1 / 2

Cari Bartholomew performs a reenactment of Elizabeth Freeman during a Black History Month event at Faith Baptist Church in Layton on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025.

Photo supplied, Path Forward Utah

2 / 2

Davis County Republican Party Chairman Yemi Arunsi speaks during a Black History Month event at Faith Baptist Church in Layton on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025.

Photo supplied, Path Forward Utah

❮ ❯

LAYTON — An Ogden-based conservative group gathered in Layton on Friday evening in celebration of Black History Month as part of what speakers said was an effort to unify Americans regardless of race.

“Everything is labeled racist,” said Jamie Renda, founder of Path Forward Utah. “We don’t want to promote the victim mindset. That doesn’t serve anyone. We are all about trying to bring better race relations and bringing people together.”

Now operating in its fourth year, the group has worked hard to attend community events while promoting and trying to understand one another’s cultures, Renda said. A main focus of Path Forward Utah is bringing people together by uplifting conservative minority voices to move Utah forward.

“Culture is not a skin color,” Renda said in an interview before the event. “We need to start having conversations that move away from skin color and more that are culturally related. Whether you’re Black, white, Latino or any other race, you share more in common with someone raised in a similar background and shared values, not the color of your skin.”

Renda, who is white, said it’s important to see each other as individuals, which is one reason the group has pushed back on critical race theory, or CRT — an academic framework dating to the 1970s that centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that those institutions maintain the dominance of white people — as well as initiatives that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, often abbreviated DEI.

“It’s not about blaming something on people who weren’t a part of that history,” she said. “Most of our ancestors probably didn’t even participate in slavery. We shouldn’t say white people are privileged and Black people aren’t. It’s horrible to put that on people. We want to focus on the American spirit. At the end of the day, we are all Americans and we need to start seeing people as individuals.”

Renda said because February was Black History Month, the program spotlighted several Black Utahns who have shown resilience and excellence in the community.

Pastor Ron Williams, of Ron Williams Ministry in Draper and a decorated natural bodybuilder, was the evening’s keynote speaker and said he believes America shouldn’t be judged by the sins of its past.

“There were mistakes made, but I’m sure all of us have made mistakes when we were younger, just out of ignorance, and when we got older we matured and corrected a lot of those things,” Williams said. “I believe America has corrected a lot of those things, but there’s still a mindset that needs to shift and change, and until we sit at the table and communicate, those mindsets and changes will never happen. But we’ve got to be open and honest and really say what’s there.”

Williams was born in Indianapolis. He was abandoned by his parents and although he was never in the foster system, his father bounced him from house to house to live with different families.

“I was told I would either be in jail or dead before I was 18. There was some abuse in some of the homes and there was one guy I was deathly afraid of,” he said. “When he was on his deathbed, he looked at his wife and said, ‘Raise that boy. Nobody wants him and nobody loves him.’ Those words rang throughout my whole being.”

When he was 18, Williams joined the U.S. Army and said he discovered a lot of things he was taught simply were not true.

“I hated God and the world. I couldn’t read until I was 28 years old, but then I found out God wasn’t against me. He changed my mind and transformed my life,” he said.

Williams learned how to read, opened his own nondenominational Christian church, went to school and got a doctorate degree, became a professor of exercise, physiology and nutrition at the Professional Fitness Institute in Las Vegas, and has won numerous awards in bodybuilding, including Natural Bodybuilder of the Decade, Mr. Natural Universe, Natural Olympia and Mr. Natural World seven times each. He also has won over 250 natural bodybuilding titles and was inducted into the International Natural Bodybuilding Association’s Hall of Fame in 2008. He has authored several books and is a motivational speaker.

“We can change our shoes, our car, our house, but if we don’t change our hearts and our minds, we can’t change our life,” he said in an interview before the event. “There is an enemy unseen and his job is to cause turmoil and destruction. He will do anything to separate us and divide us and we can’t let him. It’s never too late to change. As the Bible says, ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.'”

Davis County Republican Party Chairman Yemi Arunsi, who served as master of ceremonies at the event, said he is passionate about letting everyone know we are all Americans.

“I love the uniqueness and I value my identity as a Black American, but I am an American and I would like to see us get to the point where we’re one and the same and we don’t distinguish,” he said. “We are all Americans and that’s what makes us so great. There are people trying to create a divide between Black Americans and people of all races and cultures. Sometimes we forget to highlight what makes us the same and what a lot of us share.”

U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, another of the night’s speakers, said he is proud to be an American, a Black American and a Utahn.

“America is a country of hope. That’s what makes it so special,” he said. “I grew up in a Deep South community, a community of dreamers who were proud to be Americans, and our goal was to command respect to become the best American community.”

Owens said his parents taught him to love God, his country, family, and to respect women and authority. He said if people want to be great examples to their children, their legacy and their parentage, they should follow 10 rules that include learning to dream big, never seeing yourself as a victim, having faith in God, being humble, sacrificing things for others, working hard to have a good name, being disciplined, having self-respect, engaging in service and keeping your word.

“America is a country of hope,” he said. “That’s what makes this country so special. Hope comes from knowing the foundation of our nation is based on godly principles. God has a plan for us. We are the country from the very beginning in our constitution to become a more perfect union and hopefully continue to get better and better so we could have a community like we have here today.”

Other speakers at the event included Rubertha Hall, Pastor Rod Hall, who is a member of the Utah State Board of Education, and Cari Bartholomew.