Belmont panel urges selectmen to quit ADL program

By Alex I. Oster, Globe Correspondent | September 7, 2007

BELMONT – The Belmont Human Rights Commission voted unanimously
yesterday to recommend that selectmen quit the Anti-Defamation
League-sponsored No Place For Hate program until the civil rights
group recognizes the Armenian genocide as historic fact and supports
federal legislation to have the US government officially acknowledge
the atrocity.

"If you have an organization that states that their purpose is to
defend people, you can’t choose only one," said Janet Boswell, a
commission member.

About 50 people, many of them Armenian-Americans, attended the monthly
meeting of the commission, which changed its agenda at Belmont Town
Hall last night to discuss the town’s membership in the controversial
No Place For Hate program.

The program had come under fire recently by Armenian groups angry that
the League would not acknowledge the massacres of Armenians in Turkey
in the years following 1915 as genocide.

Watertown officials decided to leave the program last month. The town
of Arlington followed, and other communities, including Newton and
Needham, are considering doing so.

After the controversy in Watertown, the Anti-Defamation League stated
that the experience of the Armenians was "tantamount to genocide," but
said no more.

Belmont has been involved with No Place For Hate since 2005.

Our "original reason for joining was because they provide resources
and a network of towns devoted to eliminating discrimination,"
committee member Fran Yuan said.

Belmont was "looking to be proactive" when it joined, said Laurie
Graham, commission chairwoman, "to help educate people and promote
diversity."

The meeting was punctuated with applause for citizens addressing the
commission, but the panel received the loudest applause, and a
standing ovation, when it passed the resolution.

(c) Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

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