Interfaith Service Affirms Tolerance and Diversity in Kingston

November 16, 2005

Source: The Daily Freeman

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1769&dept_id=74969&newsid=15583081&PAG=461&rfi=9

On November 16, 2005 The Daily Freeman reported, "An interfaith service tonight, three days before a white supremacist's planned rally in Kingston, is expected to include speeches and sermons about the importance of diversity and tolerance. The Thanksgiving service, beginning at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanuel on Albany Avenue, was scheduled before Hal Turner [an alleged white supremecist] announced his intent to demonstrate on Saturday outside Kingston High School but has taken on added significance because of the rally. 'We have all agreed that we are not responding (to the planned rally), but we are affirming and demonstrating who we are,' said Rabbi Yael Romer, spiritual leader of Temple Emanuel. 'They are not in control of this. We are in control.' Romer said 'people of all faiths, of all walks of life, of all races will come together (tonight) and express and affirm our unity and commitment to understanding the diverse people that we are.' The service is open to the public... [Turner's Saturday] demonstration is being billed by Turner as a 'Rally Against Violence' in the wake of recent assaults near Kingston High School in which white students have been injured and black students have been arrested. Police have said the fights were not racially motivated. Turner, a New Jersey-based internet radio host, has criticized the media for calling him a white supremacist, but his website contains derogatory comments about blacks, carries advertisements from such groups as The Nation of the Aryan Union and urges 'pro-whites' to attend the Kingston rally."