By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
It began seven years ago with racist slurs tweeted about BGSU Black Student Union members, and racist graffiti scrawled onto an African American coach’s driveway.
The Bowling Green community and campus struggled to find a strong unified response. Then the Black Student Union president adopted a simple message, “Not in My Town.”
That was the beginning of a movement, with the Bowling Green community and campus joining forces to create a “Not In Our Town” organization. Other communities across the nation have done the same since 1995 when the first NIOT was born in Billings, Montana, to confront hate crimes in that city.
On Thursday, the Not In Our Town Bowling Green group celebrated its sixth anniversary.
“I know a lot of you have been involved from the very beginning,” Mayor Dick Edwards said. “I can’t underscore enough how grateful I am for all of you who sensed this is something that’s important.”
Since then, the organization has been standing up to hate in this community and elsewhere in the world. The group has held forums on Islamophobia, Black Lives Matter, immigration, people with disabilities and police-community relationships.
Not in Our Town Bowling Green has held rallies to protest policies banning immigrants, and has organized annual peace marches from downtown to the campus. And the group has led vigils for the victims of the Orlando nightclub shootings, the Charleston church shootings, and the Pittsburgh synagogue shootings.
“I’d like to think it’s something that’s become ingrained in our community,” Edwards said. “It’s a determined and important effort to stamp out hate of any kind.”
But the work is not done, the mayor stressed. He alluded to the recent racist attack at the Waffle House restaurant in Bowling Green.
“We had a very sharp reminder of how ugly things can get, just a short time ago,” he said.
“We must continue to work together and not be fragmented,” Edwards said.
“Let’s celebrate, but be ever mindful we can’t rest on our laurels,” he said. “There is always work to be done. Let’s remember the Golden Rule, and practice respect for each other.”
Those gathering at the anniversary celebration were asked to suggest topics for future community dialogues. Among the subjects listed were human trafficking, the relationship between the community and the police, mental illness and domestic violence.
Also at the reception, Dr. Dawn Shinew, dean of the BGSU College of Education and Human Development, talked about the importance of Not In Our Town to the university.
“This is who we are as a community,” she said. “Not just words in a document,” but how we communicate and interact.
“I’m proud to live in a community that responds in the way it has,” Shinew said.
But Shinew also challenged the Not In Our Town organization to not just focus on the “not” in its name. Instead, the organization may want to zero in on “In Our Town.”
“What is it we are collectively working on and striving for,” rather than just responding to the wrongs in the world, she said.
Shinew encouraged those committed to the fight to continue.
“The work is still hard,” she said. “Together we can really build a place where hate is not tolerated.”
