The Arlington Advocate: Commentary: Call genocide what it is
By Arlington No Place for Hate Steering Committee
GateHouse News Service
Wed Aug 22, 2007, 06:48 PM EDT
Arlington, Mass. – Over the past months, Arlington has pursued
certificatio= n as a No Place for Hate community under the auspices of
the New England Regional Chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
and the Massachusetts Municipal Association. This week, the Arlington
No Place for Hate Steering Committee resolved to suspend our
involvement in the program.
We take this measure to protest the refusal of ADL’s national
leadership to acknowledge as genocide the killing of 1.5 million
Armenians between 1915 and 1918 by the Ottoman Empire and to support
the efforts of the New Englan= d Regional Board and Andrew Tarsy,
former director of the New England Region of the ADL.
Arlington chose the No Place for Hate program as a vehicle for
bringing our community together, celebrating diversity, and addressing
issues of hate an= d intolerance as they arise. While we agree with
the program’s goals, we feel that recent statements and actions of the
national leadership have undermined its integrity and ability to be
effective.
We believe that the ADL national leadership’s refusal to acknowledge
what b= y any standard is genocide – and its subsequent firing of
employees who disagree with their position – is both indefensible
and at complete odds with a basic tenet of No Place for Hate:
acknowledging and accepting the history and experience of our
community members, even when this may be uncomfortable or inconvenient
for us. It tarnishes the good work of so many communities, and serves
as a sad repudiation of the ADL’s mission, "to secure justice and fair
treatment to all."
We applaud Andrew Tarsy and the New England Regional Chapter of the
ADL for their courage in standing up to the national organization’s
position. We support them in their efforts to resolve this matter so
that the Armenian genocide is rightfully acknowledged and the
integrity of the No Place for Hate program can be restored.
We would also like to express our support for the members of the
Armenian community, who have been so profoundly hurt by the position
taken by the national ADL leadership on the Armenian genocide.
The Arlington No Place for Hate Steering Committee includes chairman
Cindy Friedman, Theresa Aceto-Black, Bettie Connors, Joseph A. Curro,
Jr., Sean Garballey, Sharon Grossman, Kenneth Hughes, Annie LaCourt,
Mary Megson , Patricia O’Donoghue, Marlene Schultz, and Brian
Sullivan.
Source: 146246