"...in July of 1998, I woke up one morning to discover that sections of the college town in which I live--Bloomington, Indiana--had been blanketed with vicious anti-Semitic and racist literature. I was shocked, as were many of my friends and neighbors. After a number of such incidents, some of us felt the need to respond in a serious way to this leafletting, which was politically revolting but also threatening to many, especially Jews and people of color, who were singled out in inflammatory ways by the leaflets, which really did represent veiled calls to attack non-whites.

Before long an ad hoc community group called Bloomington United was formed. We ran ads in the local newspaper condemning the expressions of hate. We raised a few thousand dollars to produce cardboard signs that read Bloomington United. No Hate Speech. No Hate Crimes. Not in our Yards. Not in our Town. Not Anywhere. The community outpouring of support was tremendous. Thousands of signs went up all over town. We organized a march, attended by over a thousand people, that proceeded from the campus of Indiana University to the town square, where for over an hour speakers including the mayor, an African American minister representing the United Methodist Church, the woman rabbi of the only synagogue in town, and representatives of the gay community and the labor movement, spoke out in favor of civility and equal respect and against hate..." Go to full story...