inPort, December 4, 1996

Students urged to combat hatred
By Susan DeRuiter For InPort/PORT COLBORNE

KENNETH MCVAY FROM the B'nai Brith Canada League for Human Rights
had three questions for Port Colborne High School students who
attended his recent presentation:

	* What kind of world do you want to live in?
	* How does the material you are going to see affect you?
	* What do you think should be done about this?

"You guys own the world," said McVay. "You'll be in university, on
city council and in business...you decide... you've got to fix
it."

McVay went on to give several illustrations of individuals who are
spreading lies and hatred on the Internet.

"Denying the holocaust doesn't affect the Jewish community alone,
it causes pain and dissention in the whole community," said McVay.
The human rights representative said denying the holocaust is part
of Hitler cleansing, making him look like a misunderstood patriot
and making fascism respectable. But the fascism murdered millions
of people, he pointed out.

Having all the students stand, McVay illustrated how for one
reason or another they would all have been killed during the
Second World War. Some sat down because they had bad genes that
would have been considered inferior, some had Slavid backgrounds,
some would have helped a Jewish friend and one was Jewish. "You
would all be dead," said McVay.

It has been said that Hitler was able to do what he did because
good people did nothing. McVay says he is attempting to bring good
people to action.

"They (neo-nazi organizations) are going to be looking for you...
you're prime recruiting material," McVay told the students. Giving
example after example of men involved in spreading hate, McVay
asked "What are you going to do about it?"

"Kill him, torture him, ignore him," were some of the replies.
Violence that leads to violence will not better society, said
McVay. Ignore him and in six months swastikas will appear on
buildings and Jewish cemetaries will have their head stones
knocked over. That's what happened in Windsor when George Burdi
moved there McVay reminded the students.

"There is a solution that works," said McVay. "A solution that
will undo his work and make it more difficult - education.
Community education and community involvement are the only things
that work.

"We are a society that lives in denial," said McVay. "We pretend
we don't have these problems or we get the government to pass a
law to make it illegal. When we stop living with denial and start
solving the problem in our community, we make things happen. Don't
propagate a lie."

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