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Students’ Right to Protest the Pledge and National Anthem: Advice for Supporting Young People

Article
Your Right to Participate or Peacefully Protest Written on Chalkboard
October 03, 2017 In August 2016, then-NFL San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to take a stand about racial injustice by refusing to stand for the National Anthem at football games. He spent much of the season either sitting or kneeling during the anthem. Fast forward to the 2017 football season where the controversy emerged again when on a Sunday in September, more than 200 NFL players took a knee during the Anthem.  This recent controversy over NFL players and…
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ADL Troubled by Participation in House Committee Hearings of Writer Who Draws Parallel Between Nazi Policies and Gun Control

Press Release
New York, NY, September 12, 2017 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is troubled by the participation in a House Committee hearing of Stephen Halbrook, author of “Gun Control in the Third Reich,” who has frequently drawn parallels between gun laws in Nazi Germany and firearms legislation in the U.S. to build a case against gun violence prevention. In a book and in a 2013 op-ed on Kristallnacht, Halbrook wrote:  “Historians have documented…
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New ADL Resource Helps College Students Learn How to Deal With Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israel Bias On Campus

Press Release
New York, NY, September 7, 2017 … As college students are returning to a new academic school year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has released a new, multi-platform resource to equip them with essential information and tools to deal with anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias on campus. ‘THINK. PLAN. ACT.’ is a comprehensive resource that prepares students for encounters with anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias by defining what constitutes anti-Jewish animus,…
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Antifa pose challenges for police and counter-protesters alike

Article
Antifa in Charlottesville
August 24, 2017 Over the past several months, in Boston, Charlottesville, Berkeley, and beyond, many thousands of peaceful counter-protesters have taken to the streets to speak out against the hateful ideology of white supremacists and other bigots. Among those counter-protesters, a small number of antifa, or “anti-fascists,” have encouraged -- and sometimes actively engaged in -- violence. The antifa concept originated in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. The idea behind it…
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ADL to Congress: Campus Hate Speech Must Be Addressed

Press Release
Don't Tie the Hands of Administrators New York, NY, July 27, 2017 … In testimony for House Oversight Subcommittee hearings on “Challenges to Freedom of Speech on College Campuses,” the Anti-Defamation League highlighted the breadth of protection afforded to harmful hate speech – and underlined the “moral obligation” by campus administrators and the community “to respond clearly and forcefully.” The League’s statement also highlighted…
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ADL Urges Senate Judiciary Committee to Protect Campus First Amendment Rights While Confronting Hate Speech

Press Release
New York, NY, June 20, 2017 … As the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on “Free Speech 101: The Assault on the First Amendment on College Campuses,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today urged Senators to protect First Amendment-protected speech – and recognize that hate speech, though protected, must prompt effective responses from campus administrators, faculty and students. “While odious hurtful speech may be permissible, it is not harmless, and…
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Distribution of Religious Materials and Proselytizing by Outside Groups and Individuals

Tools and Strategies
For Educators Individuals, including parents, and groups who have no formal relationship to a school (Third Parties) may distribute religious materials, including Bibles, to students outside of school premises. They may also discuss religious matters with students. Third-party materials or publications of a religious viewpoint may be distributed on- campus to the same extent distribution of third-party secular materials is permitted. However, courts have applied different rules to…
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ADL Praises Instagram For Continuing to Foster Civil Platform With Latest Moderation Tool

Press Release
New York, NY, September 13, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today commended Instagram for its announcement on safety, civility, and the establishment of a new keyword moderation tool. In a blog post on September 12, the photo-sharing platform owned by Facebook articulated its concern over the evolution and volume of troubling content and the need to “promote a culture where everyone feels safe to be themselves without criticism or harassment.” “We are deeply…
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Teachable Moments Abound in Khizr Khan’s Convention Speech

Article
by: Jinnie Spiegler August 04, 2016   On the final night at the Democratic National Convention, a Muslim American couple named Khizr and Ghazala Khan came to the stage and delivered a patriotic speech about their son, a U.S. Army Captain who died in 2004 in Iraq serving his country. Khizr Khan, as his wife looked on, spoke for a mere six minutes. The speech was so riveting that the discussion about it continued into the next day and beyond, many people calling it was one of the…
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ADL Welcomes Establishment of Twitter Trust & Safety Council

