SWC's Eastern Director Michael Cohen testified today before the New York City Council's Committee on Finance on the importance of theCenter's Digital Terrorism and Hate workshops in their first- ever virtual budget hearings.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center shared with the Council our serious concerns regarding the dramatic spike – since the pandemic – ofonline hate speech, particularly targeting the Jewish and Asian communities and the actions that SWC are actively taking to combat these dangers.
For three years the Simon Wiesenthal Center has been conducting workshops in high schools and junior high schools around the countryhelping our youth develop the skills necessary to recognize and properly deal with hate material that they are bombarded with.
With felony-level hate crimes rising to generational highs in NYC even prior to the pandemic, SWC is committed to expanding theseprograms in the New York City school system and work together with our partners in NYC government to most effectively combat hate from impacting our children.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center would like to thank NYC Council Finance Chair Daniel Dromm for convening this hearing and providing SWCthe opportunity to present its concerns about the growth of hate speech during these unprecedented times of tragedy and crisis, and to NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson for watching our testimonyand continuing to stand up against hate in New York City.
For more information, please contact the Center's CommunicationsDepartment at pressinquiries@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitterfeed.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rightsorganizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and theLatin American Parliament (Parlatino).