SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Governor Bruce Rauner announced a partnership with the Simon Wiesenthal Center to expand anti-hate education to Illinois students.
“As Simon Wiesenthal and others frequently said, ‘For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.’ We’re here because we’re doing something. Illinois will not stay silent in the face of hate, bigotry and persecution,” Governor Rauner said. “Illinois is a leader in anti-hate education, and we will work with organizations like the Simon Wiesenthal Center to continue to lead by example.”
The new education will teach students how to properly identify hate and terrorism online.
"We'll be prepared in probably the next four to six weeks to begin to go into the high schools and to train students and train the trainers. We need to empower our kids to know the difference between a political idea we may not like and where the line may be crossed to hate or god forbid terrorism or bullying." said Dr. Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
During the announcement, The Simon Wiesenthal Center presented Governor with its 2017 Digital Terrorism and Hate Report, making Governor Rauner the first Midwestern governor to be presented with the report.
"The Simon Wiesenthal Center is grateful for Governor Rauner taking a leadership position today, in supporting our ongoing efforts to combat racism, anti-Semitism and extremism, especially on social media." said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organization, and founder of the Digital Hate and Terrorism Project, twenty two years ago. "The Simon Wiesenthal Center's Midwest Director, Alison Pure-Slovin, has already begun to train facilitators for our new Students Tools for Tolerance program that will empower young people to deal with the tsunami of online hate. We look forward to working with Governor Rauner and Secretary of Education Beth Purvis to educate our children on the perils of social media.”
For more information about the Digital Terrorism and Hate Report click here.
