As the year draws to a close, ADL looks back on the moments from 2021 that gave us hope and encouragement that our hundred-plus-year fight against antisemitism and hate is making progress.
And there were plenty of big, inspirational moments to choose from in 2021: A $26 million verdict against the white supremacists responsible for Charlottesville; the launch of a $1.1 billion foundation to help prevent Anti-Asian hate crimes; and meaningful legal victories against racially motivated…
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They were ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives – or extraordinary people who put their lives on the line to protect the health and welfare of everyone.
In what has become an annual tradition, as the year comes to a close ADL pauses each December to take stock of the moments and people who shaped the last 12 months – for better, or for worse – with a Top 10 list.
For 2020, we compiled two Top 10 lists: One looking back on the moments of hurt and hate that…
In what has become an annual tradition, at the conclusion of the year the ADL pauses to take stock of the moments and the individuals who shaped our country for better, or for worse, with an end of year “Top 10” list. The year 2020 was marked by a series of heartbreaking setbacks in the fight against hate.
Here are the Top 10 Heartbreaking Moments of Hate from 2020, as selected by ADL staff from across the country. The high-profile murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd at…
In a year with unimaginable violence driven by hate, humanity prevails as people come together, inspiration transcends darkness, and communities find hope. A Muslim woman jumps to the defense of Jewish children facing anti-Semitic harassment on a London subway. A letter-writing campaign gives hope to immigrant detainees facing deportation. Utah passes landmark hate crimes legislation.
These are just a few of the moments of hope that made headlines in 2019.
Here is ADL’s Top 10…
For Law Enforcement
The recent tragic shooting spree in June 2015 that took nine lives at Emanuel AME Church, a predominantly African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, starkly revealed the pain and suffering that someone motivated by hate can cause. The suspect in the shootings, Dylann Storm Roof, is a suspected white supremacist. The horrific incident—following earlier deadly shooting sprees by white supremacists in Kansas, Wisconsin, and elsewhere—makes…
For Law Enforcement Download the whole report: Bloodlust: Viral News and Calls for the Death of the President (PDF).
Even in the final months of the Obama presidency, an ADL investigation has uncovered, calls on social media for the assassination or execution of President Barack Obama are commonplace. On a regular basis, angry Americans post sentiments such as "If Obama is captured, I will gladly get the noose ready and pull the lever" to social media websites.
These calls for…
Read the full report here: Tattered Robes: The State of the Ku Klux Klan in the United States (PDF).
Despite a persistent ability to attract media attention, organized Ku Klux Klan groups are actually continuing a long-term trend of decline. They remain a collection of mostly small, disjointed groups that continually change in name and leadership. Down slightly from a year ago, there are currently just over thirty active Klan groups in the United States, most of them very small. However,…
The White Power Music Scene in the United States For Law Enforcement Read the full, comprehensive report, The Sounds of Hate: The White Power Music Scene in the United States in 2012 (PDF).
The recent tragic shooting spree at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in which Wade Michael Page killed six people before killing himself after a shootout with police, has drawn attention to the shadowy world of white power music. Page, a committed white supremacist and member of the…
Two years after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, we still need to address and dismantle anti-Black racism and white supremacy.
Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current EventsThe CROWN Act is a law that forbids discrimination based on hair texture and hair styles. CROWN stands for: “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair.” Hair discrimination impacts Black people, especially Black women and girls in schools and workplaces who wear hair styles such as locs, braids, twists, Bantu knots, afros and natural hair. They are punished by discriminatory workplace and school dress codes and…
New York, NY, February 25, 2022 … ADL (Anti-Defamation League) today issued a statement in response to the president’s nomination of federal appellate court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director, issued the following statement:
We congratulate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on her historic nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, she will undoubtedly bring an important new perspective to…
January 27, 2022 Using children’s literature to teach about Black history and the Black experience is a great way to open the door to discussions about these experiences and milestones. These books include important insights into Black history, culture, accomplishments, notable people, historical and current day injustice and how that injustice was and continues to be confronted and overcome. Our recommended books include…
New program seeks to expand awareness and understanding of how antisemitism and racism overlap New York, NY, January 26, 2022 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) announced today the inaugural class of Collaborative for Change fellows, Jews of Color who will receive up to $25,000 to counter bias and hate through film, research, and other projects. This fellowship seeks to expand awareness and understanding of how antisemitism and racism overlap and intersect in ways that are uniquely…
Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current EventsWhat does it mean to challenge or ban books? Why are books banned or challenged? What impact does banning books have on young people, schools, libraries and society?
“Challenging” a book means that a person, group or institution is trying to remove or restrict access to a book because they object to the book’s content, ideas, or themes. These challenges can be initiated by …
New York, NY, January 7, 2022 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today welcomed the sentencing of the three men responsible for Ahmaud Arbery’s murder to life in prison, saying the judgment sends a message that there will be serious consequences for acts of hate-motivated violence.
Georgia Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced the three men found guilty in the death of Arbery to life in prison. Travis McMichael, who killed Mr. Arbery with two shotgun blasts was…
In the battle over the false idea that Critical Race Theory is “infiltrating” our K-12 schools—and the belief that it must be stopped—the new frontier is children's literature.
Critical race theory bans by state legislatures
Critical race theory (CRT), taught primarily in higher education and law school, is the study of how laws and policies can drive and perpetuate racial disparities and inequities. Even though Critical Race Theory is…
New York, NY, October 4, 2021 – ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today announced that NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson has been named co-chair of ADL’s Sports Leadership Council. The Council, originally formed in fall 2017, works directly with key leaders in the sports world, including professional athletes, league commissioners and other industry leaders to increase the sports community’s efforts to build bridges of understanding, unity and respect.
“From…
August 25, 2021 As our nation’s children head back to school, it’s a stressful and scary time. Families, students and educators continue to struggle with a pandemic that is surging. After the last school year with unpredictable and intermittent remote learning and continued fear, loss and grief, teachers are exhausted. In our current reality of a highly contagious Covid-19 variant, lack of mask mandates in some…
New York, NY, June 25, 2021 … ADL (Anti-Defamation League) CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt issued the following statement today regarding the sentencing of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to 22 years in state prison for the murder of George Floyd:
“Today’s sentencing of former police officer Derek Chauvin does not change the fact that George Floyd should still be alive today. It doesn’t change the fact that Daunte Wright, Breonna Taylor…
Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current EventsJuneteenth, also known as “Juneteenth Independence Day,” “Emancipation Day,” "Jubilee Day," or “Freedom Day,” is an annual holiday that marks the end of slavery. The holiday’s name is a blending of the words “June” and "nineteenth." Juneteenth commemorates the day in history that Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and informed the enslaved…