Not In Our Town is a project that uses documentary film, new media, and organizing to stop hate, address bullying, and build safe, inclusive communities. Not In Our Town is the primary program of The Working Group, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit media production company founded in 1988.
The Not In Our Town project began in 1995 with a national PBS special that told the story of how citizens of Billings, Montana joined forces to respond to hate crimes in their town. The program set a new standard for television impact, launching screenings and town hall meetings in hundreds of communities nationwide. The first campaign mobilized faith-based organizations, non-profits, law enforcement agencies, educators, public TV stations, labor representatives and many other stakeholders to organize anti-hate actions in local communities. Locals in Billings were surprised by the attention the town’s actions received. “These are our neighbors,” union organizer Rand Siemers said. “If someone throws a brick into your neighbor’s house, in Montana you run out there and try to stop them. Don’t they do that anywhere else in the country?”[1]
Subsequent projects
The project laid the groundwork for many subsequent films. For the past 20 years, Not In Our Town has documented hundreds of community response and proactive efforts to prevent hate and address intolerance. In addition to film making, Not In Our Town plays a direct role with schools and communities by providing hands-on support, tools, training, and coaching.
The original Not In Our Town website was hosted by PBS. In 2010, Not In Our Town expanded online offerings at NIOT.org, including over 100 short community films, crowd-sourced lessons from local communities, tools and resources, as well as an interactive map. The site is also the digital home of Not In Our School, which has more than 50 streaming school films. Many of the films have guides and lesson plans that are aligned to the Common Core State Standards. NIOT.org also features a portal for law enforcement at NIOT.org/COPS.
PBS and public media stations for key partners for Not In Our Town. Not In Our Town has collaborated with other organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), the National Parent Teacher Association and Facing History and Ourselves. Their work is used overseas in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, South Africa, and Northern Ireland.
PBS Films & Public Television Campaigns
Over the past two decades, Not In Our Town produced five PBS documentaries, held thousands of community screenings nationwide. In an engagement effort sponsored by PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Light In the Darkness involved partnerships with 17 public media stations, nearly 20 national organizations and more than 300 community screenings nationwide. Public media stations created local content and Not In Our School resources around the film, including WDET, WUSF-TV Tampa, KQED San Francisco, WQED Pittsburgh, KCPT Kansas City, Cleveland Ideastream, NPR, Nashville Public Television, and KPBS San Diego of the Fronteras network.
PBS and public television films, in reverse chronological order:
‘’Waking in Oak Creek’’ (2014) follows residents in Oak Creek, Wisconsin after six Sikh worshippers are killed by a white supremacist and the local community finds inspiration in the Sikh tradition of forgiveness and faith. Lt. Brian Murphy, shot 15 times in the attack, joins the mayor and police chief as they forge new bonds with the Sikh community. Young temple members, still grieving, emerge as leaders in the quest to end the violence. In the year following the tragedy, thousands gather for vigils and community events to honor the victims and seek connection. Together, a community rocked by hate is awakened and transformed by the Sikh spirit of relentless optimism.
‘’Not In Our Town: Class Actions’’ (2012, 30 min) profiles students and community members who are creating change in the wake of racism, anti-Semitism, and the traumatic consequences of bullying. University of Mississippi students peacefully confront old divisions and the Ku Klux Klan by turning their backs on hate, hundreds gather on the Indiana University campus to light menorah candles after anti-Semitic attacks on campus, and a massive circle of Southern California high school students break the silence about bullying at school with a loud and united chant, "Not In Our Town."
‘’Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness’’ (2011, 60 min and 27 min versions), follows a community in crisis after the fatal attack of local immigrant resident Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue, New York. Stunned by the violence, diverse community stakeholders openly confront the crime and the divisive atmosphere, and commit to ongoing actions to prevent future hate crimes and intolerance.
‘’Not In Our Town Northern California: When Hate Happens Here’’ (2005, 60 min), a co-production with [KQED], looks at five Northern California communities dealing with deadly hate violence over a five-year period. Together, the stories reveal that whether the motivation is racism, anti-Semitism, or crimes motivated by gender or sexual orientation, hate requires a joint response. Californians find innovative ways to respond to hate and build community.
Not In Our Town II (1996, 60 min) briefly recaps the Billings story and tells six new stories about people working to create hate-free towns, cities, workplaces and schools. A Klan rally is countered with a diversity celebration; citizens work with police to address hate crimes; young people discuss how hate crimes affect their lives; office workers discover that improved communication skills can ease racial tensions and create a more harmonious workplace; people come together to rebuild burnt churches in the South; and a town finds that preventing hate before it starts is the best solution.
‘’Not In Our Town’’ I (1995, 30 min) is the film that launched the movement. Not In Our Town follows the citizens of Billings, Montana as they join together to respond to a series of hate crimes in their town. White supremacist activities had been on the rise. Racist literature was found around town, skinheads disrupted the services of an African-American church, the home of a Native American family was spray painted with swastikas and racist slurs, and a brick was thrown through the window of a Jewish family's home. The film follows a powerful local force—law enforcement, civic leaders, faith groups, citizen activists and local media outlets—that sent a simple and powerful message to white supremacists, "Not In Our Town." after the film was broadcast in 1995, viewers around the country began to apply this model to their own communities.
Minister and musician Fred Small wrote a song of the same name, published in 1994, telling the same story in a different format. Psychotherapist Janice Cohn wrote a book, Christmas Menorahs, and play, Paper Candles, detailing the Billings story.
