February 21, 2014 Daniel W. Jones, M.D. Chancellor The University of Mississippi Dear Chancellor Jones:
We are writing to express our deep concern about the recent incident at the University of Mississippi in which two unidentified men placed a noose around the neck of the statue of James Meredith, the school’s first black student. There have reportedly been other recent incidences of troubling acts of homophobia and racism.
College is a unique and special time in a young person…
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For Educators In many of ADL’s lesson plans and activities, students are challenged to explore and articulate their personal feelings about sensitive topics including segregation, discrimination, and the value of diverse school communities. Talking about themes related to diversity requires that students demonstrate maturity and compassion for others. In conjunction with social justice curricula, it is therefore recommended that teachers use service learning, conflict resolution,…
by: Mark Onofrio February 07, 2014 Criticism of immigrant policy is not an excuse to undermine the humanity of others with the kind of vitriol that dominated the internet, especially Twitter, after the Atlanta-based Coca Cola Company aired a commercial with “America the Beautiful,” sung in different languages and featuring a diversity of people during the Super Bowl.
The term immigrant is a descriptor, not a slur. However, it is often used in a pejorative way. For those who are…
by: Mark Onofrio January 31, 2014 The Super Bowl is arguably one of the biggest days in American sports, and with good reason. In addition to being a competition of the best two football teams in the most popular sport in America, this year it is also the kind of celebration not often associated with professional sports.
Derrick Coleman, a running back for the Seattle Seahawks, is the only legally deaf athlete in professional football history to play offense. In early January 2014, Coleman…
by: Mark Onofrio January 24, 2014 We recently had a reminder of the enduring power of stereotypes in American when an interview by Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman prompted a slew of racist remarks on Twitter and a mainstream media commentator referred to him as a “thug” and an “ape.”
While perhaps unintentional on the part of media commentators, the…
January 21, 2014
The phrase "that’s so gay" has persisted as a way for students to describe things they do not like, find annoying or generally want to put down, while it is promising that fewer students are hearing homophobic slurs than in previous years.
The phrase is used so commonly that many students no longer recognize it as homophobic because it is “what everyone says.” When educators and other adults intervene, common student responses include “I was just…
by: Mark Onofrio January 13, 2014 Five Tips for Working with Children, Tweens and Teens
As we honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy through the National Day of Service, we encourage teachers, parents and families to provide community service opportunities for children and youth. Below are tips to help make the experience meaningful.
“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to…
by: Mark Onofrio January 07, 2014 Youth are the real experts on what is happening in bullying on school campuses, and yet their voices, perspectives and leadership are rarely integrated into bullying prevention programs.
“Just ask the kids” is the tagline for a new book highlighting research from the Youth Voice Project, the first large-scale research project on bullying and peer mistreatment that did exactly that—ask the kids (more than 13,000 teens in 31 schools). …
by: Mark Onofrio December 06, 2013
Many educators want to incorporate the passing of significant figures into their classroom discussion. ADL’s Education Division provides resources to educators about contemporary issues and current event topics to help make classroom learning more dynamic forums for critical thinking.
In celebration and memory of the life of Nelson Mandela, this special edition of The Current Events Classroom provides students the opportunity to learn…
November 18, 2013 CHANGING HEARTS AND MINDS A dynamic young leader in the immigration reform movement, Lorella Praeli first met ADL after she was bullied in school.
My first exposure to ADL was just after graduating from middle school in Connecticut. I’d gone through a really ugly experience with cyberbullying at a time when no one knew what to do about it, plus I had my own self-doubts about being a Latina with a disability. The training for ADL’s Names Can Really Hurt Us program…
For Law Enforcement
Read the full, comprehensive report: Profile: Omar Hammami
Omar Hammami, an American citizen from Alabama who once served as primary recruiter for Al Shabaab, the Somali-based terrorist organization affiliated with Al Qaeda, was killed September 13, 2013 at age 29 by members of Al Shabaab.
Between 2007 and 2011, he was a public face and voice of Al Shabaab and a critical part of the terrorist organization's effort to recruit English-speakers. Hammami was…
Ben White, the author of Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide and co-author of Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy, is an anti-Israel speaker who regularly delivers presentations on American college campuses.
A graduate of Cambridge University in the UK, White is a supporter of a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – which is predicated on the dismantlement of Israel as a Jewish state – and an advocate for the Boycott,…
For Law Enforcement
Introduction
The Pakistani-based terrorist group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has carried out numerous attacks against American interests in Pakistan and Afghanistan, has warned of future terror attacks inside the U.S.
While TTP originally focused its attacks on Pakistani and American installations in Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to implement shari'a, or Islamic law, the May 2010 attempted bombing in Times Square is indicative of the group's…
IntroductionHizb ut-Tahrir (HT), an international organization that seeks to establish a worldwide Islamic theocracy, is increasing its efforts to spread its message and recruit members in the U.S. The American branch of HT convened its 2012 Khilafah Conference, titled "Revolution: Liberation by Revelation," on June 17, 2012, in the Chicago suburb of Hickory Hills, IL. Messages at the conference primarily centered on promoting the organization's vision of establishing a worldwide Caliphate and…
June 21, 2013 Read the full report: Extremism in Connecticut (PDF)
Summary
The public often associates extreme anti-government or hate groups with remote, rugged states in the Pacific Northwest or the rural South. Despite these perceptions, extremism in America is spread far and wide. New England is home to its share of extreme groups and movements, just as are the Pacific Northwest and the South.
Connecticut -- despite its small size -- has witnessed some of the most intensive and…
by: Mark Onofrio April 17, 2013 Echoes and Reflections staff traveled to a remote area of Alaska to deliver the program’s first professional development program in the state. The Echoes and Reflections program has now offered professional development in 47 US states and District of Columbia. The program has provided educational resources on the Holocaust to over 18,000 educators and community members.
Deborah Batiste, Project Director for Echoes and Reflections, traveled from…
The Arab American News, a.k.a. Sada Al Watan (Arabic for “Echo of the homeland”), is a dual-language Arabic-English newspaper published weekly in Dearborn, Michigan. Established in 1984 by publisher Osama A. Siblani, the paper has been described as the largest Arab community newspaper in the U.S. by the U.S. government-funded AlHurra satellite television station.
It has an “unaudited circulation of 30,000 in the Detroit area,” according to a 2009 report by the Pew…
For Law Enforcement The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) is one of the largest and most violent white supremacist prison gangs in the United States, responsible for committing dozens of murders and many other violent crimes.
Note: Despite the similarity in their names, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas has no connection to the “original” Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison gang which formed in California in the 1960s and exists primarily in California and the federal…
For Law Enforcement This document is an archived copy of an older ADL report and may not reflect the most current facts or developments related to its subject matter. Public Enemy Number 1 (PENI) is an unusual hybrid of a racist skinhead gang, street gang and prison gang. Since the early 2000s, the group has grown considerably, particularly in California, where it originated, and has also spread to nearby states. PENI's increasing strength stems to a large degree from its ability to position…
For Law Enforcement This document is an archived copy of an older ADL report and may not reflect the most current facts or developments related to its subject matter. Volksfront, a virulently racist and anti-Semitic group, has become the most active neo-Nazi group on the West Coast and maintains close alliances with many other hate groups. Since its creation in 1994, the group has been growing nationally and internationally. One of Volksfront’s primary goals is to establish an autonomous…