By Emily K. Alhadeff, Assistant Editor, JTNews
You’re all here because you want to say “no” to hate, said Hilary Bernstein, community director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Pacific Northwest regional office. But “what are you going to do about it? What are you willing to do to make our community no place for hate? That is the question of the day.”
The ADL’s annual luncheon, which supports its No Place for Hate anti-bullying educational program, featured John Quiñones of ABC’s “What Would You Do?” and longtime supporter Mark R. Schuster, this year’s 2011 Torch of Liberty Award recipient.
Quiñones, a Mexican-American, described growing up in the barrio of San Antonio, Tex. and traveling with his family as a migrant farm worker. Raised in poverty and with a sense of social injustice, Quiñones went on to earn a Master’s in Journalism from Columbia University because “I wanted to make a difference,” he said.
On his TV show, he sets up public scenarios of racism, classism and xenophobia to challenge passers-by to take a stand. While the program doesn’t always show the philanthropic side of humanity, “We can be conditioned to care, to be generous,” he said.
Schuster described an ADL mission to Israel in 2005, during which his group was granted a rare opportunity to meet privately with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.
“None of us had any pretense that we were going to influence Middle East peace that day,” he said.
But the meeting left him with hope, and it diminished a cynical view of a never-ending conflict.
What we need, he said, is to resurrect three values: civility, compassion, and optimism. “I’m an optimist, and I’m a dreamer,” he said. “We can change the world.”