For immediate release August 31, 2007

Media contact: Hope H. Davis 443-840-5053

CCBC welcomes Gandhi to Essex campus
Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Arun Gandhi, speaks on nonviolence

Baltimore, Md. – As part of its Spotlight Speakers Series, the Community College of Baltimore County welcomes Arun Gandhi, grandson of legendary peace fighter and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi, to the Essex campus Wednesday, Sept. 12 in the B Building Theatre. Gandhi will lecture 12:20 – 1:15 p.m., followed by a reception starting at 1:30 p.m.

Arun Gandhi carries within himself the same guiding principles as his grandfather. According to Gandhi, growing up in apartheid South Africa as a person of Indian heritage meant racial confrontations with both blacks and whites.

As a young boy he was beaten up by black youth for not being black and by white youth because he wasn’t white. These experiences filled him with rage and he wanted to strike back. After his parents discovered this rage, they sent him to spend time with his grandfather – Mahatma Gandhi.

Arun Gandhi spent 18 months with his grandfather which helped shape the foundation for his life’s work. After leading successful projects for economic and social reform in India, Gandhi moved to the United States in 1988 to complete research for a comparative study on racism in America.

In 1991, Gandhi and his wife founded the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, headquartered at Christian Brothers University in Memphis. The Institute’s mission is to foster understanding of nonviolence and to put that philosophy to practical use through workshops, lectures and community outreach programs.

This Spotlight Speakers Series event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Office of Student Life at 443-840-1572.