Brooklyn Tolerance BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
Borough President Eric Adams is partnering with the Anti-Defamation League and the Department of Education to educate students
about the dangers of committing hate crimes. Borough President’s Offi ce/Erica Krodman
Anti-Defamation League expands
tolerance programs to 40 new schools
The Anti-Defamation League is
ramping up its efforts to promote
tolerance in Brooklyn with its “No
Place for Hate” program, an educationbased
effort that is currently in place
at 22 schools throughout the borough
— and will soon expand to 40 schools
during the current school year, according
to the League’s CEO.
“It is so important to focus on children
so we can inoculate them from intolerance,”
said Jonathan Greenblatt.
“So we can immunize them from antisemitism.”
ONE BROOKLYN | W 8 INTER 2019–2020
The program comes as anti-Semitic
hate crimes continue to rise across the
city — with over 300 hate crimes reported
citywide through September.
Many of the crimes are perpetrated
by young people — including an egging
incident in Kensington, which local
leaders said made early education
all the more important.
“Young people do not come from
their mother’s womb hating Jews, hating
gays, hating Blacks, hating Muslims,”
said Brooklyn Borough President
Eric Adams, whose offi ce is providing
funding towards the initiative. “They
are learning it somewhere.”
District Attorney Eric Gonzalez,
whose offi ce has a dedicated hate crime
bureau, echoed the need for early education.
“It’s astounding. It’s heartbreaking
that our young people are fi lled with
this rage,” he said.
And while law enforcement plays
a signifi cant role in stoping these
crimes, according to Greenblatt, combating
their root causes is both more
important and more effective.
“We can’t just arrest our way out
of a problem,” he said. “We have to
change hearts and minds.”
No Place for Hate, which has been
a nationwide program since 1999, aims
to combat hate through inclusion, bias
training and anti-bullying training.
The program currently reaches over
8,000 Kings County students. The expansion
will have an emphasis on
schools in Crown Heights, Borough
Park and Williamsburg, large Jewish
communities where hate crimes have
spiked recently.
/BROOKLYN-USA.ORG