Councils Work for Peace Among Races, Faiths and Cultures : Beliefs: Interfaith and human relations groups fight bigotry. A leader says racism represents ‘the haves not wanting to accept the have-nots.’

Until the recent unrest in Los Angeles, many might have considered race relations an issue out of the ‘60s. But there are people who have been active in fighting racism for some time, and who see the riots as a period when others should examine whether they are doing their part.

Barry Smedberg remembers growing up when the San Fernando Valley “was just tumbleweeds. If you were in Van Nuys you felt you were out in the country.” Today, the area is a mix of people from many cultures, and Smedberg, 48, wants to see them live together peacefully.

As executive director of the Valley Interfaith Council in Chatsworth, Smedberg works to help ease tensions among people of various faiths, cultures and races. “When a hate crime occurs, we go in to talk with community and religious leaders to see if we can’t keep things like that from recurring,” he said.

Smedberg is the kind of person who has a “can-do attitude,” said the Rev. Rick Davis, pastor of Emerson Unitarian Church in Canoga Park. “He has actively tried to bring the cultures and faiths involved in the Valley Interfaith Council together, which has brought about a harmonious relationship among the members.”

Since the riots, Smedberg has been putting in 16-hour days behind the desk trying to organize response to the unrest by the 270 congregations that are council members.

“Our biggest project since the riots has been a plan to take groups of children of various ethnicities from local junior high schools and bring them together so they can talk about race relations and see how they can work together. They are young enough at that age to learn lessons that will be with them for the rest of their lives,” said Smedberg, who has led the council for three years.

Smedberg believes racial incidents are based in large part on “the haves not wanting to accept the have-nots. It may be not so much racism as class discrimination, but in either case people need to have a greater concern over those at different economic levels.

“I think it’s interesting that cultures don’t worship together. You might see a church that holds services for several different ethnic groups at different times, but though they use the same facility and pray to the same God, they don’t come together.”

Joining the Peace Corps after college gave Smedberg what he feels is a “spirit to help others.” He’s tried to instill that in the people he works with, and he was saddened by the riots after the King beating verdict.

“I think the tragedy in Los Angeles happened because people lost hope in the system. We can’t think of the looters and arsonists as just criminals, they’ve lost faith in what’s good in society. We have to instill hope, although that’s easier said than done.”

Although racism and bigotry continue, Sylvia Sutton has seen an improvement. “My uncle was a civil engineer in the 1920s and because he was Jewish, he had problems finding a job. There were a lot of people who as a rule didn’t hire Jews.”

Sutton, 71, is treasurer of Burbank’s Human Relations Council, a volunteer organization that organizes anti-racist events and seeks to educate the public on the dangers of bigotry. “I’ve lived in Burbank now for 40 years, and for the last 20, I’ve seen our community become more culturally diverse. In order for us all to survive here, we’ve got to get along, there’s no alternative.”

As a member of the council for the last 35 years, Sutton has seen what she believes are the lessons of the 1965 Watts riots going unheeded. “I don’t think much changed after the riots. Everyone was hopeful that they would focus attention on urban problems, but that attention went away. And over the past decade, we’ve seen our poor get poorer and racial attacks increase. An explosion like this had to happen.”

Sutton says she has gained the most satisfaction from her work with local schools. “I’m also involved with the Days of Remembrance Committee, which has a commemoration to the Holocaust victims each year, and which brings concentration camp survivors into the schools. And as part of the council, we were able to get the Burbank schools to present the World of Difference program to students.

“I think we’ll continue to have problems in Southern California. But hopefully, we’ll continue working toward solutions.”

* For more information on fighting racism through these two groups, contact the Valley Interfaith Council, (818) 718-6460 or the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, (213) 974-7602.