Gettysburg, PA: When folks in Gettysburg, PA heard the Aryan Nations hate group was planning a rally on the very spot where Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous defense of American democracy, they knew they couldn't sit by in silence."Silence is the welcome mat for hate," notes Ann Van Dyke of Pennsylvania's Human Relations Commission, who has worked with almost two dozen communities throughout the state that were targeted by hate groups. The activist groups that formed in those towns are now part of the Pensylvania Network of Unity Coalitions, longtime members of the Not In Our Town family.
Blog
July 12, 2010 - 3:21pm
Oakland, CA: Last Thursday, July 8, former BART transit officer Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the Jan. 1, 2009 death of Oscar Grant, an unarmed young African American man.
July 6, 2010 - 1:53pm
The faith community has been struggling to deal with their core teachings and deep divisions in their congregations over immigration.
It's not always easy for clergy to speak out on immigration reform. Sometimes they don't see eye to eye with their flock. Unity in the Community, the long-time Not In Our Town affiliate in Manassas, VA, has put together Words of Compassion, a collection of relevant resources from a wide variety of religious texts, faith-based organizations and the interfaith community. No matter your stance on the issues, anyone looking to approach the immigration issue from a faith-based perspective should find it tremendously useful. The teachings emphasize the religious bases for acceptance of differences, and recognition of our common humanity.
June 28, 2010 - 1:45pm
Oregon has just made it easier to report hate crimes--do it online.
That's what the Department of Justice came up with after a meeting of the LGBT community in Portland, called in response to gay-bashings in the city.
Sean Riddell (pictured above, on right), chief counsel for the criminal justice division of Oregon’s Department of Justice, was at the meeting, and was “struck by the number of people who said they’d been the victim of a hate crime and didn’t report it,” says Tony Green, Riddell’s colleague and DOJ spokesman.
Why don't people report hate crimes? Fear of retribution; embarrassment; maybe it's too hard to walk into a police station and fill out the forms. There are a lot of reasons; and that concerned the state's attorney general.