Yesterday afternoon, community members and elected officials joined with students, parents, and teachers from the Battery Park City School (PS/IS 276) in front of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust to forcefully condemn the Confederate flag that was found tied to the museum’s doors last week.
“When our neighbors experience an act of hate, we stand with our neighbors,” said PS/IS 276 teacher Mary Valentine.
She introduced principal Terri Ruyter, who read a letter that teachers had written as an expression of solidarity with their museum colleagues. In part, the letter said that the appearance of the Confederate flag, a symbol of white supremacy, was “an attack on all of us who stand for justice, peace and anti-violence.”
“Last week, as we spoke to our students about the events that took place in our nation’s capital, our students noticed the use of Confederate and Nazi symbols as part of what was alarming,” Ms. Ruyter read from the letter. “Listening to young people discuss this gave us hope. We’re going to continue to address what happened in our own neighborhood and our nation with our students.”
Joining the school community and museum officials were NYS Senator Brian Kavanagh, NYS Senator Brad Hoylman, NYS Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and Congressmember Carolyn Maloney.
