Former NYC mayor urges race dialogue
Former New York city mayor David Dinkins stressed the importance of opening up the dialogue against hatred and urged young people to think about issues of race in his speech yesterday afternoon at the Rockefeller Center on "Public Responsibility: Breaking the Silence of Good People." "The most powerful weapons we have against hatred are words," Dinkins said to the audience of about 140 people. Good people often remain silent when an atrocity occurs, Dinkins said. According to him, people wonder what they can do when hate crimes, such as genocide in Kosovo or police brutality in New York City occur. "There is no simple answer ... I'm not here today to give you the answer [but] ... to simply open a conversation," he said. Dinkins asserted that college campuses have always been at the forefront of creating a more just America, adding, "I'm here because I choose to be ... I love young people." He pointed out the challenge students will be facing in the future.