Source: European/American Issues Forum, CW Kuhn, Secretary--CW Johns, Treasurer--FP Williams, Sgt. at Arms
Louis Calabro, President --David Winzer, Vice President

'Hate Hurts- How Children Learn and Unlearn Prejudice- A Guide for Adults and Children'

By The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith,
September 2000-Publisher-Scholastic Inc. New York.

Book Review, by Louis Calabro

September 27, 2000

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently joined forces with Barnes and Noble to launch a campaign called 'Close the Book on Hate'. Their recently published book 'Hate Hurts...' being reviewed herein, is considered a first step in that direction.

Unfortunately the book is a continuation of what appears to be their policy of stigmatizing and stereotyping European Americans as the primary purveyors of racial animus and the primary perpetrators of hate crimes. In fact, the ADL and Barnes and Noble, acting as the teachers of minimizing bigotry, racism and stereotyping are eagerly practicing and promoting those exact undesirable traits. For example, the first page of the book starts out:

"Dear Readers, Mention Laramie, Wyoming, Jasper, Texas, or Littleton, Colorado, and our collective conscience is assaulted by the brutal hate crimes committed in those places. We store in our mind's eye the image of five year old children clutching one another's hands as they run from a Jewish Community day care center under attack by an anti-semite."

What that opening paragraph tells the readers of this book is that all of the perpetrators of bigotry, racism and stereotyping are European Americans and our collective conscience is assaulted by the brutal hate crimes committed [by European Americans}....

Yes, the book begins by teaching that all of the "bad" people in those three cases are European Americans and follows that pattern throughout the book. That isn't reality.

That pattern is consistent throughout the book. A review of Chapter 13, titled "Crimes of Hate: Physical and Emotional Violence", solidifies by using concrete examples the notion of emphasizing European American involvement in racial animus cases and as the perpetrators of hate crimes. All other racial/ethnic groups are their victims. The Chapter has victims like "spic", black, Jewish, Asian and gay victims, but no European American victims. The Chapter also mentions Nazi Germany and KKK members burning black churches, but no other racial/ethnic groups or members are cited as concrete examples of being the purveyors of racial animus or the perpetrators of hate crimes.

The ADL and Barnes and Noble could easily have included the Racine, Wisconsin and Jacksonville, FL. as concrete examples of hate crime cases where European Americans were victims of significant and brutal racially motivated hate crimes.

The significance of the Racine, Wisconsin case is that it was used by the U.S. Supreme Court in Wisconsin vs. Mitchell, (1993) to confirm the constitutionality of hate crime penalty enhancement statutes.

In Wisconsin vs. Mitchell a group of non-European American men and boys discussed the picture Mississippi Burning which had a scene where a white man beat a young black boy who was praying. They wanted to move on some white people and while they were out walking they passed a white boy and Mitchell said, "You all want to fuck somebody up" There goes a white boy, go get him." They did get him and they beat the boy so severely he remained in a coma for four days.

Similarly, and in an almost exact mirrored case, in August 1999, and after seeing a picture called A Time to Kill, 5-6 non-European American young men decided to beat up the first white man that came along. The picture was about two white men who raped a young African American girl and her father sought revenge by shooting both of them. Unfortunately, European American mentally retarded 50 year old Gregory Griffith was the first "white" man to come along and they proceeded to brutally beat and stomp him to death. Two have been convicted. Others await trial.

The ADL knows, and Barnes and Noble should know that the 1998 FBI Hate Crime Statistical report reflects that there were nine (9) racially motivated murders in 1998 and five (5) of the nine victims were European Americans. But, it appears these facts are of no importance to the ADL and Barnes and Noble.

The ADL knows that the San Francisco Police Department Hate Crime Statistical reports 1995-1999, document that European Americans were victims of racially motivated multiple assailant street attacks more often than any other racial/ethnic group.

Knowing that they are cognizant of the above censored facts that are not presented in their book is deeply troubling and frightening to European Americans. It is incomprehensible that the ADL would write a book that will be read by parents, teachers, administrators, students and some citizens that fails to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That is an unacceptable form of bigotry.

This book 'Hate-Hurts-How Children Learn and Unlearn Prejudice' debases, denigrates, dehumanizes and discriminates against European American students and the at-large European American community and is not appropriate as material that can be used for instructional material in San Mateo county. We respectfully request that the San Mateo County Board of Education declare this book as inappropriate for use in our county and remove it from the county Resource Center.

Sincerely,

Louis Calabro, President.
European/American Issues Forum