‘Together against hate;’ Organizations help educate Jax community about different types of hate

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Recent events sparked out of hate have inspired two organizations to come together and unite the Jacksonville community.

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Thursday night, the Jewish Community Alliance and First Coast YMCA hosted the first series of their “Together Against Hate” event.

Both organizations have been planning this event for almost a year. It came about after Jacksonville has seen some recent antisemitism incidents. But, it ended up being very timely.

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“And the recent murders that were racist are due to racial issues. That terrible tragedy [was an] unfortunate coincidence with the planning of this event, but all the more to prove why this event is necessary,” Adam Chaskin, CEO of the Jewish Community Alliance said.

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A sold out crowd of about 100 people came out to tonight’s kick-off event focused on racism.

“I’m a very old lady. And I remember when this happened, all this happened many, many years ago,” Jacksonville resident Debbi Carter said. “And it’s rising up again. And we really all need to be together.”

Chaskin says the antisemitic incident at the Florida-Georgia game last year sparked the idea to create an educational program for the community.

“We believe strongly that most forms of hate and bigotry are a result of a lack of education, you might have grown up in a certain area never had exposure to a certain religion, a certain race or type of group of people, you’re gonna have natural hesitancy,” Chaskin said.

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Thursday’s series focused on racism. Four panelists joined the conversation to share their stories to help keep history from repeating itself.

Among them was holocaust survivor Morris Bendit, who has experienced hate firsthand.

“I realize I’m not going to be here forever and soon there won’t be any witnesses of what happened to continue talking about it,” Bendit said.

Bendit said when he went to a Clay County school on Holocaust Memorial Day, a parent wrote a letter saying this:

“The so-called holocaust against the jews did not happen.”

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This is why he continues to share his story.

Chaskin said he knows these events won’t solve the problem, but he hopes this is a step in the right direction.

“If there’s even just one person that were able to educate and break down the barriers that were causing them to have feelings of hate, because they didn’t understand another group, then it was successful,” Chaskin said.

In the coming months, there will be events held across the city focusing on other types of hate like antisemitism, hate towards LGBTQ, hate towards people with disabilities and more.

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You can find more details about the events by clicking here.

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