DC Talk Announces the Creation of the E.R.A.C.E. Foundation to Mobilize Youth Against Racism

Nashville, TN. (September 10, 1997) -- Michael Tait, Toby McKeehan and Kevin Smith, of the Grammy Award-winning trio dc Talk, have announced the creations of the E.R.A.C.E. (Eliminating Racism and Creating Equality) Foundation. The foundation has plans for a major initiative to promote racial reconciliation and understanding by galvanizing the nation's youth in support of interracial unity.

"We believe that young people can and will become a force of racial harmony," said band member Tait. "One of our goals is to celebrate diversity and to realize that we can learn from one another. We want to motivate our generation to act on the core belief that we are all equal. That is one of the cornerstones of this organization."

"Each individual can make a difference in the fight against racism," according to Smith. "The barriers that stand between us as people are of our own making. The E.R.A.C.E. Foundation is sounding a call to action to bring some of those barriers crashing down."

Priorities for the foundation include increased communication among historically divided groups and the healing of long-standing social rifts. Targeted for the 15-25 year-old age group, E.R.A.C.E. programs will include campus outreach, a series of issue-oriented public service announcements, special events and an Internet website.

As members of an interracial band that has toured the United States extensively, their personal experiences with one another have fueled their determination to help create solutions to the problems they have witnessed in their travels.

"We live our ideals on a daily basis, and that has more impact than words can ever have--it's what we call living integration," said McKeehan. "Through the foundation, we challenge our audience to do the same."

Founded in 1997, The E.R.A.C.E. Foundation is a non-profit, publicly funded organization devoted to the furtherenace of unity and harmony among all races. Using education as the primary tool to promote dialogue among all peoples and eliminate barriers to racial reconciliation, the foundation concentrates its efforts on American youth and hopes to set in motion a groundswell of advocacy for a new generation. The foundation is headquartered at 227 Third Avenue North, Franklin, TN.
FAX (615) 794-1957.