Press Release
New York, NY, February 9, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) applauds Jack Dorsey and Twitter for the company’s efforts to combat violent extremism, and we congratulate it on the formation of the Trust & Safety Council, an important step forward to strike the right balance between fighting abuse and hate, and protecting free speech. Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO, issued the following statement: ADL has been tracking, exposing, and responding to hate online since 1985,…
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ADL Concerned That Proposed Legislation on NGO Funding in Israel Would Erode Nation’s Democratic Character

Press Release
New York, NY, January 11, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today reiterated its concern over draft Israeli legislation that would require those Israeli non-governmental organizations that receive more than half of their funding from “foreign political entities,” to declare and detail the funding each time they issue a report or meet with a public official. “The strength of Israeli society internally, as well as its international position, has been its bedrock…
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ADL Disturbed by Video Targeting Israeli Human Rights Activists

Press Release
New York, NY, December 16, 2015 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was deeply disturbed by a video produced by the Israel-based organization Im Tirtzu, which labels leading Israeli human rights activists as “foreign moles” operated by foreign governments. Im Tirtzu is employing fear tactics to suppress left-leaning Israeli NGOs, the League maintained, and it labeled the video “a form of incitement which crosses the line into hate speech.” Titled &ldquo…
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Holocaust Denial and Freedom of Speech in the Internet Era

News
November 18, 2011 Remarks of Christopher Wolf Founder and Chair, Anti-Defamation League Task Force on Internet Hate Partner, Hogan Lovells US LLP International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists Berlin Conference on Holocaust Denial and Freedom of Speech in the Internet Era November 18, 2011The Limits of the Law to Remedy Online Holocaust Denial I very much appreciate being part of this important program. Thanks so much to Irit Kohn for inviting me and to all of you for making me feel…
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Supreme Court Free Speech Ruling 'Appropriate' Because Hate Group Did Not Interfere With Private Funeral

Press Release
New York, NY, March 2, 2011 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court's decision upholding the First Amendment right of the virulently anti-Semitic and homophobic Westboro Baptist Church to picket at the funeral of an American service member killed in Iraq in 2006: While we deplore Westboro Baptist Church's hateful ideology, the Supreme Court's narrow ruling upholding their free speech rights was an appropriate decision…
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¿Quiénes Son Antifa?

Backgrounder
Antifa: definición e historia El movimiento de protesta antifascista, conocido como antifa, adquirió nuevo protagonismo en Estados Unidos después de la manifestación "Unite the Right" del supremacismo blanco en Charlottesville, VA, en agosto de 2017. En Charlottesville y en muchos eventos posteriores organizados por los supremacistas blancos o los extremistas de derecha, los activistas antifa han enfrentado agresivamente lo que ellos consideran son movimientos y…
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The President’s Executive Order on Anti-Semitism: Frequently Asked Questions

Backgrounder
On December 11, 2019, President Trump signed an Executive Order on anti-Semitism. The order is designed to give the federal government more tools to protect Jews from anti-Semitism by addressing a gap in the interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a key federal statute prohibiting discrimination in programs receiving federal financial assistance. The order addresses that gap by explicitly adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of…
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Who are Antifa?

Backgrounder
Antifa face off against white supremacists in Charlottesville, VA
Key Points Antifa is a decentralized, leaderless movement composed of loose collections of groups, networks and individuals. Persistent disinformation campaigns about antifa distort public perception of the movement. Antifa’s professed purpose is to vigorously oppose fascism. While some extreme actors who claim to be affiliated with antifa do engage in violence or vandalism at rallies and events, this is not the norm. Because there is no unifying body for…
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Primer on the First Amendment & Religious Freedom

Backgrounder
Introduction The right to freedom of religion is so central to American democracy that it was enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  The Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment in response to two centuries of state-sponsored religious conflict and oppression in America, and with a keen understanding of the religious persecution in European nations resulting from official state religions and religious wars.  Recognizing the unique and intimate nature…
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