Today, UNC will celebrate the Hindu holiday of Holi with our annual Holi Moli festival of colors. At this joyful event, Tar Heels — regardless of their background — will join together at Polk Place to throw their colors in the air in honor of all the good that stems from the diversity our community offers.
Holi Moli at UNC is rooted in the religious narrative of Holi in Hinduism. As it is told in old Hindu scripture, Hiranyakashipu was a deity of the demons who could not be killed, having been granted immortality by Brahma, the god of creation.
Hiranyakashipu grew arrogant with his power and attacked humanity, demanding that people worship solely him. Prahlada, Hiranyakashipu’s son and a devotee of the Supreme Being Vishnu, refused to worship his father. Hiranyakashipu tried to kill his son in retaliation, but all of his attempts failed. He finally ordered Prahlada to sit on the lap of Holika, Hiranyakashipu’s demon sister. In Holika’s lap was a fire that Hiranyakashipu believed would kill Prahlada.
Prahlada followed his father’s command and prayed to Vishnu to save him. When Prahlada sat on the lap of Holika, it was she who burned to death. Holi, with its religious significance, is thus a celebration of the triumph of good over evil.
Whereas the good we celebrate as Tar Heels during Holi Moli is our community’s appreciation of diversity and multiculturalism, the evil we must be aware of is what is occurring to threaten such good at the state level.
This past week, the N.C. Senate reviewed legislation to restart executions in North Carolina without the allowance of appeal on the grounds of racial bias; to set up voter identification requirements; to establish a state religion; to make it more difficult to get a divorce and to limit votes on college campuses.
Some of these laws, I believe, are mere tricks to divert attention from more dangerous proposals: those that compose the frontal assault on affordable, accessible and diverse higher education in North Carolina. For example, Gov. Pat McCrory’s budget proposal hikes tuition and chops funding for need-based financial aid.
Lawmakers are attacking the very principles that we celebrate at Holi Moli. So I ask, “How Holi are you?” I urge you to answer not only by throwing your colors in the air today, but also by organizing to demand more affordable higher education in this state.
