Racism In A Small Town
...combat racism by organizing activities to counter the desired results of hate group politics.
Boyertown is a small, rural Pennsylvania community in Berks county about 75 miles north of Philadelphia. It is a predominately white community with limited diversity resulting from migrant Hispanic workers harvesting apples in the fall and working the mushroom houses the rest of the year. Due to the small minority population of Boyertown, there were virtually zero cases of racism growing up. This started to change in the eighties as more African Americans started to move to Boyertown mainly because of the small town environment and low taxes.
According to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Berks County consistently ranks in the top five counties in the state for the number of bias and tension incidents reported. Organized hate groups active in Berks County in the last two decades include the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, National Socialist Movement, and National Alliance. (Schlegel, Stahl, 2006)
In the 1990s, the Boyertown area was hit hard by racism, but the community responded with equal force. After a truckload of white youths and adults harassed an African American high school student, a coalition of concerned citizens was formed that ultimately became the Boyertown Area Unity Coalition (BAUC). Established in 1994, BAUC has been striving to fulfill its mission "to create and nurture a caring community climate in which respect for all people, young and old, is cultivated and bigotry is rejected." (Schlegel, Stahl, 2006)
When faced with hooded and robed members of the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan passing out hate literature monthly on the main thoroughfare of Boyertown, BAUC implemented Project Lemonade, encouraging supporters to make a pledge to a human rights group for every minute an organized hate group appeared...
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