B'nai B'rith International (BBI) has a long and distinguished history of promoting tolerance and encouraging diversity. Our actions and advocacy promote these issues in world bodies, including the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Organization of American States. In the United States, tolerance and diversity are key goals of our congressional agenda and educational and community programs.
B'nai B'rith, through its Office of United Nations Affairs, participated in the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the United Nations. BBI has sponsored its own remembrance program at the United Nations on this day every year. In all its work with the United Nations, BBI fights intolerance, antisemitism, and hate.
The BBI Office of Intercommunal Affairs is dedicated to advancing B'nai B'rith's achievements in the area of tolerance. These include landmark coalitions for civil rights, innovative inter-group cultural programs, campaigns for religious liberty, and the pursuit of governmental protections against all forms of extremism and bigotry.
At the Organization of American States General Assembly in 2007, BBI focused on the passage of the Inter-American Convention Against Discrimination, Racism, and Xenophobia. As a member of the working group on the measure, B'nai B'rith successfully advocated for the inclusion of antisemitism as a form of racism.
The Center focuses on Holocaust remembrance and education. Since 1989, on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust remembrance day, BBI holds Unto Every Person There Is a Name ceremonies around the United States and the world, in cooperation with Yad Vashem. Participants read aloud the names of victims, including when they were born and when they died in concentration camps. Often whole families are read one after another, reminding us of the loss of generations of Jews. B'nai B'rith sponsors Holocaust education essay contests around the world.
BBI also supports tolerance and diversity education through a series of contests. The Enlighten America™ Essay and Art Contests help young people better understand the importance of tolerance and of ending bigotry. The essay contest is based on the letter President George Washington wrote to the Touro Synagogue of Newport, R.I., in 1790. In his letter, Washington promised that intolerance and bigotry would have no place in the young nation.
We have recently added a new project to reach high school students. By sponsoring the Diverse Minds Youth Writing Challenge we ask high-schoolers to create a children's book dedicated to the message of ending intolerance and bigotry. This has been held in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, and will continue in these locations with the addition of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Minneapolis. Winners earn college scholarships and the publication and distribution of their books to schools and libraries in their communities.
B'nai B'rith International (BBI) has a long and distinguished history of promoting tolerance and encouraging diversity. Our actions and advocacy promote these issues in world bodies, including the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Organization of American States. In the United States, tolerance and diversity are key goals of our congressional agenda and educational and community programs. 
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