(CLEVELAND, OH, 3/2/2011) – The Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Cleveland Chapter recently joined a panel on the State of Race and Ethnic Relations in Greater Cleveland held at the Westshore Unitarian Church. Also on the panel were Victor Ruiz, Executive Director of Esperanza, Inc.; Rev. Dr. Nozomi Ikuta, Minister of the Denison Avenue United Church of Christ; and Khalid A. Samad, of Peace in the Hood, Inc.

The panel provided insight on issues such as race and ethnic relations among Cleveland’s diverse communities from a current and historical prospective. Victor Ruiz of Esperanza explained the diversity within the Hispanic and Latino communities and focused on educational disparities. Khalid Samad of Peace in the Hood discussed problems of drugs and poverty, the prison pipeline for Black males, and the identity crisis among certain segments of African American urban youth. Dr. Nozomi Ikuta spoke of the internment of Japanese Americans, the history of Japanese in the Cleveland area, as well as her own identity issues growing up as a minority in Brook Park, Ohio. Julia Shearson of the Council on American-Islamic Relations discussed national and local efforts to unite African Americans, Hispanics, and Muslims, Arabs and South Asians to stand against racial, ethnic and religious profiling by local and federal law enforcement. Shearson also discussed local efforts to prevent hate crimes and methods to facilitate dialogue among diverse communities.

“Questions of race and ethnicity are at the core of America’s history, but the same questions are the key to our future as well” said Julia A. Shearson, executive director of CAIR-Cleveland. “The question is, will we let our differences create further divisions, or will we capitalize on our diversity as an engine of economic prosperity and multiculturalism.”

For more information, contact CAIR-Cleveland Executive Director Julia A. Shearson, jshearson@cair.com, 216-830-2247 or 216-440-2247.

CAIR, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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