Richard Lobenthal: "We are trying to produce a society that doesn't hate."

"We're not reclusive, but we do
believe that a modicum of protection
is useful since we're dealing with con-
troversial and hostile individuals who
engage in extremist terrorist ac-
tivities?'
What type of people would want
to commit their lives to such a
stressful profession?
Newman, Lobenthal and Smith
explain why they have chosen to work
for the ADL.
"After returning from Israel last
September, I knew that I wanted to
work for a Jewish organization,"
Smith says. She also recalled a few
anti-Semitic incidents that played an
important part in her career choice.
"I was a student at West Bloom-
field High School, in 1981," Newman
says. "During my graduating year, I
remember seniors who had painted
`Death to Jews' and other slanderous
remarks on their cars and paraded

around the neighborhood. I contacted
the ADL at that time, and the follow-
ing day, things changed for the bet-
ter."
Lobenthal, who had violent run-
ins with Ku Klux Klan members,
Nazis and other hate groups, has a
great determination to put an end to
prejudice.
"We are trying to help produce a
society that doesn't hate," Lobenthal
says. "Most of the time we operate
with helping people change and
isolate those who can't change. Our
main efforts though, are teaching new
generations to be less prejudiced."

Robert Gordon: "We need to return something to the community."

"World of Difference," one of the
ADIJs on-going projects, tries to end
prejudice before it begins — with
children. This program has trained
3,000 teachers around the country to
deal with multiethnic groups and
combat prejudice in the classroom. 111

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

AV,

25