11 Cities to Hold Dialogues on Race Relations
Los Angeles will join 10 cities across the country in days of dialogue on race relations in the coming week, as a program launched locally in the wake of the verdicts in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial makes its national debut.
In Los Angeles, there will be about 60 discussion groups from Sylmar to San Pedro today through Monday in the fourth such citywide event. For the first time, there will be simultaneous dialogues in Amherst, Mass.; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Durham, N.C.; New York; Salisbury, Md.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Washington.
“I am very happy that other communities throughout the United States have seen what we have done here in Los Angeles and are following our example,†said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who created the dialogue program and recently was honored by a national dispute-resolution group for his work.
The days of dialogue culminate on the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. The Los Angeles City Council’s unanimous vote to endorse them came on King’s actual birthday, Jan. 15.
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