(GLEN COVE, NY) The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center recognizes Joshua Rabanipour as Upstander of the Month of October 2013.
Joshua Rabanipour is a senior at North Shore Hebrew Academy High School who resides in Great Neck. Regarding bullying, he states: “I believe in a world that is overflowing with bullying, hate, persecution and discrimination, we must strive to achieve tolerance and acceptance of others and stand up for what is right. It doesn’t matter if you stand-alone. Throughout my life, I faced bullying, I survived bullying, I became the bully and now I am advocating for an end to bullying.”
Joshua has a unique perspective on bullying as he was both the victim and the bully. It takes great courage to recognize a behavior you don’t like in yourself and even greater courage to change it. Joshua recognized that he was a bully and personally apologized to the recipient of his actions, the two have been able to forgive and have evolved into friends. Joshua has since become an anti-bullying advocate in his school and has become the president of its Anti-Bias Task Force. Among the issues the Task Force discusses are different forms of bullying in schools, human rights and genocide around the world.
Later this year, the Task Force will be presenting at the Nassau County Human Rights Conference held at Adelphi University. Joshua’s future plans include being a human rights activist and an advocate for all those without a voice. He plans to start an Anti-Bias Task force at his future University in order to continue the movement for acceptance and understanding.
Each month the Center accepts nominations from teachers, civic leaders, family and friends of a Long Island youth that has implemented the HMTC’s mission by advocating respect for all people. The student’s action as an Upstander could be one of intervention or prevention. To nominate a student for “Upstander of the Month” or learn more, email Jennifer Carpenter Low at jenniferlow@holocaust-nassau.org or call 516-571-8040 ext. 107.
About the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County
The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County is the pre-eminent Holocaust resource on Long Island, with a contemporary museum and is one of the largest and most comprehensive education program providers in the region. Since 2007, nearly 210,000 students, educators, employers and law enforcement personnel have participated in the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center’s education programs.
Under construction and scheduled to open in January 2014, the Claire Friedlander Education Institute will accommodate four classrooms with state-of-the-art audio-visual aids and cutting edge technical equipment for specialized Holocaust video-conferencing programs and a wide variety of workshops for youth and adults.
With the Louis Posner Memorial Library, the Center offers over 7,000 volumes of Holocaust, genocide, multicultural, anti-bias and anti-bullying material for youth and adults, from Kindergarten through post-graduate researchers. It is the largest such collection on Long Island. Additional information is available online at www.holocaust-nassau.org.
