views changed, and since his release, he has worked to help eliminate the kind of thinking that results in hate crimes.

Today, Bain and Carney are frequent speakers together, visiting many college campuses across the U.S.

For more information about the Race and Religion Symposium, contact Ed Wirthwein by phone at 620-235-4795 or by e-mail at cwirthwe@pittstate.edu.

---Pitt State---