When ‘Just Joking’ Is No Joke: How to Respond When Students’ ‘Jokes’ are Biased or Offensive
Tools and Strategies
There are many benefits of humor. A good joke can ease tension in a stressful situation. Humor can connect people and bring them together. Jokes can bring levity to a situation that begs for lightheartedness. Being funny can signal to others who you are. Humor can even open a conversation that previously felt closed or off-limits.
However, jokes and humor, when they target social identity groups, can do the opposite. They can make people feel unsafe, disconnected, excluded and…
Table Talk: Family Conversations About Current EventsWhen there are periods of heightened violence and war in the news, oftentimes one or more marginalized identity groups can become the focus of attention, anger, hostility and bias even far removed from the location of the conflict. In the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023, ADL has tracked an uptick in antisemitic attacks in the U.S. and around the globe, and there have also been incidents of anti-Muslim attacks. As the…
Helping Students Make Sense of News Stories about Bias and Injustice
Tools and Strategies
For Educators When there are national news stories that involve incidents of bias and injustice, young people want to be part of the conversation. Even at a young age, they hear adults talking about what’s happening, read about the story on social media or learn about it through television. Rather than protect children and youth from what’s going on in the world, there are age-appropriate and constructive ways to engage them in understanding the situation. Teachers…
Información errónea y desinformación electoral: Cómo saber qué es cierto y qué es falso
Article
La información falsa y engañosa sobre el voto y las elecciones perjudica tanto a los individuos como nuestra capacidad de hacer realidad la promesa de la democracia para todos. Esta guía puede ayudar a aclarar qué es la información errónea, en qué se diferencia de la desinformación, cómo detectarla y qué podemos hacer al respecto, incluyendo la búsqueda de información precisa sobre las elecciones.
Informaci…
Moroccan Textbooks Teach Appreciation of Jewish Life and Tolerance in the Kingdom
Article
By Carole Nuriel and Aykan Erdemir
An examination of textbooks used in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of Moroccan state schools during the 2021-2022 school year indicate that tolerance and diversity are core to the curriculum promoted across Moroccan society. The excerpts on Judaism and Jews that Morocco’s Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training provided to ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) show that the country’s elementary school textbooks depict Jews as an…
Conspiracy Theories and How to Help Family and Friends Who Believe Them
Article
Do you have someone in your life who has been drawn in by a conspiracy theory? Has their behavior changed and you’re not sure how you can help?
Perhaps your parents have ventured down the QAnon rabbit hole and have become obsessed with trying to decode social media posts by public figures. They send you a daily stream of articles and YouTube videos about how the government is controlled by pedophiles who are running a child sex trafficking ring, and they’re especially worried…
How A Texas Teen Turned Bias and Body-Shaming into Advocacy and Action
Article
Olivia Julianna (who uses only her first and middle name publicly to protect her privacy) has been an activist for several years, advocating voting rights and reproductive-health care. Like many in her generation, she found the political side of TikTok where young people post about important issues facing them. Olivia is involved with Gen-Z for Change, a nonprofit organization leveraging social media to promote civil discourse and political action on a variety of topics including…
Antisemitism is a topic that has been in the news and is something important to explore and understand. From news stories about vandalism and hate crimes, to celebrities spewing frightening claims and vitriol about Jewish people, to the antisemitic tropes we see in our social media feeds — antisemitism is all around us. What is Antisemitism?Antisemitism is the marginalization and/or oppression of people who are Jewish based on the belief in stereotypes and myths about Jewish…
ADL Statement on International Day of the World's Indigenous People
Press Release
New York, NY, August 9, 2022 ... ADL (Anti-Defamation League) issued the following statement today on International Day of the World's Indigenous People:
"As we observe International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, ADL reflects on our relationship with Indigenous people and organizations across North America. The Papal visit in Canada last week underscored the deep and painful history North American Indigenous Peoples have endured and the work yet to be done to secure justice…
The Horrific Mass Shooting in Buffalo: How to Talk with Young People
Article
Another mass shooting has taken place, a violent massacre in which the shooter targeted a Black community after posting a white supremacist tract online that espoused virulently antisemitic and racist beliefs.
On May 14, 2022, a gunman entered a supermarket in a largely Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York and shot thirteen people, killing ten people and injuring at least three others. Almost all of the victims are Black. The gunman was identified by law enforcement as eighteen…