Activists spread message to fight discrimination, hate in Brooklyn

Activists joined together Monday to spread the message of fighting discrimination and hate by handing out flyers at four key points in Brooklyn.
Members of the city's Commission on Human Rights, the mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and the philanthropic group Repair the World want everyone to know their rights under New York state human rights law.
"It's really important that we're out here today to show a unified response to communities that are feeling vulnerable and feeling targeted by bias and hate right now," says Hanif Yazdi, of the NYC Office of Immigrant Affairs.
The event's organizers decided to get the message out following several recent incidents of vandalism. In one incident, swastikas were found on garages in Brooklyn Heights and in another, anti-Semitic slurs were scrawled on a Prospect Heights temple.
"When there's an act of discrimination or harassment that happens in our city, it's not just an attack on that community, it's really an attack on the fabric of our city's identity," says Yazdi.
The back of the flyers handed out lists an upcoming event that organizers say is vital. The event will give New Yorkers concrete steps they can follow if they witness an act of bias.
Organizers say they plan to keep spreading the word even as the cold weather sets in.