Articles

Ethiopian Jewish Students from Israel to Visit Atlanta

Based on News Release from the Anti-Defamation League, Sep. 6, 2002
Faith And The City E-Letter
Volume 1 Issue 6
September 6, 2002

Four Ethiopian Israeli students who escaped oppression in Ethiopia and have begun new lives in Israel will travel to Atlanta to interact with local teens during September and October, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The students defy common stereotypes in that they are black and Jewish. Their compelling stories of finding a home in Israel, the land of "the dream," is a mirror and reminder of the thousands of stories of immigration, identity, and overcoming discrimination. Two members of the visiting group were young children when they made the 400-mile trek to freedom. Two of the teens are members of the first born in Israel.

The students' two-week visit, part of the ADL's Children of the Dream initiative, will include programs at local high schools, meetings with local community members, holiday celebrations, and a special civil rights study day at the Carter Center and Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Site.

"The goal for Children of the Dream is to cross religious, ethnic, and racial boundaries that create artificial divides based on misperceptions," said ADL Regional Director Deborah M. Lauter. "We want to enable teenagers of diverse backgrounds to see beneath the color of someone elseÕs skin to view the individual hopes, fears, and dreams that cross cultures."

In 1999, President Clinton listed Children of the Dream as one of America's best practices in promoting racial harmony.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, works through a network of regional offices to combat prejudice, bigotry, Anti-Semitism, and discrimination, and promotes harmonious relations between diverse religious and ethnic groups.

For more information about this and other ADL programs, contact the organization at 404-262-3470.