Every Hanukkah, we are reminded of the incredible courage of those who stand up for their neighbors.
On one bitterly cold night, a brick was thrown through a 6-year-old Jewish boy's bedroom window, where he had placed the family's Hanukkah menorah. The anti-Semitic incident was one of several hateful acts in Billings, MT that year, including skinheads at an African-American church, racist hate messages on a Native-American woman's home, and the desecration of the Jewish cemetery. The community responded by saying, "Not In Our Town." In an act of solidarity, nearly 10,000 Billings residents hung paper menorahs in their windows.
This Hanukkah story is part of our origin story here at the Not In Our Town project. Today, please remember the Billings story with us.
Happy Holidays.
Blog
December 6, 2012 - 8:18pm
Two men pled guilty on Tuesday to federal hate crime charges stemming from a series of attacks on African-Americans in Jackson, MS last year, including the murder of James Craig Anderson, according to CNN.
William Kirk Montgomery, 23, and Jonathan Gaskamp, 20, were part of the group of young men responsible for Anderson’s violent death in June 2011. Montgomery was there the night that Darryl Dedmon, Jr. ran over Anderson with his truck after the group savagely beat the 49-year-old auto plant worker.
Though uninvolved in Anderson’s murder, Gaskamp had participated in other, similar attacks around Jackson with the group. Both Montgomery and Gaskamp pled guilty to federal hate crimes charges this week.
December 6, 2012 - 3:50pm
Lancaster, CA continues Not In Our School campaign into its 3rd year! The city of Lancaster, CA, where a segment of our PBS documentary Not In Our Town: Class Actions was filmed, is in their third year of a community-wide NIOS Campaign! Students, teachers, and board members all participated in the Nov. 13 city council meeting to sign a proclamation against bullying in schools, according to the Antelope Valley Times. They signed banners renewing their pledge against bullying and promised to be upstanders whenever they see bullying occur. We are excited to watch the campaign’s continued success Lancaster!
December 6, 2012 - 5:12am
By Becki Cohn-Vargas, Not In Our School Director
It is one thing to read the statistic that half of hate crimes in the United States are committed by teens. It is totally different when teens commit a heinous hate crime right in your community. When 17 year-old Gwen Arajo was murdered by local teens in 2002, her last word "Please don't, I have a family," didn't stop the teenagers from beating and strangling her to death.
December 5, 2012 - 4:35pm
By Leah P. Hollis, Ed.D.
What happens to bullies when they grow up and get jobs? Civility doesn’t automatically develop in a bully simply because he or she gets older. Bullying is learned behavior; therefore a bully often needs support and coaching to abandon such bullying tactics.