The Los Angeles City Council hosts an annual Interfaith Iftar dinner, and this year marked the first time it emblazoned City Hall and the Sixth Street bridge with green lights for an entire week to recognize the month of Ramadan. At the celebration dinner, the City also recognized two individuals by presenting them with its Community Achievement Award. Both awardees were honored for their efforts in promoting religious pluralism and in building community relationships in Greater Los Angeles.
Dr. Shaheen Kassim-Lakha is the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Hilton Foundation and is also engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, as well as belonging. She was formerly President of the Council for the Western United States and a Member of Communications and Publications for the Council for the United States of America. Dr. Sadegh Namazikah is a Professor of Endodontics at the University of Southern California and the Founder of the Iranian-American Muslim Association of North America in Los Angeles.
During Shaheen’s tenure and after, she developed key relationships with the Los Angeles City Council and with other interfaith organizations, including New Ground: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change. She also served on former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Interfaith Commission for several years.
Joumana Silyan-Saba, Director of Policy & Discrimination Enforcement for the City’s Civil, Human Rights, and Equity Department, had this to say:
"Shaheen is a visionary and passionate leader. Her invaluable contributions have shaped deeper engagements to uplift religious pluralism in the City of Los Angeles. We are grateful to her persistent and ongoing efforts to affirm the City’s core values of an inclusive and pluralistic society."
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Upon receiving the award from Council Member Nithya Raman, Shaheen remarked,
“ I am quite conscious that it is not in many cities that a woman of color, an immigrant from Africa, and a Muslim would be celebrated in City Hall!”
Shaheen and her husband came to Los Angeles as students, but she recognized that the City “... embodied my then-nascent world view of strength, innovation, fun, and creativity….. That comes from celebrating diversity, understanding each other, and most fundamentally respecting difference in a way that doesn’t negate one’s own identity.”
Shaheen acknowledged that her worldview was “...informed by deep humanistic values that underlie all faiths and was fundamentally shaped by the spiritual guidance of the Ismaili Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, and his vision for friendship and understanding among communities.”
Commenting on the current state of polarization and divisiveness in the country, Shaheen reminded the audience that merely citing “pluribus unum” was insufficient, that “What matters going forward is…embracing it and living it.”
Committed to building bridges and helping to resolve differences, there is one challenge that has eluded Shaheen’s efforts. Having tried to change his mind, she has accepted that her husband Azim, a USC graduate, will support the Trojans, while she, as a UCLA graduate, is a die-hard Bruins fan. Perhaps, that is as it should be.
