Editor’s note

It is an honor to once again edit this newsletter, and as editor, I am happy to take this opportunity to share my view on diversity, a view that was shaped in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. When I was in kindergarten, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched on my white ethnic neighborhood in Chicago, coinciding with the beginning of busing to integrate the school system. I remember hearing the word “boycott” for the first time, and hearing anger in many parents’ voices. While many kept their children home, my mother sent me to school. Seven years later, when some local hoodlums treated the first African American family on my block to pre-Halloween decorations of eggs thrown against windows, toilet paper on bushes and trees, and shaving cream and soap on other building and driveway surfaces, my parents sent me and my siblings to help clean up. Through these experiences, I learned a life lesson to share with the readers of this newsletter. This issue of Diversity Matters recognizes the diverse membership of our Association and celebrates what unites us. 