Not In Our Town partnered with Welcoming America around the release of our film, Light in the Darkness, a PBS documentary that explores how a New York village came together following anti-immigrant violence.
Welcoming America works with affiliates nationwide to engage the towns that welcome immigrants. In addition to online activities that feature Not In Our Town, Welcoming America hosts National Welcoming Week, starting on Sept. 13!
During the week of Sept. 13-21, 2014, Welcoming America and its partners across the country will host National Welcoming Week, a nationwide event that will highlight the contributions of immigrants to American communities.
Throughout the country, National Welcoming Week events will bring together immigrants and U.S.-born community members in a spirit of unity through service projects and cultural events.
welcoming america
Not In Our Town partnered with Welcoming America around the release of our film, Light in the Darkness, a PBS documentary that explores how a New York village came together following anti-immigrant violence.
Welcoming America works with affiliates nationwide to engage the towns that welcome immigrants. In addition to online activities that feature Not In Our Town, Welcoming America hosts National Welcoming Week, starting on Sept. 15!
During the week of Sept. 15-22, 2013, Welcoming America and its partners across the country will host National Welcoming Week, a nationwide event that will highlight the contributions of immigrants to American communities.
Not In Our Town Executive Producer Patrice O'Neill joined Southern Poverty Law Center's Mark Potok, Welcoming America's David Lubbell and Christian Picciolini, former hate group member, to discuss how to respond to the rise in domestic extremism on a HUFFPOST LIVE discussion earlier today.
Check out the conversation in this Huffington Post video:
According to a recent SPLC report, "The Year in Hate and Extremism," there are now nearly 1,400 'Patriot' groups, which generally believe that the government is conspiring to take away guns and destroy liberties.
The report points to several recent acts of hate perpetrated by the extremists, including the murder of six worshippers at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin by a neo-Nazi. In January, an Alabama high school student was arrested for allegedly plotting to attack his black and gay classmates and bomb his school.
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When David Lubell moved to Tennessee, he saw the immigration population grow quickly in the state in a matter of years.
"It doesn't take long to watch the news or listen to the radio and see there were people talking about immigrants and it was really negative," said Lubell, the former executive director and founder of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRCC). Lubell is now the executive director of Welcoming America.
Working closely with the immigrant community, he felt there was a huge gap in the conversation. He often heard of the "one bad apple of every 50,000."
"There's no one to tell the story of the majority who are contributing, who are working hard, to build a livelihood for their family and making their community better overall," he said. "It's a gap that happens whenever there's a new community who comes to town."
Historically, immigrants flocked to America's largest cities, among them Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. But as Lubell's experience attests, demographics are shifting in even the unlikeliest of places, such as Nashville, Boise, and Omaha.
