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No Place For progress

No Place For progress

BRET SILVERBERG, Needham Hometown Weekly Staff

13.SEP.07

The tension built up once again last week at the second impromptu
meeting of the Human Rights Committee with regard to a local
affiliation with the Anti Defamation League based on their refusal to
recognize the Armenian massacres of 1915-1918 as genocide.

Many who attended the meeting, a mix of concerned Needham residents
and interested parties from towns surrounding Needham, rose in support
of backing away from the town’s connection with the ADL, most notably,
their No Place For Hate educational program.

A local representative for the ADL, Needham resident Michael Sheetz,
was present at the meeting to dispel concerns that the public had and
to relay the regional ADL board’s position on the Armenian atrocities.

"The regional board took a stand against the national position," said
Sheetz. "And now we find ourselves under assault for all of the good
things the ADL has been doing."

Sheetz said that the ADL’s national board meets in November where
policy change will be discussed and decided upon.

The controversy that made international news began on Aug. 14 in
Watertown, home of the third largest Armenian population in the United
States, when the town council decided to back out of the ADL’s No
Place For Hate program, based on the ADL’s position with regard to the
Armenian massacres perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire.

Leading the public comment portion of the meeting was Newton resident
Jack Nusan Porter, treasurer of the International Association of
Genocide Scholars, who spoke in favor of cutting ties with both the
regional and national boards of the ADL.

"My question is if the national does not separate, will you break
off?" he asked, directing his question towards Sheetz as a member of
the regional ADL board. "The regional and national is of one hand and
one heart."

Many advocates for the removal of ADL presence in Needham spoke highly
of the No Place For Hate program, a student-run program that
emphasizes racial tolerance.

"It is commendable what the ADL has done in the past," said Belmont
resident Jorair Hovsepian. "They should have known what was going on
in the Ottoman Empire.

"This is not politics, this is human rights."

Outspoken Watertown Councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney attended the
meeting to represent the viewpoint that started all of the controversy
almost four weeks ago.

"[The ADL is] depriving the Armenian people of their history," she
said. This is "No place for denial. That’s what this is about."

Devaney also announced a public meeting to take place at Watertown
Middle School on Sept. 26 at 7:30p.m. in which a discussion of how to
move forward as a community will take place.

Only one member of the Needham community, Jay Perlman, rabbi of Temple
Beth Shalom in Needham, asked the board and public to allow the ADL
time to make a decision before Needham takes any action.

"Our community is very much saddened by what has happened," he said
with regard to the recent ADL backlash. "Everyone wants to do the
right thing here."

Perlman offered the solution of a 90-day waiting period to allow the
national board of the ADL to meet and discuss how they will proceed.

Several raised the point that programs akin to No Place Could Hate
could continue without ADL presence.

At the beginning of the meeting, Human Rights Committee Chair Debbie
Walters announced that the community does not receive money from the
ADL for such programs but instead pays a fee for the right to be
considered a "No Place For Hate" community.

Excerpts from a letter, drafted by Walters, expressing disappointment
with the ADL and their standpoint, was read aloud. Walters suggested
the letter be sent to the national ADL board.

Human Rights Committee board members ranged with regard to their
opinions on how to proceed.

"I would have a really difficult time continuing our relationship with
the ADL at this point," said committee member Mark Smith.

Committee member John Buehrens, reverend of First Parish Unitarian
Universalist Church of Needham, took a more conservative approach.

"I support the letter," he said. He mentioned, however, that he is not
typically an advocate of severing ties, and possibly burning bridges,
with international organizations such as the ADL.

Walters remained diplomatic while siding with the feeling of the
public in attendance, as the board unanimously moved to submit the
letter.

"I do believe the national ADL board could make this go away quickly
by changing their policy," she said.

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