Office of Borough President James P. Molinaro
Staten Island, New York
B.P. Molinaro and City Council Speaker Quinn sponsor “Citywide Day Out Against Hate”
Molinaro announces formation of a youth anti-bias committee
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Borough President James P. Molinaro and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn today sponsored a Citywide Day Out Against Hate event at the Michael J. Petrides Educational Complex in Sunnyside.
“It is crucial to involve our young people in this awareness campaign because they are our future,” said Molinaro. “We must teach them that one of the things that makes our country great is that we strive to co-exist in harmony, tolerance, and mutual understanding.”
Earlier this month, Speaker Quinn called for a Citywide Day Out Against Hate, a five-borough campaign against hate crimes, to take place on November 29th in response to a recent rash of incidents in the City. Speaker Quinn asked each borough to hold an event at a school, senior center, or after-school program to raise awareness of the impact of hate crimes in an effort to prevent future incidents.
At the Petrides event, Borough President Molinaro and Speaker Quinn were joined by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, the NYPD’s Community Affairs Bureau, Island clergy, and student representatives from a dozen Island public and parochial high schools, who spoke about their personal experiences with prejudice and staged presentations from their Conflict Resolution programs.
To keep the campaign going beyond one day, the Borough President announced that he is forming a “Youth Anti-Bias Committee” comprised of two students from each school that would meet every three months with Molinaro at Borough Hall to discuss problems in the schools and try to resolve them.
“My hope is that after today’s Citywide Day Out Against Hate, our students will learn to condemn prejudice and support tolerance every day -- in our homes, in our schools, and everywhere in our Borough.”
November 29, 2007