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Conflict and Compromise at History Day

Two sisters dominated the documentary categories, while East High topped the Senior Division and the Fruitvale School District the Junior Divison, as 25 years of Kern County History Day competition played out on March 8 at Ridgeview High School in Bakersfield. The national theme for this year’s event was “Conflict and Compromise,” and Centennial High’s Sarah Moore certainly demonstrated that in a chapter of American history she took on in her winning documentary, “The Conflict of Nazis in Skokie: A Question of Compromise.” Her documentary detailed a controversial time in American history, when a Jewish lawyer actually defended the First Amendment rights of the National Socialist Party of America (NPSA) to hold a parade in Skokie, Illinois, against the wishes of the town’s largely Jewish population, which included several Holocaust survivor families. “Even though the case was about First Amendment rights and preserving free speech, lawyer David Goldberger was called a ‘self-hating Jew,’” Moore said. “Anyone has the right to free speech, but this was a case about using your own free speech to counter another person’s right to free speech.” More
Posted: 3/10/08; 10:14:57 AM | Permalink(#)


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