Addressing the topic of hate crimes, Berkeley Hillel Rabbi Rona Shapiro commented succinctly.
“I don’t have any great answers,” she said during a panel discussion after the premiere of the documentary “From the Ground Up” at U.C. Berkeley earlier this month.
“You know how sometimes a subject seems to rear its head in a big way?” she said. “That’s how the subject of hate crimes strikes me.”
One response to hate crime is chronicled in the documentary, written and directed by Yoav Potash. It follows the experiences of a multicultural group of 23 U.C. Berkeley students who traveled to Alabama to help rebuild two African-American churches burned down during the summer of 1996. The film received funding from the Jewish Community Federation’s Jewish Community Endowment Fund and was sponsored in part by Berkeley Hillel.
But hate crimes closer to home also call for a response. Shapiro pointed to a number of incidents on the U.C. Berkeley campus in recent weeks, including swastikas painted on the walls of the elevator at the Norton residence hall as well as death threats. “Students at Berkeley Hillel are eager to do something,” she said. “It’s hard to figure out what to do that will not do more harm than good. I think it means taking it to a personal level.”
Claytie Davis III, a psychologist at the U.C. Berkeley Counseling Center, who introduced the panel, agreed. “We try to get people to make micro-level changes that will have macro-level effects.”
Shapiro added: “Newspapers like hate. But I think about the hundreds of times that people reach out to me whenever the Jewish community is threatened.”
The discussion was intended to focus on how college students can deal with hate crimes on campus. However, most of the discussion focused on the documentary itself. The audience, numbering fewer than 50, was largely white, with many of the filmmaker’s friends and family in attendance.
Campus hate crimes, however, are a concern at U.C. Berkeley. Late last month, campus officials held a community forum on the topic at the Norton dormitory after swastikas appeared in the elevator.
Hundreds of e-mails and fliers went out to students, but only about 30 attended, according to Davis.
“I’m a little disappointed there hasn’t been greater attendance at these forums on hate crimes,” he said. “But at least there was greater diversity at the Norton meeting.”
The Saturday night after the swastikas appeared in Norton was Simchat Torah. Berkeley Hillel members, according to their tradition, danced down Telegraph Avenue carrying the Torah. On impulse, they decided to stop in at the dorm, which was on their route.
“One hundred Jewish students came marching and singing into Norton,” marveled Shapiro.
“The victim of the hate crime, who had not previously been closely affiliated with the campus Jewish community, stood in the middle of a table, dancing with the Torah in his arms.”
She grinned broadly. “Now that’s taking back the Torah.”
Turning to the topic of the film, Potash said, “The students who went to Greensboro [Ala.] had a variety of reasons for volunteering.” The church-building effort began as a Jewish-black collaboration at the Berkeley Hillel Foundation, later expanding into a broader effort.
“Some felt a strong feeling of wanting to defend social justice. The Jewish volunteers saw a strong historical parallel with the burning of churches and the burning of synagogues.”
As a result of filming “From the Ground Up,” Potash has published a Community Action Guide, which helps youth form their own service projects.
The Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay is currently constructing and hosting a companion Web site where college students, faculty and community members can work toward spearheading new social justice projects. The Web site address is www.jfed.org/groundup
Marlon McWilson, one of the students who went on the trip and appeared in the film, said: “The thing about the trip was, it didn’t matter what religion the church was. If someone burns down a place of worship, it’s like an earthquake or other natural disaster. It wasn’t about religion. It was about the atrocity.”