|
Summarized by Rosemary Pollock
Gilbert Stake President in Diversity Effort
GILBERT, ARIZONA -- Gilbert, Arizona residents, Arnette Ward and John
Lewis have been appointed to lead the town's first Diversity Task
Force. The town held a Summit to End Hate and Violence
following assaults by a teenage White supremacists group. They hope to
encourage more than 40 participants to take meaningful personal
diversity messages home to the community.
Arnette Ward, 62, is the president of Chandler-Gilbert
Community College. She grew up in a segregated neighborhood of Jacksonville,
Fla. When she moved to Arizona in the 1960's she was
"shocked I had to find my own folk, and there weren't that many."
Surviving the death of Martin Luther King as a teacher at a South Phoenix
elementary school nearly caused her to give up teaching.
"The kids were walking across the school grounds, chanting racial epithets
insulting King," she said. "That night I told my
husband, 'I don't think I can go back'." The will that she found to return was
"to find out who taught them to say that, and can I un-teach them?"
John Lewis, 42, is the Stake President for the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints in Gilbert. Lewis has stated that some
families don't build friendships outside of the church and won't let their
children play with non-Mormon youth. More than a year ago he
organized Mormon and Catholic teenagers in an effort to revitalize
the neighboorhood. "We should all be more tolerant and
accepting," he said. "There seems to be a lot of people in Gilbert who
really love Mormons or really hate Mormons," Lewis said.
"You can't sit around and think your world is a utopia, because
it isn't," added Ward. Lewis remembered his two years spent in
Japan serving a mission for the church. "When I arrived in a
large airport in Toyko, everyone looked alike," he said. "After
months of making friends in the country, I noticed how different they looked."
Communication with members of the task force and with the other
100,000 plus residents of Gilbert will have to be worked out.
Town officials hope to put contact information on Gilbert's web site and
cable broadcasts. After four months of dialog circles the force will
go out into the community and hear from residents.
Sources:
Diversity co-leaders living roles
(Phoenix) AZ Republic 26Sep00 P2
By Edythe Jensen: The Arizona Republic
Diversity group's goals get personal
(Phoenix) AZ Republic 22Sep00 P2
By Edythe Jensen: The Arizona Republic
|
