Hours Against Hate launched at JCRC fete

   Can committing one hour toward fighting hate help the collective cause of making Milwaukee and the world a better place?

   “I happen to be an optimist” about “the power that each one of us [has to] make a difference,” said Farah Pandith, U.S. State Department Special Representative to Muslim Communities.

   She spoke during a moderated conversation at the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council’s 75th anniversary celebration June 18 at The Pfister Hotel.

   An audience of around 150 gathered to celebrate the anniversary and to support the launch of HoursAgainstHate.org. They also heard guests and speakers who shared personal stories as victims of hate or witnesses of hate-filled actions.

   “Hate is hate no matter who the victim is,” said Hannah Rosenthal, MJF president and chief executive officer. “There is not a hierarchy of hate.”

   Rosenthal in her former role at the U.S. State Department as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism co-founded with Pandith the original Hours Against Hate initiative, which took the form of a Facebook page in 2012. (See June 2013 Chronicle.)

   The project organically grew as people all over the world saw what their peers were doing, Rosenthal and Pandith said.

   The Milwaukee JCRC has become the first to launch Hours Against Hate in the United States by developing an intuitive website, printed literature and aggressive marketing.

   The message of HoursAgainstHate.org is stated in its brochures and on the website: “Pledge an hour to do something for someone who doesn’t look like you, pray like you, love like you or live like you.”

   Rosenthal pointed out that if she asked everyone in the room to commit several days or a month, it would be too overwhelming.

   “One person at a time, one hour at a time,” said Rosenthal. “It is doable and hard to say no to.”

   Elana Kahn-Oren, director of the JCRC, explained why an organization such as the JCRC would be the one to bring Hours Against Hate to the next level during a time of budget constraints.

   “It is embedded deeply into who we are,” she said. “We are compelled to sound the alarm for freedom and responsibility” to help make the world more holy and just; and that unkindness, hate and fear affects everyone.

   James Causey, an author, editorial writer and columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, moderated the conversation about Hours Against Hate.

   He shared his story (which can be found under the news tab at HoursAgainstHate.org) about stepping out of his comfort zone when he pledged and volunteered at the Milwaukee Center for Independence.

   “I walked away from that experience a better man,” Causey said.

   Causey also shared a story from his youth. “You never forget the first time you experience hate,” he said.

   He suggested that everyone should think of the first time they experienced hate on any level and to use that memory as a spark to pledge time to Hours Against Hate.

   The speakers conceded that both hate and hateful people have been around for a long time, and that their spawned evil will likely continue, but that is not an acceptable reason to give up the effort to change this.

   “We aren’t required to finish the task, but we are not free to desist from it,” said Rosenthal, referring to a passage in Pirke Avot (Sayings of the Sages 2:21).

   Causey asked Pandith and Rosenthal if “we have the leadership and political will in this hyper-segregated city (Milwaukee)” to make a difference in the fight against hate.

   “Having political will is critical and we are responsible for creating that political will,” said Rosenthal. She mentioned leaders within communities in other countries who took on the Facebook campaign.

   Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett issued an official proclamation making June 18, 2013, “Hours Against Hate Day.” Barrett, some Milwaukee alderpeople, Police Chief Ed Flynn and Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffid have signed on as official partners with HoursAgainstHate.org.

   Other community leaders partnering with the campaign include civic groups and faith-based organizations such as Disability Rights of Wisconsin and Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope.

   Milwaukee County Board Chair Marina Dimitrijevic attended the event. She said in an interview afterward that she envisions the county’s cultural assets helping to spread the word about Hours Against Hate, along with being able to bring people together from the county’s 19 municipalities.

   She added that she plans to pledge an hour, along with helping spread the message within her network.

   Ellis Bromberg, the newly elected chair of the JCRC, said in a later interview that he will speak about HoursAgainstHate.org “enthusiastically and publicly in my role as JCRC chair.”

   “I can also see opportunities to spread the word in my ‘day job’ as general manager of Milwaukee Public Television, where we often produce, acquire and schedule programming that enables our viewers to see and hear about other cultures, other points of view and messages of hope in our community, our country and around the world,” Ellis said.

   The event included brief remarks from Pardeep Kaleka and Arno Michaelis of Serve 2 Unite, whose group was formed in the wake of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin shooting on Aug. 5, 2012.

   They are working to link interfaith youth from diverse belief systems and have partnered with Hours Against Hate.

   Kaleka’s father was one of six people shot and killed during the hate-fueled shooting at the Sikh Temple. He said that rather than having post-traumatic stress disorder, he has emerged from this tragedy with “post-traumatic growth” and seeks to unite people for positive changes.

   Michaelis shared that he was a white supremacist for seven years. “Kindness from others is what turned me around,” he said.

   A key component of HoursAgainstHate.org focuses on users printing and filling out a pledge form, submitting a photo with the pledge in hand if the user chooses, and then taking action.

   “We won’t tell you how to spend your hour, and we won’t follow up to make sure you fulfilled your pledge. We simply ask that you take action,” reads the pledge page.

   The JCRC envisions countless pages of the website filled with people holding pledge signs and taking the lead to fight hate. And the photos are hoped to inspire others to do the same.

   The site includes resources for schools and civic groups to become involved, including a 10-page toolkit, 100 suggestions on how to pledge an hour, and a talk-back forum, where participants can share how they spent their hours.

   Bromberg said that for some, involvement may be a public action or statement; for others it may be a more reflective or interpersonal activity.

   As for the future of the initiative, Bromberg said that there are already several activities of the JCRC, such as interfaith work and its response to anti-Semitic activity, which fit well as Hours Against Hate endeavors.

   “But as the JCRC begins our work for the new year, it will be at the top our agenda to identify new ways that we can encourage other organizations and community leaders to join us, and to broaden the initiative to include meaningful new projects and many more local participants,” said Bromberg.

   Jeff Jones is marketing project manager for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.