Speakers Address Thousands of Students
Students filled the Kiva Auditorium (capacity--2300) at the Albuquerque Convention Center to hear various speakers discuss
Holocaust, prejudice, hate, and violence--and how to combat them.
Renee Firestone appeared in the spring of 2002 to tell students of her survival in Auschwitz.
Firestone, who works for the Simon Wiesenthal Center/Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, was featured in Steven Spielberg's
Academy Award-winning documentary, "The Last Days."
Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, discussed hate crimes and groups that are
threatening minority groups in the U. S. During his fall, 2002, visit, he told stories of bringing these criminals to
justice through the legal system.
Azim Khamisa and Ples Felix of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation brought their Violence Impact Forum to the
Kiva in 2003. Khamisa's college-age son, Tarik, was killed by Felix's grandson, a gang member, in 1995. The two
visit students to talk about the consequences of violence and the concept of forgiveness.
The two men returned to Albuquerque in November, 2004, and visited six APS schools, conveying their message.
