"Part of the motivation of these attacks is to isolate those who they are attacking. To make the victims feel victimized. But thanks to the response of Bloomington United and the community we are made to feel that this is an attack not only on us but the values of the whole community." —Bloomington, Indiana resident
Watch Bloomington United: Ready to Respond to Hate
After Ku Klux Klan flyers blanket an Indiana University campus neighborhood, Rabbi Sue Silberberg leads Bloomington United as they plan a community response.
This is a DVD extra from the PBS program, Not In Our Town: Class Actions. For more information on the film, visit niot.org/ClassActions.
bloomington united
Here you will find extended or extra scenes from our film, Class Actions.
Web Video Extras:
One Mississippi: Creating Dialogue On Campus
From Dialogue to Action: Bloomington Unity in the Community Responds to KKK Flyers
Lauri Massari: How We Started Not In Our School
Dr. Donald Cole: An Ole Miss Legacy
One Mississippi: Creating Dialogue On Campus
Leaders of One Mississippi, a student group devoted to bridging racial and social barriers at the University of Mississippi, bring students together for a dialogue meeting about their hopes and fears for the organization.
From Dialogue to Action: Bloomington Unity in the Community Responds to KKK Flyers
After Ku Klux Klan flyers blanket an Indiana University campus neighborhood, Rabbi Sue Silberberg leads Bloomington United as they plan a community response.
In late November and early December, the city of Bloomington, Ind. stood behind the Jewish community after several acts of anti-Semitic vandalism. Rocks were thrown into the windows of the Chabad and Hillel houses at Indiana University. A glass case listing Jewish Studies faculty was broken. Swastikas were discovered in a student dorm. Then, just days before Hanukkah, Hebrew texts from the university and county libraries were taken to men’s bathrooms and urinated on. Bloomington—a college town—received national attention.
Bloomington’s quick and supportive response from the city’s university, police, city, and community leaders came from experience. Bloomington United, in particular, banded together after the mayor’s office approached local leaders to form a coalition in 1999. At the time, former Indiana University student and white supremacist Ben Smith went on a two-state shooting spree, which included the killing of a Korean graduate student at Indiana University. Read how the community responded to the recent acts.
On Jan. 27, Indiana Public Media's program, InFocus, discussed Diversity and Tolerance. Host Sara Wittmeyer interviewed Not In Our Town Executive Director Jonathan Bernstein on the show.
This Hanukkah, Bloomington, Ind. was blanketed in blue. Indiana University students wore it, community members wore it, and even the city’s cabinet members and clerk’s office staff donned the cool hue on Dec. 6. As Rabbi Sue Silberberg, executive director of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, put it succinctly, “Everyone was wearing blue.”