Renee LaFair, Director of Austin Regional Anti-Defamation League, engaged club members in an informative and thoughtful exploration of the ADL and her work here in Austin. The ADL was established in 1913 with the dual mission of stopping defamation of the Jewish people and of securing justice and fair treatment for all. From that very beginning their methods of fighting hate are ones of persuasion and appeal to reason:
1) Pointing out to the media current practices that are hurtful; e.g., how using the word Jew as a verb is demeaning
2) Developing training manuals—currently much of their work is in training teachers and police officers on how to manage biases
3) Developing tools for educating school children and sponsoring the current No Place for Hate campaign
4) Respectful approaches; e.g. not accusations against a person but simply pointing out the hurtful and negative nature of words used
5) Sponsoring or supporting legislation, one of the most notable being the 1950 Demasking Law which, while allowing one the free speech to say anything one believes, but requiring openness about it. The decline in membership in the Ku Klux Klan can be attributed to this law, but the anonymity of on-line communication and the advent of social media is bringing the issue of “masking” back.
6) Established 25 regional offices of the ADL, plus centers in NYC and Washington DC.which focus on specific issues such as extremism, technology and society, and international issues
7) Forming coalitions and cooperating with other agencies with similar goals to increase efficiency
8) Placing ads, writing opinion pieces, and any avenue of education they can find
9) Tracking anti-Semitism incidents and hate crimes by verifying, document, and listing
1) Pointing out to the media current practices that are hurtful; e.g., how using the word Jew as a verb is demeaning
2) Developing training manuals—currently much of their work is in training teachers and police officers on how to manage biases
3) Developing tools for educating school children and sponsoring the current No Place for Hate campaign
4) Respectful approaches; e.g. not accusations against a person but simply pointing out the hurtful and negative nature of words used
5) Sponsoring or supporting legislation, one of the most notable being the 1950 Demasking Law which, while allowing one the free speech to say anything one believes, but requiring openness about it. The decline in membership in the Ku Klux Klan can be attributed to this law, but the anonymity of on-line communication and the advent of social media is bringing the issue of “masking” back.
6) Established 25 regional offices of the ADL, plus centers in NYC and Washington DC.which focus on specific issues such as extremism, technology and society, and international issues
7) Forming coalitions and cooperating with other agencies with similar goals to increase efficiency
8) Placing ads, writing opinion pieces, and any avenue of education they can find
9) Tracking anti-Semitism incidents and hate crimes by verifying, document, and listing
Recently there has been a significant increase in anti-Semitism; people feel more open to voice their prejudice and hate, and minorities are convenient scapegoats for unrelated frustrations. Even so, the United States is currently experiencing a golden era in Jew/non-Jew relationships, but Europe is in a dangerous situation, much based on what is happening in Israel. Members were given a booklet of ADL training material which included a Pyramid of Hate, a tool for explaining how Biased Attitudes lead to increasing levels of hate: Acts of Bias, then Discrimination, then Bias-Motivated Violence, and finally Genocide.