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The Annual Friendship & Dialog Dinner
November 25, 2008
The Annual Friendship & Dialog Dinner, organized traditionally every year by IID, in collaboration with the Gulen Institute and Raindrop Turkish House, took place at the Imperial ballroom of Hyatt Regency Houston, 1200 Louisiana.
The dinner was attended by distinguished guests including Bill White(Mayor of Houston), Bob Ivany (president of University of St. Thomas),D'Artagnan Bebel (General Manager of Fox 26), Wendy Adair (VicePresident of TSU), Allen Matusow (Associate Director of BakerInstitute), Annise D. Parker (Houston City Controller), Joseph Fiorenza(Archbishop of Galveston-Houston Diocese), Bill King (former Mayor ofKemah), Elliott Gershenson (President and CEO of IM), James Bankston(Senior Minister of St Paul's United Methodist Church) among many otherdistinguished guests.
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Below is Bill King's Speech from this year's Friendship and Dialog Dinner:
Dr. Kleinberg at Rice University has been conducting a survey of the citizens of Houston for the last 30 years. He asks them questions about their attitudes towards various subjects. He also collects demographic information on their age, ethnicity, sex, level of education, etc. A little over a year ago, Dr. Kleinberg declared that Houston is the most diverse city in the United States. He found that there is no majority ethnic group in Houston and that in fact we are all minorities here in Houston.
He goes on to make the point that the rest of Texas and in fact the rest of the country is going to increasingly look like Houston and so we are sort of the test case for how a very high level of diversity gets worked in a large city. We can become the model of its can be done or the example of what to avoid. Now that's a lot of pressure. But also what a marvelous opportunity?
I would like to make one modest suggestion toward this adventure in diversity upon which we are embarked. I would like to suggest that we quit using the word "tolerance." We talk a lot about religious tolerance, racial tolerance cultural tolerance. But think about what that word really means outside this context. Is something that you "tolerate" something you really like. Kind of like I can stand it but I don't really like it. Isnt that what the word implies to you.
I don't want us to just tolerate diversity, I want us to celebrate it. When you have a diverse city like Houston, it becomes a rich tapestry of different warerodes and foods and music and ways of worshipping. I don't want going around saying, "yea, you know we are so opened minded that we can put up with just about anything here in Houston." No. No. We need to make sure everyone understands how lucky we are that we live in a City that has this kind of diversity. We don't tolerate diversity in Houston, we celebrate, we treasure it.
I also don't like the word "race." Because the truth is there is only one race and that is the human race. Geneticists have recently confirmed that the DNA of all of us in this room 99.9% the same. They have further confirmed that we all descendants of a very small group of individuals and in fact may all share the ancient mother, the real Eve.
Isnt it ironic? For years everyone has been talking about the conflict between religion and science. But science has now has confirmed what all the great religions of the world have been teaching for thousands of years - that we are all brothers and sisters.
I am an avid reader of National Geographic. I had a very odd experience a few weeks ago when reading a recent issue. There was a story about a people that lived in what is now the southern Sahara desert about 8000 years ago. At that the climate was different and the area was somewhat Idyllic environment.
I was captivated by one of photographs in the story. It was picture of a grave. In the grave that was the skeleton of a young woman probably in her twenties lying on her side. Facing her were the skeletons of two young children. Someone had taken one hand of each of the children and interlocked the fingers with hands of young woman. From an analysis of the soil and pollens, the scientists were able to determine that this group had been buried on a bed of flowers.
If a Martian happened on this scene, he might not know what to make of it. But we all know that almost certainly this was a mother and her children who were taken and in some unknown tragedy and lovingly placed in this last repose by a heart-broken husband and father. As I sat there looking at that picture and thinking about the heartache he felt, I started getting a lump in my throat and tears began to well up in my eyes. What a remarkable connection we share. I have no idea this man's name was, what color his skin was or what he looked like, what language he spoke, what songs he sang or what faith he practiced. But across 8 millennia and half a world a way, we all know the love he had for his family and the heartbreak and grief he felt as he laid his family in their final rest.
If we can make that connection with someone that lived half way across the world, 8,000 years ago, how much easier should it be for us to make that connection with neighbors in this great city? It is in our nature. It is in our DNA. All we have to do is be open our hearts to it. If we do, I predict we will be living in a city will show the rest of world how to not merely to tolerate diversity, but to celebrate it.
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