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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 14:26:19 -0800 (PST)
From: The Working Group <wedothework@igc.org>
To: drichard@res.uoguelph.ca
Subject: Independent FIlm on Anti Hate to Air on PBS USA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Brian Smith
(510)547-8484

PBS SPECIAL CELEBRATES COURAGEOUS COMMUNITIES
NOT IN OUR TOWN II: CITIZENS RESPOND TO HATE

As families and communities come together for the holiday season, PBS will
present NOT IN OUR TOWN II, a special program about courageous people
across the nation who joined together to take a stand against hate crimes
in 1996. The one-hour documentary airs on PBS Monday, December 23 at 10:00
PM ET (check local listings.)

This video is a sequel to NOT IN OUR TOWN (1995), the story of the
residents of Billings, Montana, who joined together when their neighbors
were under attack by white supremacists. NOT IN OUR TOWN II tells the
stories of communities and individuals, inspired by the people of Billings,
who fought to stop an upsurge of hate violence in their towns.

NOT IN OUR TOWN II, hosted by Will Durst, includes stories from the
following communities:

* South Carolina -- St. John Baptist Church, originally founded by slaves,
was nearly destroyed by racially motivated vandalism in 1985. Ten years
later, it burned to the ground. As members of this small congregation
gather at the charred ruins and vow to rebuild we meet Ammie Murray, who
leads community efforts in support of the parishioners and New York Fire
Fighter Pete Critsimilios who was so moved by St. John Baptist's plight
that he sent 100 engraved bibles. Also profiled are labor union members who
rebuild churches throughout the South.

* Tennessee -- Reggie White, Defensive Lineman for the Green Bay Packers
and Associate Pastor for the Inner City Church in Knoxville, Tennessee
helps draw national attention to the recent rash of church burnings
throughout the South when his multi-racial congregation is attacked.

* Ohio  --  Across the street from an annual Ku Klux Klan Cross burning on
the state house lawn, State Social Service Department employees decide to
send a different message. Two friends, Lynda Cooksey and Willa Turner,
inspired by the people of Billings, take Not In Our Town to their workplace
and establish the "Not In Our Agency" education campaign for thousands of
employees throughout the state.

* Oregon  --  In Medford, community meetings are held to raise awareness
about the growing threat of hate activities after a lesbian couple was
murdered by a man who admits it was a hate crime. School teachers create
innovative lessons to address the issue.

* Illinois  -- Bloomington hasn't experienced hate crime locally and its
residents want to keep it that way. More than 500 people march to protest
African American church burnings in the South. Nearly a thousand people
sign a pledge against intolerance and many go to Mississippi to rebuild a
church that had been burned. Driving into town visitors and residents are
greeted by an anti-bigotry "Not In Our Town" road sign. The Mayor and
police estab lish a Neighborhood Watch against hate violence. Police
officers wear Not In Our Town buttons to initiate discussion with the
public.

*  Indiana -- In the 1920s Kokomo was a stronghold of the Ku Klux Klan.
When the new KKK plans a recruitment rally Kokomo says Not In Our Town. We
see the mayor, community members and the local newspaper wrestle with First
Amendment issues. The town decides to hold a multicultural "Unity" rally on
the same day. Though few attend the KKK rally, the Unity picnic draws over
2,000 people and becomes an annual event.

* California -- In Novato, grocery clerks chase down a knife wielding
assailant who attacked a man of Asian descent. Local police respond quickly
treating the incident as a racially motivated hate crime which turns out to
be the case when the assailant later tells police he set out "to go kill me
a Chinaman."  The community holds public meetings to discuss the incident
and organize to prevent future hate crimes.


The NOT IN OUR TOWN II broadcast coincides with a campaign of local
screenings, town hall meetings and classroom lessons in communities around
the nation. NOT IN OUR TOWN events are planned from Anchorage, AK to
Pittsburgh, PA. The campaign begins on December 10 in Boise, Idaho and runs
through the Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday holiday, January 15, 1997.

The program is part of PBS' Democracy Project, a special initiative to
stimulate citizen engagement in civic life. The project, launched in fall
1995, combines programming, commu nity outreach, education and World Wide
Web activities by PBS and member stations.

On the Internet, the Not In Our Town project homepage is
www.igc.org/an/NIOT.html

NOT IN OUR TOWN II is produced by The Working Group and presented by KQED,
San Francisco. Produced by Patrice O'Neill and Rhian Miller with Jon Fromer
and Louise Vance. Funding for the film is provided by the PBS Democracy
Project and the Public Welfare Foundation.

###

Photographs, art work and advance review copies of the program
are available to the media upon request: (510) 547-8484.