Taco Trucks At Every Mosque

I thought this article was really compelling and wanted to share it. It gives a powerful example of people working across groups to increase understanding and mutual respect– and provides several concrete examples:

Chef Zoe Villarreal serving Halal Tacos (Photo: OC Weekly)

… Rida Hamida and Ben Vazquez decided to take their “Tacos at Every Mosque” Muslim-Mexican unity tour to a seemingly unlikely place: Rosarito. The seaside town … has a mosque, Masjid El Noor, and they welcomed Hamida and Vazquez to set up a taquiza earlier this month during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha for prayer, preaching, and feasting.

Hamida visited the mosque before the big day. Upon arriving, she was surprised to find out her cell phone service wasn’t working. After tirelessly driving around trying to find the mosque. she asked for help. She stepped out of her car and asked five men nearby for help. One of them, Joe Velasquez remembers the introduction well. “I wouldn’t even come up to myself and ask for help because of the stereotypes of us looking like gangsters,” he said.
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I don’t know what immediate lessons this offers us (besides perhaps inviting more food trucks to library events… for diversity reasons!), but it’s a great article.