BY MADHAVI GARIMELLA
One Los Alamos
“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Los Alamos is fortunate to be a town with people from a variety of backgrounds. Diversity and inclusion has played a very important role since the days of the Manhattan Project which brought together some of the greatest minds and talent from around the world to Los Alamos to live and work side by side.
The week of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday has become our local Diversity Week to celebrate this melting pot that makes our town so unique.
One Los Alamos is a citizen group of Los Alamos County interested in promoting thoughtful, civil dialogue around our diversity of backgrounds, beliefs, and identities in order to champion shared values and interests that can strengthen our community.
Our hope has been that Diversity Week would send a message that we are stronger as a community and a nation when we unite and celebrate our differences. We hope to foster civil discourse, promote different perspectives and closer cooperation among the people of Los Alamos regardless of race, personal or political beliefs, identities and gender.
Traditionally we have celebrated the week with a celebration of various cuisines, literature, music, dances and films to promote our understanding of the differences among us.
This year, we will take the celebrations virtually and would like to share recipes as well as reading and watching material that we hope will promote understanding and acceptance of our differences.
We hope to make Los Alamos a model community full of love and acceptance of everyone, regardless of background.
We invite readers to watch out for an international recipe each day this week along with a list of books and movies in collaboration with the Los Alamos Public Library.
Find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1908623732706083
Suggested Reading List:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_diversity_makes_us_smarter
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