Opinion

OUR OPINION

May 23, 2008

We can make a difference if we welcome diversity

BIGOTRY REMAINS ONE of this region’s biggest obstacles to progress – socially and economically.

After all, if newcomers of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds don’t feel welcome in Northeastern Pennsylvania’s communities, who will offset the years of population losses, establish businesses in the vacant storefronts, shore up the tax base and fill the empty church pews?

Revival depends on attracting “outsiders” – including people who might look, dress and, yes, even speak differently than what the majority of folks here consider “normal.” Historically, as new groups have arrived in this area’s anthracite fields, they’ve been met with scorn and treated poorly. Tensions rose and disagreements became heated, sometimes violent.

Fortunately, Luzerne County’s commissioners and other community leaders seem poised today to address diversity-related issues head on, hoping to heal long-festering divisions and foster understanding.

Evidence of their all-inclusive way of thinking could be seen in two announcements made Wednesday.

• The county commissioners appointed five new trustees to the Luzerne County Community College board, heeding calls to diversify its membership. The picks included Agapito Lopez, who is Hispanic, and J. Toure McCluskey, who is black. They are not token appointees. Lopez is a leader in the area’s Latino community. McCluskey brings a Harvard education.

• The Luzerne County Diversity Commission – a 34-member panel formed by the commissioners two years ago – released a list of suggestions for aiding newcomers while also softening social friction.

Among the plan’s most encouraging proposals: Replicate some of the area’s educational programs that succeed because of their multiculturalism, including the McGlynn Learning Center at Boulevard Townhomes and the Commission on Economic Opportunity’s Kids Cafe, both based in Wilkes-Barre.

Next, the struggle becomes putting these proposals into action so that diversity messages and ideals begin to trickle to the streets, where they can impact people’s attitudes and behavior.

Certainly, that’s an uphill battle. But many existing groups – the Ethnic Community Outreach program at King’s College, the Diversity Institute at Misericordia University, the Peace Center in Wilkes-Barre and the area’s NAACP branch – already have begun to point the way.

Together, the rest of us just need to follow their lead.

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