San Francisco, CA: More than 200 NIOT members, community leaders, elected officials, friends, and supporters gathered at the Bay Area Video Coalition last night to celebrate the public launch of NIOT.org.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed April 6, 2010, as Not In Our Town Day, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent her congratulations from DC. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and District Attorney Victor Hwang spoke about the importance of communities coming together to stand up against hate violence.
A video presentation included a sneak peek at the upcoming Not In Our Town documentary, scheduled for a spring 2011 broadcast on PBS, and video messages from NIOT groups around the world, which you can watch below.
Billings NIOT leader Eran Thompson announced that a new NIOT.org video "Gunn High School Sings Away Hate" had been viewed over 150,000 times in under a week after posting. Students and teachers from Gunn High School in Palo Alto, CA, closed out the program with a rousing rendition of "This Little Light Of Mine," one of the songs they performed to demonstrate love and inclusiveness when Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church picketed at their school.
KTVU cameras also captured the evening's events, and LinkTV aired our newest program, Not In Our Town: Communities Uniting Against Hate. If you missed it last night, catch it Friday, April 16 at 6:00 pm on LinkTV.
Guests visited the computer lab to register as users and learn more about the features of the site, and a line formed at the storybooth as people waited to share their stories of why they are inspired to stand up to hate and intolerance. (Stay tuned at NIOT.org for new videos from the storybooth!)
We were so thrilled to celebrate with such an inspiring and dedicated group of supporters. Keep checking in at NIOT.org over the next few weeks to see new videos and a very exciting announcement!
Comments
Building Connections - ?
I just found your site today, thanks to the blog Slacktivist; I see you're pretty new in terms of the site (though the things you've been doing since the beginning are *wonderful!*) -- I'm wondering if you'll be adding a way for people who live in the same area to get in touch with one another and perhaps start new organizations, or network organizations they're already in? San Francisco is clearly very active, but for those of us in the "hinterlands" (all the way over in the East Bay, near Hayward/Fremont!) it would be useful, I think, to have groups that focus locally. Responding to "minor" acts of hate promptly can help create an environment where it's clear that that sort of behavior isn't acceptable to the community, I think.
I'm so glad to have found this place! Thank you for all you're doing, and have done!
Right on!
Great party, great people, great site!
Congratulations, NIOT-ers!
Tom O'Mara,
Redding, CA
Fantastic
I'm watching the videos on the new site with tears of joy streaming down my cheeks! Congratulations to everyone in the Not In Our Town movement, especially Patrice and Rhian. I'm thrilled and honored to be a part of NIOT, and very happy to see the movement growing and growing! A big hello to all my friends from the National Gathering in Bloomington, and a huge welcome to all the new groups who are now active.
xoxoxo
barbara
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