Locals united to talk community diversity

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

Community unity was at the heart of discussions Saturday evening at Iowa Wesleyan University (IWU) as local members of the community gathered together at the university?s social hall for ?Our Heritage, Our Voice?, a discussion on diversity and culture.

Organized by IWU and various diversity and culture groups in the area, Our Heritage, Our Voice seeks to bring about positive, constructive discussion regarding civic engagement in the Henry County community and the need for more diversity within community volunteer programs and public offices. This was the second ?Our Heritage, Our Voice? held this year in the Mt. Pleasant community.

Over the course of the evening, attendees of the event heard from various public leaders regarding the duties and responsibilities of holding public office and public volunteer positions within the community. A showing of ?Latino: The Changing Face of America?, a documentary regarding the surge of the Latino population in America, was also shown.

According to Jeff Fager, one of the event?s organizers, the event was designed to bring about a stronger sense of community within the Henry County area, an issue that he thinks locals are open to.

?Iowa Wesleyan has a growing number of international students and so we have been discussing how to better integrate them into this wonderful community,? Fager explains. ?We do feel that building community is an important task, not only just for Iowa Wesleyan, but also for this community, and the responses we have gotten already have been fantastic.?

For panelist Sen. Rich Taylor, he says he felt honored to attend Saturday?s event. Taylor was among a group of four panelists who spoke at the event. According to Taylor, discussing issues of diversity is among some of the top issues that he faces as a state senator.

?Within the judiciary committee, a committee I am on as a senator, we look at laws that are on the books and we have to look at how those laws might effect minorities differently than they effect the majority,? Taylor explained. ?Making sure that we have laws in place that promote equality is, I think, one of the most important things that I do.?

Sal Alaniz, a local diversity advocate who attended Saturday evening?s meeting to discuss growing cultural diversity in the Henry County community, says he felt the event spoke to the heart of all people ? no matter the ethnicity or background.

?I am Latino, that?s part of who I am. But, like everyone, I am human. We all want to belong as one in a community and we all want to engage with members in our community,? he said. ?I think there was a lot of positive discussion here, and I know that this community will continue doing things like this. We all have something good to offer this community, no matter where we come from.?

In regards to the growing ethnic changes that are happening in the Henry County community and other communities like it, many attendees admitted that while change can be frightening to some, growing a community?s diversity doesn?t have to be a negative process if a community is willing to learn from each other.

?I am Portuguese, and I can speak Spanish, so because of that, I have felt called upon in the past year to support people who maybe feel like they don?t have a voice because of their ethnicity,? said Henry County citizen, Dina Saunders, and member of LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens). ?I hope people understand, you don?t have to be afraid of people who are different and you don?t have to be afraid of a changing society?We all have to work and live and communicate together. If we do that, we can all thrive together.?