The Not In Our Town Model & Community Campaigns
Many communities use Not In Our Town campaigns to bring together stakeholders from different aspects of civic life—school, community, law enforcement, media and faith leaders—to address or prevent hate incidents. Bloomington, Illinois was the first Not In Our Town city. Many other cities have passed Not In Our Town proclamations and pledges and sponsored Not In Our Town days or weeks in order to raise the issue of hate and create safe environments for their citizens, including Las Vegas, Nevada, San Francisco, California and San Antonio, Texas. In 2012, Marshalltown, Iowa launched a proactive Not In Our Town Anti-Bullying Campaign.
The model rests on several core assumptions, namely that cross-constituency engagement gives everyone a voice and leads to great inclusion; bystander behavior must be addressed and that any single person can become an "upstander" to support victims; and that positive stories can offer solutions and help shift community norms.
To help equip communities, the project provides specific films, resources and training for these key stakeholders. Not In Our Town serves educators and parents through the Not In Our School program and law enforcement—including police chiefs and prosecuting attorneys—through a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office).
Not In Our School
Not In Our School grew from the lessons of Not In Our Town. An initial campaign was launched by a middle school teacher in Auburn, Maine in 1996. A hallmark of Not In Our School campaigns is that students are supported in defining the problems and identifying solutions. These solutions incorporate peer-to-peer actions to make schools safe and help bystanders gather the courage to become upstanders.
Many innovative Not In Our School ideas were piloted in the Palo Alto Unified School District in Palo Alto, California starting in 2005. Today, Not In Our School supports efforts that not only address bullying, but all forms of intolerance. The program combines film, resources and coaching that help educators develop student-led programs that create safe and inclusive schools.
Like Not In Our School, the original Not In Our Town story sparked a number of college campus campaigns. Scottsdale Community College in Arizona took a Not On Our Campus pledge, UC Santa Barbara created a Not In Our Hall campaign and guide for resident assistants, and Bowling Green State University as well as Skidmore College created Not On Our Campus pledge cards.
The Not In Our Town project has sparked anti-intolerance activity in hundreds of communities in the United States and in other countries including South Africa, Ireland, Czech Republic and Ukraine. Women groups through Project Kesher started 20 Not In Our Town campaigns across the former Soviet Union starting in 2011. Not In Our Town was introduced in three cities in Hungary in Spring 2013, and was presented to six U.S. Embassies in Central Europe by the State Department. In Fall 2013, concerned Hungarian citizens launched [Nalunknem.org Nalunknem.org], modeled after NIOT.org.
Community Responses to Hate Incidents and Crimes
Not In Our Town films document community responses to hate incidents and crimes. Some notable incidents include:
Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh-American gas station owner in Mesa, Arizona, was murdered in a hate crime in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. This was the first of several cases across the United States that were reported to the police as supposed acts of retaliation for the attacks. Balbir Singh Sodhi, who had a beard and wore a turban in accordance with his Sikh faith, was profiled as an Arab Muslim and murdered by 42-year-old Frank Silva Roque, a Boeing aircraft mechanic at a local repair facility who held a criminal record for an attempted robbery in California. Roque had reportedly told friends that he was "going to go out and shoot some towel-heads" the day of the attacks. Roque was sentenced to death for first degree murder.
GLSEN is an American education organization working to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression and to prompt LGBT cultural inclusion and awareness in K-12 schools. Founded in 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts, the organization is now headquartered in New York City and has an office of public policy based in Washington, D.C.
The Council of Conservative Citizens is an American white supremacist organization. Founded in 1985, it advocates white nationalism, and supports some paleoconservative causes. In the organization's statement of principles, it states that they "oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind".
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Sikhism is a religion originating from medieval India which was introduced into the United States during the 19th century. In 2007, there were estimated to be between 250,000 and 500,000 Sikhs living in the United States, with the largest populations living on the East and West Coasts, together with additional populations in Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and Indianapolis. The United States also has a number of non-Punjabi converts to Sikhism.
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The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States. It was founded in late September 1913 by the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, a Jewish service organization, in the wake of the contentious conviction for murder of Leo Frank. ADL subsequently split from B'nai B'rith and continued as an independent US section 501(c)(3) nonprofit. ADL states that its mission is a dual one: "To stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all," via the development of "new programs, policies and skills to expose and combat whatever holds us back." With a focus on combating antisemitism and other forms of hate, and fighting domestic extremism both online and off, ADL describes its "ultimate goal" as "a world in which no group or individual suffers from bias, discrimination or hate." In 2018, ADL rebranded itself as an "anti-hate" organization, and adopted the logo: "Fighting Hate for Good".
Nancy Schwartzman is an American director, producer and media strategist.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United States have a long history, including vibrant subcultures and advocacy battles for social and religious acceptance and legal rights.
National Voices for Equality, Education and Enlightenment (NVEEE) established in October 2009, is a community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent bullying, violence, and suicide among youth, families and communities through direct service, mentoring and prevention education.
On August 5, 2012, a mass shooting took place at the gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, United States where 40-year-old Wade Michael Page fatally shot six people and wounded four others. A seventh victim died of his wounds in 2020. Page committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after he was shot in the hip by a responding police officer.
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Dr. Simran Jeet Singh is an American educator, writer, and activist, who frequently offers comment and analysis on religion, racism, and justice. Singh is a columnist for Religion News Service, host of the "Spirited" podcast, and a visiting professor of religion at Union Theological Seminary. His children's book, Fauja Singh Keeps Going, tells "the true story of the oldest person ever to run a marathon," Fauja Singh, and will be available through Penguin Random House in August 2020.
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