by: Jonathan Greenblatt November 05, 2018 A week ago, most of us had never heard of the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh. Now we’ll never forget it. And as Shabbat approaches, it’s hard to know what to feel.
Shabbat always brings peace and comfort. But last week, when gunfire and violence tore apart one congregation’s morning service, it shattered that comfort and peace for all of us. This week, can Shabbat bring us some consolation? Let…
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by: Jinnie Spiegler October 29, 2018 Last week, we saw several hate-inspired incidents that have shaken our nation. Many are worried about the toxic nature of our discourse, the direction our country is headed and how we explain all of this to young people.
The week started with a string of thirteen separate pipe bombs sent to a group of mostly prominent Democrats: former Presidents Obama and Clinton, progressive philanthropist George Soros, several members of Congress, former…
The Pyramid of Hate illustrates the prevalence of bias, hate and oppression in our society. It is organized in escalating levels of attitudes and behavior that grow in complexity from bottom to top. Like a pyramid, the upper levels are supported by the lower levels; unlike a pyramid, the levels are not built consecutively or to demonstrate a ranking of each level. Bias at each level reflects a system of oppression that negatively impacts individuals, institutions and society…
November is Native American Heritage Month, which was first declared by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. The month provides an opportunity to commemorate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions and histories and acknowledge the important contributions of Native American/Indigenous people. It is also an important time to educate the general public, as well as young people in schools, about the bias, discrimination and unique challenges faced by Native American/Indigenous people…
September 14, 2018 Right-wing extremists and outspoken bigots are making their presence felt in mainstream American politics, and a record number of them are running for office this year.
Around the country, in blue and red states alike, members of the extremist right – including several with ties to white supremacists– are enjoying more exposure today than at any time in recent history. Less extreme but no less troubling are the number of candidates who have expressed anti…
August 15, 2018 Sparsely attended and heavily protested, Unite the Right 2 reflected the challenges facing the alt right and the larger white supremacist movement.
As he made his way towards D.C.’s Lafayette Park, rally organizer Jason Kessler was accompanied by about 30 right wing speakers and activists and a police escort. A massive police presence kept throngs of counter-protesters at a distance from Kessler and his group. There were no major incidents of violence, though some…
August 14, 2018 By Elissa Buxbaum, Director, Campus Affairs
Sarah Kenny was Student Council president at the University of Virginia when the alt-right rallied at her school’s Charlottesville campus last year. She hadn’t yet returned to campus when a tiki-torch-wielding crowd of neo-Nazis and white supremacists marched through the white columns of the UVA Rotunda, spouting anti-Semitic and racist vitriol.
“I had seen something on Twitter the night before, and…
August 10, 2018 This week is the anniversary of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which attracted hundreds of bigots from around the country. We remember the TIKI torches, the chants “Jews will not replace us!” from angry white men, and the bias-motivated murder of counterprotester Heather Heyer.
On this anniversary, as groups in many cities are rededicating themselves to …
Next Year May We All Be Free April 10, 2019 As Jews celebrate freedom, let’s reflect on 10 modern plagues that still oppress so many—and identify actions we can take to help.
Anti-Semitism
For many in the American Jewish community, anti-Semitism feels closer, more pervasive and more threatening than ever. In October 2018, in the deadliest attack in history on the Jewish community in the U.S., a white supremacist gunman entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and…
June 19, 2018 The Council of Conservative Citizens, a once-prominent white supremacist group that has been dormant for several years, reemerged to hold the “Nationalist Solutions” conference June 15-17 in Burns, Tennessee. The event was a joint effort with the California-based white supremacist group American Freedom Party (AFP).
The conference, which took place in Montgomery Bell State Park, attracted roughly 70 attendees and speakers. The two-day event featured a…
June 14, 2018 It takes big ideas to combat a beast as big as hate. Tasked with the mission to implement a big idea that will confront and respond to the growing campus presence of hate groups and hate speech, students from across the country competed in ADL’s inaugural Innovate Against Hate Competition.
Designed to empower young people affected most by hateful content on social media, Innovate Against Hate incubated a student-led wave of creative messaging and innovation in…
June 13, 2018 On June 12, Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has a history of making inflammatory and xenophobic statements, re-tweeted an anti-immigration post written by a man named Mark Collett. This left a lot of people wondering: Who is Collett?
Short answer: A British white supremacist. Longer answer: Read on.
Mark Collett is a British white supremacist with an active social media audience across the English-speaking world. Collett became active in the British far right in the…
Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current Events For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Topic SummaryIt seems like we are seeing more and more news and social media stories about people experiencing bias as they go about their daily lives—riding the subway, shopping in a store, dining in a restaurant and hanging out with friends. Indeed, the surge of such stories makes it seem like racism, sexism, antisemitism and other forms of bias and discrimination are becoming more pervasive…
May 31, 2018 As world attention focused on the demonstrations taking place earlier this month along the Gaza border, Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan fanned the flames of incitement against Israel and Jews with remarks comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. It was just another in a long line of his vocal criticism of Israel, using incendiary language and anti-Semitic statements to attack Israel and mobilize Turkish and Muslim action against the Jewish State.
Just days after the May 14…
May 18, 2018 By Oren Segal | Director of the Center on Extremism
Supporters of Patrick Little’s campaign for Dianne Feinstein’s U.S. Senate seat have taken up a disturbing new tactic: virulently anti-Semitic robocalls.
Little, an unabashed anti-Semite and racist who attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, is polling at around 18%, well behind Feinstein in California’s party-blind June 5th…
Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current Events For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Topic SummaryIn 1983, a social scientist named David Chambers published a research study on children’s drawings. The study gathered information from the late 1960s and 1970s in which teachers asked 5,000 children (in three different countries) to “draw a scientist.” One pattern appeared strongly: almost all of the scientist drawings depicted men. Through the study, Chambers was able to…
April 10, 2018 In preparation for the Qatari Emir’s visit today to Washington, the White House announced last week that President Trump thanked the monarch by phone for his country’s “continuing commitment” to countering extremism. However, in the last year Qatar’s government has actually continued to use its prominent platforms to promote strident anti-Semitic preachers, a practice President Trump and Congressional leaders should raise with the Qatari Emir Tamim…
by: Lorraine Array April 09, 2018
Holocaust Remembrance Day is commemorated each year a week after the end of the Passover holiday, a day when the world pauses to remember the Holocaust, the millions who died and those who lived on, many to tell their stories to a generation born more than half a century later. To the younger among us, the Holocaust can feel like ancient history. Why is it important that we remember? And why do we continue to utter the mandate of Never…
For Educators When teaching about historical atrocities, educators seek to build empathy through interactive lessons. What seems like a false solution is turning to simulation activities. These exercises frequently backfire, causing real harm to students, families and school communities. The Problem:News stories regularly surface about classroom simulations gone wrong: students assigned roles as "persecuted" or "privileged" to understand the Holocaust, or asked to experience what it "felt like…
March 12, 2018 Since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Florida, students have been engaging in a variety of actions to force change on gun control, including preparations for nationwide student walkouts on March 14 and April 20.
Teachable Moments
Whether you personally support these walkouts or not, as a teacher or school administrator they are an opportunity to elevate student voice and action as powerful teachable moments. These can include conversations…