Joe Hicks

* Re “Rejecting Race as an Identity,” April 23: God bless Joe Hicks. I have lived in L.A. for a year and my favorite thing about this town is its diversity. I look out my window onto Ocean Front Walk and see a sea of people from every corner of the Earth, speaking a hundred languages at once.

I order breakfast from an African Japanese waiter, grab a Coke from the Korean place down the street, say hello to my Jewish apartment manager while I come home to send an e-mail to my Mexican Scottish niece and her Italian husband about how much I enjoy living at the cutting edge of a future where ethnic origin is irrelevant. The great hope of our city and our nation is understanding that we all are a minority.

JOEL McKEAN

Venice

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Hicks’ leadership in rejecting race as his primary personal identity is courageous and welcomed. He is not alone. Each semester in my culture and cultural diversity class, I ask my students how they like to self-identify. There has been a strong trend away from “racial” and ethnic labels in recent years. This is not a rejection of family or one’s history. This is an affirmation that we want to be acknowledged as individuals with many identities that combine to make us each unique.

While we start the semester knowing we want to be treated as individuals, it takes longer to become aware how many labels and shortcuts we use when judging others. Once we really pay attention, we notice a frightening amount of prejudice around us and in ourselves. Lead on, Joe. We Angelenos have a lot of work to do, but the possibilities are limited only by our imagination.

DEBBIE GIUNTA, Co-director

Center for Cultural Fluency

Mount St. Mary’s College

Los Angeles