This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

We have always promoted Utah to our friends and family since moving here from California for a job 27 years ago. We've bragged using the Utah tourism slogans: "This Is the Place," "Greatest Snow on Earth," "Life Elevated!" It's easy to brag about our mountains, river trails, friendly people, low taxes and affordable housing — at least compared with life in the Bay Area, L.A. and the Northwest, where my extended family live. After all, we have plenty to back up our claims. Even Utahbusiness.com has been running ads that say "Utah: Ranked #1 in business, because we are simply better at everything!"

Well, that is definitely an overstatement! You see, my family doesn't fit the Utah mold. They have roots in India, Italy, England, Mexico, Germany, Africa, Sweden, Ireland and Japan. We are not blond. We wear beards. We wear sleeveless clothes. We are not of the dominant culture. But we are educators, lawyers, artists, HR executives, musicians, computer programmers, master gardeners, Realtors, filmmakers, scientists, activists, graphic designers, retired policemen and military, moms, dads, grandparents, sisters, aunts, brothers, uncles, cousins, siblings.

Ironically, during Utah's Pioneer Day weekend, we had a family gathering to honor my mother, who had passed away. She was a "world citizen," had traveled the globe many times, celebrated language and culture and taught her five kids to appreciate all people. Continuing that family tradition, each one of us married ethnically and culturally diverse people.

Our Sunday group dinner was held at a $475-per-night Airbnb in the Provo Canyon with the permission of the owner. Our rainbow kids walked down to the clubhouse to use the pool. In comes another family of about 15. A woman aggressively starts interrogating my niece, a first-grade teacher (who, by the way, had just published an article on cultural competency in a law journal). Although she is half white, her skin color favors her North Indian heritage. This woman is raging at her, "Who are you? Who said you could be here? You need to leave!"

My family was about to leave anyway. We had dinner planned and my mom's favorite songs to sing. They politely told her which house they were visiting and had permission to be there. The owner was called and confirmed it all. But this woman was still so incensed — all these people of color were in their clubhouse — so she went back to her truck and brought out two guns! Power, intimidation and seething prejudice? This scene fulfilled every stereotype of Utahns that the rest of the nation reads about. At that very moment, all of our Utah travel promos over the years of "come visit Utah" were erased.

"Black Lives Matter"! "All Lives Matter!" "OUR LIVES MATTER!" We are grateful that our retired policeman wasn't standing there, because it would have reshaped the evening events. Instead our "next generation" group of hopeful, perhaps naïve children — who haven't lived through the civil-rights movement like their parents, who have a limited frame of reference for racism and overt prejudice, who believe that in 2016 we are postracial; who can't imagine that Martin Luther King Jr.'s words, "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," apply to them! That woman's children witnessed the event, too. Prejudice is taught, after all.

We were pioneers to Utah in 1989. Our grandfathers were pioneers at the turn of the century. My mom was a pioneer, too — breaking color lines, including at Hollywood High School in the early 1940s. She passed on her saying to us, "Things are never what they seem!"

HOAs and gated communities across our nation obviously have many issues to negotiate regarding Airbnb rentals and which guests can use the pool. As consumers, as Americans with disposable income, all we saw was the great online ad. Nowhere did it say "but no blacks or browns allowed!" Again, ironic on this Pioneer Day.

So, Utahbusiness.com, you may think you are "better at everything," but truth be told, you haven't a clue when it comes to understanding or teaching cultural competency. If you invite the world here, recognize that you have work to do, Utah. And despite the odds, we're sticking around to raise consciousness, to build inclusion, to educate … because we're pioneers, too … pulling our handcarts through the desert named intolerance.

Lakshmi Johal-Dominguez is a mother, grandmother, community volunteer, Realtor and world traveler.