Tolerance.org: Teaching Tolerance

• Join forces with other groups. Find out about human rights and diversity organizations already working in the area and link your efforts. Many regions have created networks of human rights coalitions. They share information on hate groups and can mobilize a large anti-hate team when needed. Here are a few examples:

• The Pennsylvania Network of Unity Coalitions connects many groups that are fighting the Ku Klux Klan and other White supremacists throughout the state. As hate groups test the waters of new communities with speeches and rallies, local officials and educators can call on the coalition's members for practical advice. Each new Klan rally tends to prompt a new local unity coalition, adding to the tolerance web.
• The Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment links grassroots groups in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. "No individual stands alone," says director Bill Wassmuth, who believes local coalitions are the best single weapon against hate crimes. "You can create an atmosphere in which a bigot cannot thrive."
• West Virginia has a "Not in Our Town, Not in Our State" coalition, headed by an assistant attorney general.
• The California Association of Official Human Relations Agencies, based in San Francisco, is covering the state with hate violence response networks.
• The League of Minnesota Human Rights Commissions publishes guidelines for responding to hate crimes, including a link to a "response network."

• Renew contacts annually. At the beginning of each academic year, phone or send a letter to community resource groups to reestablish ties. Keep a current list of contacts in the school office with crisis plans.

"Announcing school closings in Spanish is an idea that came directly from the diversity training [for educators, business people and religious leaders] I attended. The issue was brought up that parents who speak only Spanish had no way of knowing if the schools would be closed or would operate on a different schedule because of snow. So we recorded our [announcements], such as closings or two-hour delays, in Spanish.

"Some advertisers were very vocal about the fact they didn't like that, and I got a lot of flack from people calling in and asking when I was going to do it in German or Polish. I would do it in German and Polish if we had a significant population who spoke only those languages. The point is that it's in the interest of every member of the community that every child is in school. Some kids were missing school because of communication problems. It's a problem we could solve, and we did."
Bill Dixon, general manager, WAWC-FM radio station, Syracuse, Ind.