For the second time, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields met with a group of leaders to seek solutions to the problem of hate crimes.

Fields said in the meeting on Wednesday that education at an earlier age would be the solution to this problem.

Mohammad Razvi, executive director of the Council of Peoples organization, pointed out that the most immediate way to prevent more hate crimes would be to send the message to adults committing crimes.

“Our children are not born to hate. They learn it. We can prevent them from learning to hate. For bigger children, if they have learned it, they can learn to forget it. This is what we are trying to do through various programs,” said Fields, referring to her interest in the program the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) directed in New York City by Joel Levy. “Programs that help to educate students at an early age help to prevent them from committing hate crimes in the future,” said Fields.

“The culture of hate is destroying our society,” said Levy. “That’s why we’ve contacted the Department of Education so that they establish preschool education programs in the schools.”

“We give workshops for parents and teachers and we offer didactic materials in collaboration with Sesame Street, in order to offer the opportunity to recognize and interrupt the presence of prejudice and discrimination,” said Liz Fernandez, coordinator of the preschool Anti-defamation League (ADL) program. “Six-month-old children recognize differences and at two they behave according to those perceptions.”

According to Fields, a general concern of the organizations is the lack of funds, even with cost being minimal, between $1,500 and $5,000.

Razvi commented that after the August 7 racial attack in Brooklyn, he and members of other organizations got together and walked through the place where the incident occurred.

“We have to demonstrate that we are united, that we won’t tolerate these types of crimes and that we’re going to fight so that it doesn’t happen again,” said Razvi, who proposed another walk with the slogan, “We’re all New Yorkers,” which is supported by Fields. “If something happens to a person, it affects all of our communities and we’re not going to tolerate it. New York is the most diverse city in the world and that’s why we have to unite so that New York’s beauty doesn’t cease to exist,” he said.

Dominicans 2000, a community organization directed by Ydanis Rodriguez, also presented its summer project which was carried out by 12 youngsters, who surveyed 1,000 people between the ages of nine and 20 from Harlem, Washington Heights and the Bronx.