WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) — What has become an annual demonstration by the First Universal Unitarian Church in Wausau will focus on giving all minority races a voice.
Sunday marks the March for Racial Justice. Last year’s march supported the Black Lives Matter movement, but Community Organizer for North Central Area Congregations Organized to Make an Impact (NAOMI) Kate Gaines says the organizers wanted to shift the focus to be more inclusive.
Gaines said, “We’ve kind of changed it to change the focus a little bit and embrace all of the diversity in north central Wisconsin, so bringing in all ethnic groups that have moved up into the area and are starting to grow here.”
Gaines wants people of any minority race in Wausau to share their lives in the area without backlash, and that’s what attendees of the march will do once they return to the church.
“We want to get together and celebrate the diversity that we experience, but we also want to provide a forum for, after the march when people come back, that people of color can tell about their experiences. It’s not going to be a dialogue. We’re going to basically be there to listen to them,” she said.
Participants will meet at the church and will march through downtown Wausau to Big Bull Falls Park, then return. The event will feature a guest minister from Milwaukee is scheduled from noon to 3 p.m.
