Let me first say, thank you.
I really didn’t anticipate the response that I received about a column that I wrote in July regarding a negative experience I had at a local gas station.
Though I was stung by the way a clerk treated me that night, I shared the encounter with readers primarily to remind business leaders how easily customers can be turned away if front-line employees aren’t properly trained to interact with a clientele that in Sioux Falls is becoming slightly more diverse.
The incident involved the store’s clerk brushing me off in way that could’ve been interpreted as racist but at least was quite rude.
Since then, I have received about a dozen phone calls and e-mails from readers apologizing for the clerk’s behavior and expressing support that this African-American newcomer came to Sioux Falls.
Wow, and that’s despite my views on minimum wage.
Truthfully, though, I’m not in the least surprised by the content and character of your responses. I’ve seen that kind of character displayed other times as well.
And it’s a character that will help Sioux Falls continue to be a viable choice to live and work for other newcomers who bring diverse backgrounds.
The topic reminds me of a coffee shop conversation that I had with a community leader about six months after I moved here. The person wanted my assessment of Sioux Falls’ ability to handle tensions that inevitably will arise as the city’s racial landscape begins shifting. So I shared with him an opinion that I still hold today.
Sioux Falls has a better chance of honestly embracing diversity than the Los Angeleses, New Yorks and San Antonios of the world.
Why? Those cities obviously are more culturally and racially diverse than this growing city in the prairie.
But Sioux Falls has its own advantages.
Take, for instance, the region’s Norwegian influence. If ever there’s a group of people who understand the concept of live and let live, it’s Norwegians.
Then, there’s the area’s faith-influenced atmosphere. With the number of Catholics and Lutherans floating around here, it often feels as if the Bible Belt has a formidable counterpart. Add to that the number of other residents who bring the active practice of other faiths, and you get a city that has a spiritual flavor.
And certainly there’s the Midwestern ethos of being good, neighborly people.
Simply put, Sioux Falls holds enough people who – for whatever reason – want to make diversity work.
And cultivating the desire to embrace diversity is half the battle.
That attribute will benefit businesses as well as the entire city’s growth.
In today’s mobile society, people want quality of living along with good jobs when picking a place to call home. And there’s no better living than being in a place where you’re accepted as is.
That’s why if, for example, an employer offered me a wonderful, lucrative job today in Jena, La., where deep racial wounds are occurring, I likely wouldn’t go.
Instead, I prefer a place like here where when I receive a racial paper cut there are a dozen or so folks nearby offering a Band-Aid.
’Cause that’s a place with character.
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