ST LOUIS: The India Association of St. Louis in league with other organizations held an hour of prayer and day time vigil on Saturday, March 4 at Mahatma Gandhi center in memory of Srinivas Kuchibotla who lost his life due to the possible hate crime during a Kansas shooting at the Bar & Grill.
President Shailee Saran Varanasi started the hour with a minute of silence and the attendees held a candle to support the unity and diversity of the US. Representatives of non-Indian organizations also attended the event. After the vigil there was group discussion moderated by Ila Taylor and Uma Segal.
Attendees were given a chance to speak to elaborate on any incidents they encountered and to show their support to avoid such negative incidents.
Other faith and non-religious representatives showed their support by speaking about how we should be united together to remove the evil from society. Senator Mccaskill was not able to attend and instead sent a video message for the event to show his support.
The event was covered by local news media which includes Fox2, NPR and St. Louis Post Dispatch. The following day Fox 2 had news segment to interview the moderators and other board members to elaborate on the action plans to be drafted against hate crime.
Ashwin Patel
