Gandhi's grandson to speak at 'U'

For 18 tumultuous months during India's struggle for independence, Arun Gandhi was at his grandfather's side at the center of a revolutionary movement of non-violence.

Tonight, he comes to campus to share the message of his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi with the University community.

The event, which is free, is scheduled to be held at Rackham Auditorium at 7:30 p.m tonight.

Ann Arbor Police Chief Carl Ent said that after the local Ku Klux Klan rallies in 1996 and 1998, he wondered what could heal the community, so he looked into bringing Arun Gandhi to Ann Arbor.

Ent said he originally heard Arun Gandhi speak in Muncie, Ind., about six years ago.

"I was very moved," Ent said. "Our hope is that (this event) will help tie all the threads of our community together in unity."

Arun Gandhi currently works with the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence in Memphis, Tenn. He and his wife, Sunanda Gandhi, founded the institute in 1991.

Arun Gandhi spoke to an audience of about 400 people at Pioneer High School on Tuesday evening. A 30-minute Q&A session followed his speech.

He related the struggles of growing up in South Africa under the apartheid system. He recalled being beaten as a child because of racial hatred.

"For the whites I was too black, and for the blacks I was too white," Gandhi said. "Racism exists in everybody, in every color."

When he was 12 years old, Arun Gandhi's parents took him to live with his grandfather in India to calm some of the rage he felt under apartheid.

He said one of the first lessons his grandfather taught him was to control his anger. Mahatma Gandhi advised him to keep an anger journal, he said.

"Anger is like electricity," he said. "It is a very good source of energy and very useful, but only if channeled intelligently and respectfully."

Arun Gandhi has continued his grandfather's legacy of non-violent activism through work in India, South Africa and the United States.

As part of his work, he once traveled to a remote town in South Africa in an attempt to disarm a brutal gang of terrorists. Immediately after their workshop with him, the 71 members of the gang went to the police station, turned in their weapons and declared that they were going to be non-violent activists.

"I realized that these people didn't know how to deal with their anger, so they just blew up and got deeper and deeper into violence," he said, "Yet through simple dialogue and respect, they were transformed."

Arun Gandhi said it is crucial that those who suffered oppression be willing to forgive.

Forgiving the man who assassinated his grandfather was a difficult but necessary step in moving on with his own life, he said.

"As long as we are anchored to the past, we can't move ahead," he said. "We will only be wallowing in the mud."

Gandhi addressed questions from the audience Tuesday on topics ranging from Palestine to gay rights to the death penalty.

The Ann Arbor Police Department, the City of Ann Arbor, the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, U-M Dialogues on Diversity and the Ann Arbor Public Schools are among the long and varied list of sponsors for the speech tonight.

"This really is a community-wide effort," said Tobi Hanna-Davies, director of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice.

Many other local religious and cultural organizations are contributing to the event.

This year will mark the 50th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

10-29-98