More than a dozen diverse local advocacy groups are joining together for the Long Island Community of Conscience, a virtual event that will launch next week to advocate for change to combat hate.
The LI chapter of the Manhattan-based American Jewish Committee is organizing the initiative in partnership with groups from a broad spectrum of faith and ethnic groups to counter the rising number of hate crimes across America.
“The AJC Long Island Community of Conscience will seek to pass bills to monitor, prevent, and combat hate on Long Island and throughout New York State within the first legislative session in Albany,” he group said in a statement. “It will also create a forum for leaders of Long Island’s diverse communities to educate one another on how discrimination towards their communities is manifested and how to combat discrimination and hate.”
The number of hate crimes on Long Island decreased in 2018, cases were up in 7 percent in New York City, and the number of hate crimes reported nationwide was flat from 2017, according to data from the most recent year for which FBI statistics was available.
Groups partnering in the initiative are the Chinese American Association of North Hempstead, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Lynbrook Stake, ERASE Racism, Guru Nanak Darbar Hicksville, the Herricks Chinese Association, the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, Housing Works, Inc., India Association of Long Island, Inc., the Islamic Center of Long Island, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Long Island, the Korean American Association of Greater New York (KAAGNY), the LGBT Network, the Long Island Board of Rabbis, the Long Island Center for Independent Living, the Long Island NAACP, and the Suffolk Independent Living Organization.
“Join us, in the spirit of civility, as we reject anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, incendiary partisanship whatever its sources, dehumanizing and demonizing rhetoric, and threats of violence,” AJC said in the initiative’s mission statement.
The Long Island Community of Conscience will launch at 9 a.m. on Nov. 10. To register visit ajc.org/longisland/community
