Posted on 11/16/2001 1:06:40 PM PST by veronica
Washington, D.C. -- October 11, 2001 - Laura Bush read and talked with third and fourth graders from D.C.'s Benjamin Stoddert Elementary School at the Georgetown Barnes & Noble to help kick off the second annual "Close the Book on Hate" campaign. The campaign is co-sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry, and Barnes & Noble, Inc., the nation's largest bookseller. Mrs. Bush read and discussed with the children Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch.
"One month ago, we experienced hatred in its most extreme form," said the First Lady. "Although the attacks were aimed at destroying our nation's spirit, instead, today Americans of all backgrounds are embracing what makes our nation strong - our diversity. The best time to stop hate is before it starts. I hope every adult will take the time to teach our children to understand and respect others who may be different, and to appreciate and celebrate the things we have in common."
ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman and the president of Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Mike Berry, attended the reading and spoke about the importance of the "Close the Book on Hate" campaign.
"Barnes and Noble is here today to launch an important national campaign with the Anti-Defamation League to help put a stop to hate," said Mike Berry, president of Barnes & Noble Bookstores. "What the campaign is about is doing what we're doing here - children and adults reading and talking to each other about ways to make America and our world a better place."
"As primary influences in children's lives, parents, teachers and caregivers have a unique opportunity to teach young children acceptance and understanding of individuals who may be different," said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
The national month-long campaign from October 11th through November 15th, will offer a series of special events at Barnes & Noble stores all across the country. The mission is to educate adults on methods to reduce or prevent the development of prejudiced attitudes in young children through a series of free educational events for children, teens, educators and community leaders. (A full schedule of events is available at Barnes & Noble's corporate site.)
Barnes&Noble.com will also prominently feature the campaign and offer a free online course, "Hate Hurts," at Barnes & Noble University.
On Monday, October 15th, a press conference about the "Close the Book on Hate" campaign was held at the Union Square Barnes & Noble store in New York City. The press conference included children from one of New York's public schools; former Senator Bill Bradley, honorary chairman of the campaign; Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund; Vernon Jordan, former head of the National Urban League; and Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble, Inc.
"As a community institution, Barnes & Noble's aim has always been to enrich the local and national intellectual and literary landscapes," said Leonard Riggio, chairman and chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "In a larger sense, our goal is to foster a greater understanding and tolerance of the diverse world in which we live. Providing materials to teach our children to respect others for who they are and for what they believe is an integral component of our mission."
Former Senator Bill Bradley, a longtime advocate of diversity, is again serving as the honorary chairman for the "Close the Book on Hate" campaign. "Perpetrators of hate crimes and violent acts tend to be young, with the majority of hate crimes committed by people under the age of 20," commented Bradley. "We hope the 'Close the Book on Hate' campaign will serve as a catalyst to encourage parents and caregivers to educate young children and teens about racism through books."
"While our world changed on September 11th, our ability and responsibility to transform the world for good did not," said Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund. "With a renewed sense of urgency we can and must build a world for and with our children in which love triumphs over hate … in which commitment to the common good overcomes extremism … in which tolerance drives out the forces of hate and bigotry … in which justice and peace trump injustice and violence. Together we can build a nation fit for every child - one where no child is left behind or has to live in fear."
Mark Twain, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Geoffrey Chaucer(The Prioress' Tale), Christopher Marlowe, Chas. Dickins, Theodore Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway(The Sun Also Rises), Celine, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, Henry James, Dostoyevsky, Anthony Trollope, Ezra Pound, Wm. Cullen Bryant, H.L. Mencken, Edgar A. Poe(The House of Usher), Degas(At The Stock Exchange), Bach, Chopin, Jos. Campbell, General U.S. Grant, Chas. Lindbergh, ............
Whom FDR barred from participating in WWII.
Guess he thought Lindy was a 'German-Firster.'
I think almost every group that is "for" tolerance, diversity and free speech wants to deny those to anyone who disagrees with their agenda.
Take up the White Man's burden,
And reap his old reward--
The blame of those ye better
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
_____________________
On the contrary, such "education" only serves to highlight differences the educator is attempting to minimize.
HOORAY FOR PETE!!
I was working on a Powerpoint presentation on "Diversity in the Workplace" for one of our Employment lawyers the other day.
"So," I asked, "how do you know your company's properly 'diverse' unless you're judging people strictly by their skin, sex organs, sexual orientation or age?"
I'm still waiting for the answer. You'd think with all they help they get rearing their kids from Mr. Mom and the nanny, these "We Need More Women CEO's!!" type chicks would have the easy questions figured out by now.
"I’ll confess it, at least: like thousands of other typical Jewish kids of my generation, I was reared as a Jewish nationalist, even a quasi-separatist. Every summer for two months for 10 formative years during my childhood and adolescence I attended Jewish summer camp. There, each morning, I saluted a foreign flag, dressed in a uniform reflecting its colors, sang a foreign national anthem, learned a foreign language, learned foreign folk songs and dances, and was taught that Israel was the true homeland. Emigration to Israel was considered the highest virtue, and, like many other Jewish teens of my generation, I spent two summers working in Israel on a collective farm while I contemplated that possibility. More tacitly and subconsciously, I was taught the superiority of my people to the gentiles who had oppressed us. We were taught to view non-Jews as untrustworthy outsiders, people from whom sudden gusts of hatred might be anticipated, people less sensitive, intelligent, and moral than ourselves. We were also taught that the lesson of our dark history is that we could rely on no one."
To read more click Steven Steinlight
What is it with you people? You can't function without me?
Is that your problem? You feel inferior to Jews? And Foxman saying something like that freaks you out? I am sorry to hear that, maybe you need a good shrink.
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