Read the Story (page 3 of 3)

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The town continues to stand together. In April [of 1994] more than 250 Christians joined the Jewish community for a Seder, the traditional Passover meal. Not long after, hundreds attended a concert of Jewish music that the Schnitzers helped coordinate to show their appreciation to Billings.

Tammie Schnitzer and Margaret MacDonald are busy organizing meetings and speaking at schools about racial sensitivity. With Chanukah just a few weeks away, they're stepping up their activities and are working on combined holiday events for the temple and local churches.

Soon Tammie's going to be putting up her Chanukah decorations. "I have to make sure my kids are proud of themselves and never have to hide who they are," she says. "Yes, I'm afraid. But I know if something happened again, the community would respond."

Becky Thomas, for one is prepared. "We saved our menorah, and it's going in our window again," she says. "We need to show commitment for a lifetime."

Roger Rosenblatt of The New York Times interviewed people in Billings in 1994. He found that many of them were assessing their attitudes and beliefs as a result of the menorah campaign. Wayne Inman told Rosenblatt that although there were no African Americans or Jews in his hometown, he grew up hearing racial slurs.

It was as common as the sun coming up in the morning. Nobody ever confronted the issue. It was "normal." But when I got out into the larger world, I found that it wasn't normal, or if it was normal, it should be opposed. When you have a person present, not just a word, you see that you're talking about a human being whose skin is black. I saw that for myself. I saw the hurt and pain in his eyes. It became a very personal issue for me.

Others in the community wondered if the same response would have been accorded a black or Hispanic family. The Schnitzers are Jewish, but they are also white, middle-class citizens. Some felt that putting up a menorah was "relatively painless for the community." Rosenblatt goes on to note:

And there is discussion, as well, about the difference between encouraging diversity in the community and opposing bigotry. Several evangelical churches did not participate in the menorah movement because it was led by the Human Rights Coalition, whose support of homosexual rights they do not endorse. "Once there was a visual act of bigotry, it was easy to get people involved," [Kurt] Nelson says. "Personal tolerance is harder to achieve."

Sarah Anthony, a member of Human Rights Coalition, reflected on the struggle and why it matters to her. She told the reporter:

I mean, what have we done so far? Come up with a plan. Make a few phone calls. Put up menorahs. That's all we did. Pretty simple stuff, actually. But you have to build the sentiment, to forge the real feeling that goes deep. We did something right here, and we will do it again if we have to. If we don't, there are people who would break every window in Billings, and we would look in those windows and see ourselves.

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