With a population of little more than 100,000, Erie is the home to whites, African Americans, and Hispanics. However, the population is rapidly growing with immigrants and refugees from many other nations.
Immigrants are defined as individuals who choose to go abroad from their home countries and live in another. Refugees are defined as people who are forced to leave their home countries due to war or persecution.
Today, Erie has become a safe haven for refugees and immigrants from many other countries. Erie is home to refuges from Iraq, Nepal, Somalia, Sudan and many other countries. Erie and its local universities have also gained many immigrants and students from numerous Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Many of these refugees have fled their homelands to secure safety in other countries. These refugees lived in countries that were home to the largest refugee camps in the world. In the camps, food and health care were limited but life was much better than the situations they fled.
After many years, the United States and numerous Western countries have accepted these refugees to give them the opportunity to start a new life, but with consequences. The U.S. accepts these refugees in struggling cities, but those cities have the potential to improve.
One of the struggling cities is my current hometown of Erie. I am not talking about the economy. Rather I am talking about how Erie can gain from the diverse people in this city.
We have seen a great representation of cultures, but those cultures seem to be forgotten not by their people but rather by our local government. I remember when my cultural geography professor stated to our class: "Canada honors other cultures by implementing a program in the schools where it allows people from diverse background to stay connected from where they came from."
Erie and its local governments, including police departments, outreach departments and council members, have done minimum recruitment to gain people from such great cultures. The local police department has yet to reach out to individuals to represent those countries; the majority of the police officers come from small-town boroughs and have minimum cross-cultural knowledge.
Erie needs to do more in bringing people together, such as having a cultural sharing day at least once a month where incoming refugees can be introduced to the Erie community. This day could also be used to show them what Erie has to offer, including what's available in terms of jobs, attractions and its political system.
With the great diversity of the people from many nations in the Erie region, we must do more to honor these cultures by bringing them together and honoring what they have to bring to the local region from their homeland.
As more and more refugees come here, the local government must do more to keep these individuals in the Erie region. They can do this to keep these cultures alive by implementing a program in the local schools to honor their cultures or a cultural day where refugees are introduced to the city.
MAITHAM BASHA-AGHA came to Erie from Iraq in 2000 and graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.