CITY LIGHTS:

June is Diversity Month in Huntington Beach, as the city continues its 100th birthday celebration with a series of programs about tolerance, human rights and overcoming prejudice.

It’s hard to say how much Huntington Beach, or any city, needs to be reminded of diversity in this day and age. Certainly, Huntington has had problems in the past with racism and violence, but ask the average minority on the street and they’ll likely tell you they encounter little or no prejudice on a daily basis.

The agenda for this week’s City Council meeting featured the standard clause declaring that the city endorses no religion, followed by an announcement from Mayor Keith Bohr that June is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.

Next to all the intolerance of the past — and in many parts of the world today — a city like Huntington Beach looks like a small miracle. So does a country that just elected its first black president and, in the near future, may have its first Latina on the Supreme Court.

In modern America, racism of the kind experienced just a few generations ago not only seems appalling, it can also seem unreal. Stand by Pier Plaza on a busy day and watch the diverse crowd milling around, and it’s hard to fathom a time when people didn’t get along so effortlessly.

Or maybe it’s not. Last year, I was in Memphis at the National Civil Rights Museum, which features a display designed to show visitors how difficult it was to vote as a black person in the pre-civil rights South. The display consists of a massive “Wheel of Fortune”-style wheel in which nearly every segment lists some obstacle to casting a ballot — stopped by police, threatened with job loss, disqualified from voting — and a mere one states that the spinner can proceed to the voting booth. This was in the 1960s, when a number of modern Huntington residents were already adults.

And as the headlines constantly prove, much of the world is far less harmonious than Huntington Beach. So if nothing else, Diversity Month will serve as a reminder of what an accomplishment a diverse, affluent community really is.

The month started with a speech at the Huntington Beach Central Library by Leon Leyson, the youngest survivor on Oskar Schindler’s list. Bruce Matsui, who was born in a Japanese relocation camp during WWII, will speak at the Huntington Beach Art Center on June 18.

Not all the discussion topics will be related to the past; today at the Art Center, a UC Irvine group will discuss the difficulties gays and lesbians face in modern-day America. There are more optimistic events planned, too. June 11 at the Art Center, Golden West College professors Fran Faraz and Paul Tayyar will lead a group discussion on harmony and diversity. At the library June 16, an eclectic group will put on a show of world music.

Looking over the calendar of events, I was reminded of film critic Roger Ebert’s remarks about “Crash,” which won the 2005 Best Picture Oscar. The film depicts modern-day Los Angeles as a hotbed of ethnic tension, but between the lines, Ebert said, he could see a positive message.

“Until several hundred years ago, most people everywhere on earth never saw anybody who didn’t look like them,” he wrote. “They were not racist because, as far as they knew, there was only one race. You may have to look hard to see it, but ‘Crash’ is a film about progress.”

Diversity Month is about progress as well. And in the next few weeks, I hope we can all find time to attend at least part of it.

City Editor MICHAEL MILLER can be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].