Remembering origins of 'No Place for Hate'

By Alan Burke
Staff writer

July 02, 2009 05:00 am

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MARBLEHEAD — Helaine Hazlett of the town's Task Force Against Discrimination appeared before the selectmen last week to present the winning logo for the "No Place for Hate" campaign, a poster created by high school sophomore Michael Harper.

At the same time she praised Marblehead for support that began 20 years ago after incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism at the Jewish Community Center and Temple Sinai.

In response, Hazlett said, people like former selectman Joe Whipple and former Marblehead High teacher Harvey Michaels began holding meetings. The selectmen formed the task force that is still active today.

"We just want to thank the community for what they have done," said Hazlett. "We haven't been that proactive because we haven't needed to be."

And when she seemed to pause while explaining how important all this is, Selectman Bill Woodfin offered, "Proud of it."

"I felt that the entire town was proud of it," said Selectman Harry Christensen in an interview. A member of Temple Emmanuel at the time, he remembers the "incident vividly and recalls that it wasn't the fact of vandalism as much as the raw hatred reflected in the graffiti, especially sentiments that endorsed the Holocaust. "It was the tenor of it."

Nevertheless, the incident had ramifications that defied the hatred behind it.

"My perception of Marblehead was that it was a stratified community," Michaels told the board. But the incident galvanized people in the town and beyond. A march was held and a service, drawing large numbers of Marbleheaders. Officials from then District Attorney Kevin Burke to Cardinal Bernard Law became involved, visiting the town.

"The day of that march," Michaels added, "changed my whole perception." People from all sorts of ethnic and religious backgrounds participated."

"Thousands of people lined the street," Hazlett said. Some came in buses. "They had read about it."

Harper's poster calls for tolerance for all sorts of people, with crosses, stars and crescents signifying the three major religions, for example. Ethnic groups and sexual orientation are also encompassed by his design. The work was done, he explained, as a project in his graphic design class at Marblehead High School.

It will be hung at Abbot Hall.

The Task Force, meanwhile, plans a series of community events from Aug. 1 to 3.