Local Lessons

Categories

When Hate Comes to Your Town

Communities reflect on challenges and successful strategies in responding to groups from the Ku Klux Klan to the Westboro Baptist Church

Supporting Victims of Hate

Survivors and supporters of victims of hate speak out and ways to help victims feel less alone

Prevention & Community Engagement

Citizens shares strategies for hate crime prevention and building safer, more inclusive communities

Law Enforcement in the Fight Against Hate

Leaders offer insight on hate crime and the law, the importance of working together, and new challenges in the fight against hate.

Not In Our School & Youth Organizing

Educators, youth and community members share lessons in teaching tolerance and acceptance

Search Local Lessons
Category

“We felt like we were part of something bigger, sharing what we were doing, and the idea of being leaders was very inspiring.” — Becki Cohn Vargas, Ed.D. Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas is a veteran educator and longtime ally of Not In Our Town. In this piece, penned in 2008, Dr. Cohn-Vargas lays out the lessons from the Palo Alto Unified School District, which embraced Not In Our School activities in 2007. Although Dr. Cohn-Vargas is no longer with the district, she has been...
3 comments
"Who is this group that's coming? And I realized ... it's Fred Phelps and my heart just dropped. I can't believe they're coming. Why us? Out of all the schools, why us?" —Daisy Renazco, Gunn High School teacher02/2011—Above is one of NIOT.org's most popular videos, "Gunn High School Sings Away Hate Group," which has garnered more than 225,000 views on our YouTube channel. Ellen DeGeneres, in a Tweet, said she was "so unbelievably proud of Gunn High School in...
1 comments
Our original Not In Our Town film sparked a movement. Citizens across the United States came together to stop hate in their respective towns. And college students were no exception. Michigan State University, University of South Alabama, Knox College (Illinois), University of Akron (Ohio), University of Utah, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Cornell University, Ithaca College, University of Wisconsin, and John Carroll University (Ohio) were among those who created groups, hosted...
0 comments
By Kristy Blackburn, Daisy Renazco, Todd Summers NIOS Coordinators/Teachers   Hi everyone! We are very excited about the launch of the new Not In Our Schools (NIOS) website. This is going to be a great resource for schools. My colleagues and I are going to be sharing our experiences over the past 8-9 years with NIOS at our school in Palo Alto, Calif. What started out as a small campaign led by our Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) has evolved into something amazing in our community and school...
2 comments
Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations volunteers in the Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho July 4, 2007 parade, carrying small billboards honoring civil rights leaders from throughout history. For many in the anti-hate movement, the lessons that have emerged from Northern Idaho are legendary. People like Father Bill Wassmuth, whose house was bombed by neo-Nazis in Coeur D'Alene, helped influence many community leaders working to address the dangers of hate. The Kootenai County Task Force...
0 comments
Not In Our Town: Princeton has been tackling racism since the group was founded in this New Jersey university town more than a decade ago.   Their visible actions appear on the streets, in  schools, and in their public library. Three key programs include: outreach to downtown merchants ongoing public conversations about racism and privilege Unity Awards for local students   Princeton is a well-heeled town, home to Princeton University, one of the nation’s premier...
0 comments
When residents of Gettysburg, PA, learned that the Aryan Nations was planning a rally at the Gettysburg National Military Park, spewing their hate on the very spot where Abraham Lincoln delivered his most stirring defense of American democracy, they knew they couldn’t ignore it. The town had experience standing up to hate. In 2006 the Ku Klux Klan visited Gettysburg, and a coalition of city leaders, faith groups and civic organizations organized an all-day festival of music,...
4 comments