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Press Release on "A Season for Nonviolence"

Bronze busts of Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi were unveiled at a colorful ceremony at Luther King Jr. International Chapel, Morehouse College, Atlanta on April 2, 2000. The ceremony also marked the founding of the Mahatma Gandhi's Center for the study of peace and nonviolence.

The function which marked the closing of "A Season for Nonviolence", a campaign that highlighted the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., was organized by the Morehouse College in cooperation with the Indian American community of Atlanta. 

Founded in 1867 as the Augusta Institute in Augusta, Georgia, Morehouse College is the nation's only private, historically black liberal arts college enrolls approximately 3,000 students.

More than 1500 people including Dr. Coretta Scott King, Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Mayor of Atlanta, President of Morehouse College, Mr. Rinzing Wangdi, Consul General of India at Houston, Mr. Anil Chowdhry, Minister (Community Affairs), Embassy of India, Washington, D.C. and Indian American community leaders from Atlanta, attended the ceremony. A 100-member voice choir specially flown in from Los Angles for the occasion sang hymns specially composed for the occasion.

The event supported the unanimous declaration of the UN General Assembly of November 1998, which called for a Decade of Peace and Nonviolence for the children of the world beginning with the new millennium.