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“An undemocratic climate of hatred”
Also present at the demonstration were representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Led by Regional Director Ernestine Peters, the delegation attended the march as the first step in an investigation of discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities in Germany.
“The NAACP is dedicated to ending discrimination in any form through persistent use of legal and moral persuasion even in the face of overt and violent racial and ethnic hostility,” said Peters. “No one is safe in an undemocratic climate of hatred such as appears to exist in Germany today.”
Peters told the audience that the delegation would produce a comprehensive report on their findings, including the extent of the German government’s role in fomenting prejudice. This report has now been submitted to NAACP national headquarters.
A report was also prepared by an ad hoc coalition of human rights and religious leaders present in Frankfurt and proffered to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the staff of the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance.
Separately, many members of Congress have already come together to introduce a congressional resolution calling for an end to all discrimination against Scientologists in Germany. The resolution, H.Con.Res. 22, introduced by congressman Don Payne (D-NJ) with the co-sponsorship of five of his colleagues, would compel the White House to act to bring the harrassment of Scientologists in Germany to a halt. Anne Archer, Chick Corea and Isaac Hayes were present at a press conference in Washington, D.C., with the sponsoring congressmen, and provided a presentation on the situation in Germany and why the resolution was so important.
Chick Corea stressed that the problem was not one of the German citizenry in general: “When I have been in Germany, I have found the people, the audiences, all very positive. It is just a few people in government who seem to be so devoted to mistreating members of my religion.”
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