by: Jinnie Array June 14, 2016 The unspeakable tragedy that took place at the Pulse Club in Orlando, FL in the early morning of June 12 brings with it a wide range of emotions for people across the country and world. Those feelings include anger, sorrow, loss, hopelessness, horror, fear, rage and also—a sense of powerlessness. It is easy to feel powerless when you think there is nothing you can do: nothing you can do about the hate, the gun violence, the terrorism and the extremist…

by: Jinnie Array June 01, 2016 Beginning on Memorial Day and for four consecutive evenings this week, the History Channel will air its 2016 version of ‘Roots,’ a remake of the 1977 television miniseries based on Alex Haley’s classic novel Roots: The Saga of An American Family.  The book is an historical portrait of American slavery based on Haley’s heritage dating back to 1750 in the West African village of Juffure and how his family’s saga unfolded over…

by: David Robbins May 11, 2016 Ed Blumenthal is fighting anti-Semitism and hate with everything he’s got—including his legs. His late father, Ernie Blumenthal, escaped from Nazi Vienna in 1938, but luckily found a home in Philadelphia. His grandfather barely escaped some time later. To honor the memory of his father, who died recently from pancreatic cancer, and to raise awareness of that illness and of anti-Semitism and hate, Ed rode his bike from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, a…

by: Jewel Nesmith April 26, 2016 Fears of extremism, radicalization and mass violence in our schools have unfortunately become all too common for educators and school administrators across the United States. At the same time, information that allows educators to understand the threat and leaves them equipped to address it without perpetuating biases and stereotypes is scarce. In order to fill this gap, the Anti-Defamation League and START (the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism…

by: Oren Segal April 11, 2016  It’s April 12, 2016 — Equal Pay Day, the symbolic date that women need to work until to catch up with what men had earned by last Dec. 31. The fact is that women who work full time, are paid an average of 79 cents for every dollar paid to men — and on average, African American and Latina women are paid even less. It’s not a day to celebrate, but it is a teachable moment to focus on the needless, costly, and discriminatory gender wage…

by: David Robbins March 11, 2016 Jinnie Spiegler Director of Curriculum, Anti-Defamation League This blog orig­i­nally appeared on Edutopia Marriage equality, refugees seeking safety in Europe, the Confederate flag, police shootings of black and Latino men, the presidential election, Caitlyn Jenner, ISIS, and immigration are just a few of the news stories that inhabited the headlines this year on our phones, laptops, and newspapers. Unlike 20 years ago when…

by: Lorraine Array January 06, 2016 Last week, over 700 Jewish teens from across the United States and Canada gathered in Baltimore, MD as part of United Synagogue Youth’s International Convention.  The Anti-Defamation League participated in the convention as a program partner to educate and empower the students to respond to anti-Semitism. At a time when global anti-Semitism is on the rise, college campuses are rife with anti-Israel bias and Jewish youth regularly hear…