Today, it is very common for people of diverse backgrounds to find themselves living in the same neighborhood. In such societies, every individual has a part to participate in order to make it possible for each person to live in harmony with people of diverse cultural, ethnic, racial or geographical backgrounds.

To begin with, asking questions about people and their situations is very important since it makes us understand them better. Once you know more about other peoples’ cultural, religious, and economic backgrounds, you will easily learn to appreciate them as they are. This is a very good way of maintaining unity in diversity.

Secondly, you should always refrain from prejudging people according to their situations. Do not be quick to say many negative things about people whose cultural and religious backgrounds you do not understand well. You should try as much as possible to resist the impulse to make negative comments that could harm cordial relations with these people. You should appreciate individuals based on their character and not based on cultural, religious and regional stereotyping. Every person has the right to do things his own way and this freedom must not be interfered with for people to coexist.

Thirdly, listening to the opinions of other people is better than shouting them down. It is even worse to pretend that they are not there when they are trying to make their presence felt. Although you may not like their opinions, listening to them will not cost you much and furthermore, you will have made them feel that they are a part of the local community. Everyone likes to have a sense of belonging. It is human nature and it takes tolerance for us to listen to everyone’s views.

In diverse communities, it is common for people to be labeled according to their outward appearance. Whereas it is true that people of a particular geographical or cultural background may share similar features in terms of physique, you must not use this similarity to label them. When labeling people in a diverse community, you should consider only the content of their character and intellect and not their racial, tribal, religious, social class or ideological background.

Sharing resources and amenities is a good way through which frosty relations between people of diverse backgrounds can be improved. Everyone has a role to play in ensuring those people who are marginalized on account of their cultural background are brought back into the mainstream community.

Freedom of association is a right of every member of a community both within the bounds of institutions and outside (Garcia, 2002). People who do not understand each other’s social background might feel intimidated by some associations formed by different members of that society. It is important for members of the associations to be left alone to assemble and associate as long as they are not infringing into anyone’s freedoms or threatening the security of the community.

In every community that is composed of people who originate from different backgrounds, it is common for one group to dominate the others. In this case, the dominant group should try as much as possible to ensure that equal opportunities are given to everyone.

All these traits can be instilled in children through education. Children who are brought up in diverse communities need to have these values inculcated in their moral conscience while they are still young (Ogbu, 1992). This enables such communities to build a strong foundation for lasting unity.