Warriors Spotlight NIOT On Historic Night

Not On Our Ground campaign takes center stage

On a night that saw the NBA's Golden State Warriors break the all-time record for wins in a single season, the team decided to put their campaign with Not In Our Town and Adobe, to stop hate and bullying, front and center.

Every single fan at the sold out game - the last of the regular season, which was watched nationally by millions - received a Not On Our Ground t-shirt. NIOT was also invited to appear on court with Adobe, and the Warriors' Shaun Livingston, to honor Kristian Turner - a Skyline High spoken word artist who won the Not On Our Ground "Picture the Pledge" contest earlier this year.

Read more about the amazing night

Patchogue, Wounds of Hate Reopened


Joselo Lucero with his mother and sister after the trial of Marcelo Lucero's killer. (Photo credit: Craig Ruttle AP)

Our hearts go out to the Lucero family and the people of Patchogue, who have worked for years to repair the damage caused by the traumatic hate crime killing of Marcelo Lucero in 2008. This month, the people of this Long Island village learned that Presidential Candidate Donald Trump would hold a fundraiser just steps away from where Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant, was killed in a hate crime attack by a group of local high school students. Marcelo Lucero's brutal death in 2008 gained vast media attention and awakened the region to the dangers of anti-immigrant hate speech and prejudice.

Patchogue finds itself as the centerpoint once again for the deep emotional and political divisions in the country. The editorial board of the New York Times said Trump's fundraising appearance in Patchogue is a "disgraceful provocation" in a community that "sorely needs compassion." The Wall Street Journal fired back with an attack on a Patchogue Minister, and a reminder about the free speech rights of the organizers of Trump's event.

Read the rest of the story at NIOT.org

As Anti-Semitism Spikes, A Hopeful Example

How a superintendent, police chief, and rabbi united a city


A Bedford High School student participates in a community-building event (Photo via Boston Globe)

In the wake of recent hate speech targeting the Jewish community at Princeton University, a high school in Newton, and in too many other places across the country, we look to Bedford, MA, where a community once powerfully responded to a series of anti-semitic incidents at their own schools.

Not In Our Town's Patrice O'Neill sat down with Bedford School Superintendent Jon Sills, Bedford Police Chief Robert Bongiorno, and Rabbi Susan Abramson of Temple Shalom Emeth, to talk about their collaborative, inspiring response in March of 2014.

Learn more about how Bedford took action

New Short Film Celebrates Family Diversity

A new short film, made in collaboration by Not In Our School and Our Family Coalition, Our Family offers students a chance to see and talk about the many different family configurations we have in our communities today.

Learn more and watch the film here.