Twenty-one years after white supremacists threw a brick through her son’s window displaying a Hanukkah menorah, Tammie Schnitzer is sharing her story that helped start an anti-hate movement at the Greenbriar Ballroom in Monroe Township, NJ this Sunday Sept. 21.
hate crimes. Source [1]. Below: Schnitzer with her son in 1993, from our
film, Not In Our Town [2].
Schnitzer and her family were featured in the original 1995 documentary Not In Our Town [2], a film that continues to spur communities into action. More than 300 are expected at the screening and Schnitzer’s speech, hosted by Hadassah Associates, Rep. Rush Holt, State Sen. Linda Greenstein, Mayor Richard Pucci, and Town Council President Gerry Tamburro.
Schnitzer grew up in Billings, MT as a Lutheran, yet converted to Judaism in her 20s. She never thought she and her family would be the victims of an anti-Semitic hate crime.
“Instead of shrinking into a corner, I decided to fight back,” she told the New Jersey Jewish News [3].
In 1995, the community came forward to support the Schnitzers and other Jewish, African-American and American Indian families that had been targeted in Billings. After the brick landed in Schnitzer’s son’s room, 10,000 residents displayed menorahs in their windows in solidarity. Their rally cry, “Not In Our Town,” sparked hundreds of similar anti-hate campaigns nationwide and abroad.
To purchase a ticket, send a check payable to “Hadassah” to Larry Gelb, 328A Quinton Drive, Monroe Twp., NJ 08831.