Needham takes stand against Anti Defamation League positions

GateHouse News Service
New! Wed Sep 12, 2007, 03:37 PM EDT

Needham –

The following letter has been sent to the Anti Defamation League by
the Needham Human Rights Committee.

To the New England regional and national boards of the ADL:

We are the Human Rights Committee of Needham, Massachusetts, appointed
by the Board of Selectmen. For many years we have worked closely with
the ADL in Boston and that office has provided us with expert advice,
powerful educational programming and has stood with us as allies in
the face of oppression and hate. When our community was repeatedly
leafleted by hate organizations, the ADL stood with us, helping our
committee and our town strategize on how best to respond to these
hateful incidents. When we looked for an educational program to bring
into our high school to help our students face their own prejudices
and biases, we chose the "World of Difference." We have since expanded
the program to our middle school, and we have the only middle school
in Massachusetts in which the program is provided as part of the
curriculum. Those programs have been transformational for our
students.

When we implemented activities to educate ourselves and our residents
about cultures and experiences that are different from ours, our town
was certified by the ADL as being "No Place for Hate." That is a
distinction of which we are very proud. Our "No Place for Hate"
program has expanded to our high school, where last March our students
created and produced thematic programming throughout the entire month.
Andy Tarsy, Regional Director of the New England ADL, was the kickoff
speaker.

We now find ourselves in a difficult position because we also believe
that the massacre of Armenians in 1915 was a genocide and we support
the resolution before Congress that would officially recognize the
Armenian genocide as such. We, like you in your mission statement,
believe it is our responsibility "to secure justice and fair treatment
for all." We are surprised and disappointed therefore that the
national board of the ADL has not stood with the Armenians as they
seek justice and fair treatment.

In the past few weeks, the ADL has asked us to detach the "No Place
for Hate" program from the controversy surrounding its positions
regarding the Armenian genocide. We are unable to do so. We cannot
proudly cite our town as "No Place for Hate" when the sponsoring
organization is not doing all in its power to work against hate and
oppression. The national board’s unwillingness to fully support
recognition of the Armenian genocide is in our view undermining the
excellent work of our regional ADL board and our community efforts to
be "No Place for Hate."

We strongly support the positions of the New England regional ADL
board and therefore call on the national board of the ADL to:

-acknowledge the Armenian genocide as a genocide, not ‘tantamount to genocide’;

-support the resolution before Congress which officially recognizes
the Armenian genocide;
-make these policy changes promptly.

In our opinion, the longer the national board waits, the more
credibility the organization loses, and the more difficult it is for
us as a committee for human rights to carry on our work in partnership
with the ADL. We would greatly appreciate your timely and thoughtful
attention to this matter as we determine what recommendation we will
make to the Needham Board of Selectmen regarding our continuation with
the "No Place for Hate" program. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

The Needham Human Rights Committee

Source: 185