Support, collaboration, and friendship come from having an understanding of and having an appreciation for all of our cultures and faith.
August 3, 2023 was the date of one of the most important meetings for the County of San Diego for Race Relations. Julian Do of Ethnic Media Services welcomed leadership from all over the world to collaborate on community relations. We were honored by Father Noel of the Kaldean Catholic Church, who opened the meeting with a firm “God Bless America.” Father Noel is honored to work with the Native American community. He sat next to Tazeen Nizam of CAIR-SD, who is vigilant in Civil Rights and gave her own “Acknowledgement of Land History and Rights of the Native American Community.”
I was so proud of this community of foreigners who showed high respect for America. They were followed by local Grandma Activist Gloria Saucedo of Mexico, championing for the “I Want My Green Card” movement. Her commitment to her multicultural grandchildren is uplifting. Grandma Saucedo is a grandmother to Latino, Black and White grandchildren. Jennifer and Joshua of the US News were in attendance, representing the Chinese American community. The Philippines were heavily represented by Lorena de los Santos of the Philippine Press and Jay de la Rosa of the Philippine Nurses Association to support reducing Asian Hate.
Indian Voices writer and language specialist Michael Odegaard and Native American Comedian Abel blessed the meeting with their knowledge and Land Blessings. The Stop the Hate movement was carried by Vietnamese Reporter Thien Le and Twin Nguen spreading the message to Reduce Hate Crimes and Support Safety. Pamela of Cameroon also chimed in about the Stop the Hate movement and increasing a positive Immigrant and Caribbean Experience after working intensely in think tanks with Malcolm X’s daughter.
I was delighted to hear of Ed Sweed’s book Born Here where he documented the large amount of beautiful Muslim children born in the United States. Ethel Sweed of the paper Jewish Voice of Peace and Light of La Jolla was also present to share a message of Tolerance and Respect. Fatima Antishar of the Middle East shared her newspaper and commitment to improvement, and Richard Sandoval shared his plight for Our Community.
The experience reminded me of Camp Anytown, a race sensitivity camp I attended in high school where we learned to respect each other’s racial and religious differences through understanding and experience. I hope this meeting encourages and supports readers to make friends and business associations with people that have plenty of things in common, that respect our beliefs and our land. For more information, visit ethnicmediaservices.org.
