Local student leaders from the Ferguson Youth Initiative came up with the idea to hold a summit to talk about how to make change in the aftermath of the tragedy their community has experienced. In late September, young people gathered at Florissant Valley Community College just miles from where Michael Brown was shot. Joined by community members and educators, the group talked about how the relationship between youth and the police of Ferguson needs to change, and what activities are needed in their town.
Not In Our Town Videos (All)
Carlissa Hinton, an 8th grade student, is named a 2014 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Oratorical Contest winner for her speech interpreting Dr. King's dream.
The Not In Our School Video Action Kit contains everything you need to need to launch your own Not in Our School anti-bullying campaign:
When the Kansas hate group known as the Westboro Baptist Church (Fred Phelps' family) announced they would picket Bay Area schools and Jewish institutions, students at Gunn High School decided they could not sit quietly. (3 min 34 sec)
Check out our Local Lesson, Helping High Schoolers Take the Lead, which features an interview with Gunn High School Principal Noreen Likins.
Not In Our Town filmed the NAACP Youth March in Ferguson, MO, just weeks after unarmed teen Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer in the St. Louis suburb. See how the community came together peacefully for this event after weeks of unrest, hear their ideas for the future, and their hope that the events in their town inspire other communities to stand up to injustice and racism.
Not In Our Town Northern California: When Hate Happens Here takes a regional look at five Northern California communities dealing with deadly hate violence over a five-year period. Together, the stories reveal that whether the motivation is racism, anti-Semitism, or crimes motivated by gender or sexual orientation, hate is the same. But Californians are finding innovative ways to respond when hate happens here.
A co-production with KQED-TV.
Not In Our Town Executive Producer Patrice O'Neill sat down with Bernard Melekian, Director for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), to talk about the role of the police in addressing hate crimes. In this short interview, Melekian addresses the following questions:
What is community policing?
What's an example of a good community policing practice?
How can community policing help people address hate crimes?
Why is hate crime data so difficult to collect?
Why does hate crime classification matter?
How does community policing serve victims?
What message do you have for police department leaders?
Not In Our Town has joined forces with the COPS Office to increase hate crime awareness and foster safety and inclusion for residents nationwide.
To learn more about this initiative and get involved, visit http://www.niot.org/cops.
"Moving forward, we have to continue to connect with our allies, with all the community groups that came out here." -- 2012 Silent March Protester
Driven by a genuine urge to end racial profiling by denouncing NYPD's Stop and Frisk policy, thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers came together this Father's Day in a powerful silent march through the streets of New York. Primarily organized by the NAACP, the march conveyed the discrimination and desire to maintain dignity felt by not just those who had been stopped and frisked before, but community members in general, particularly in consideration of the recent murder of Trayvon Martin.
Read more about the Silent March here.
A bi-racial couple in Montgomery, West Virginia, was targeted and brutally beaten by local police officers. Twan and Lauren Reynolds, supported by the federal government and a private attorney stood up to the injustice and racism they faced. Their motivation? To protect the town they love from hate-based violence, no matter the source.
This promo features scenes from an upcoming PBS special about three stories of students and their communities standing together to stop hate and bullying.