March 16, 2018 On March 13, members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force swooped into the tiny unincorporated community of Clarence, Illinois, to arrest four people on charges of possession of fully automatic weapons.  But the real attention-grabber was the revelation in the related criminal complaint that three of them are also suspects in two 2017 terrorist pipe-bomb incidents.  On August 5, 2017, a pipe bomb exploded at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in…

March 14, 2018 From Seattle to Orlando and Los Angeles to Boston, white supremacists are displaying large banners from highway overpasses and in other highly visible locations as part of an effort to promote their groups and ideologies. While white supremacists have been using banners for some time, the number of banners deployed in the past ten months marks an unprecedented trend, according to new data from ADL’s Center on Extremism. From May 2017, when the recent proliferation began,…

March 12, 2018 Since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Florida, students have been engaging in a variety of actions to force change on gun control, including preparations for nationwide student walkouts on March 14 and April 20. Teachable Moments Whether you personally support these walkouts or not, as a teacher or school administrator they are an opportunity to elevate student voice and action as powerful teachable moments. These can include conversations…

March 05, 2018 White supremacists are attempting to exploit the tragic mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, and the ensuing debate over gun control to push an anti-Semitic agenda. Some are seizing the moment as an opportunity to demonize Jews, while others are claiming gun rights as a "white identity" issue. Many are publicly framing the battle over gun control as a struggle between beleaguered whites who want to preserve their traditions in the face of a Jewish onslaught. White…

February 28, 2018 The Iranian Javan (young) website published an article on February 13, 2018 which demonstrates the Islamic Republic’s consistent use of anti-Semitic tropes to promote the regime’s entrenched hostility towards Israel. The piece appears at a time of growing tensions between Iran and Israel and within Iranian society, and feeds into long utilized conspiracy theories propagated by the Islamic Republic about Israel and Jews, as well as their demonization of Western…

February 28, 2018 This post originally appeared on the Leadership 360 blog in Education Week on February 22, 2018. Last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, seventeen students and adults were murdered in a mass shooting. What happened next was unusual. Instead of waiting for adults to act, students took the lead. They are giving fiery speeches, demanding their turn to enact change. Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School,…

February 26, 2018 On February 25th, Nation of Islam’s longtime leader Louis Farrakhan spoke at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.  As in previous Saviours’ Day speeches, Farrakhan used the opportunity to rail against the Jews, Israel and the U.S. government.  Before Farrakhan’s keynote address, fellow Nation of Islam principals Ava Muhammad, Nuri Muhammad and Ishmael Muhammad shared remarks.  In a short speech, Ava Muhammad warned the crowd that the end of days…

On August 11, 2017, the world watched in horror as hundreds of torch-wielding white supremacists descended on the University of Virginia’s bucolic campus, chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” The next day, the streets of Charlottesville exploded in violence, ringing with the hateful, racist shouts of the neo-Nazis, Klan members and alt right agitators who put aside their internecine differences to gather in an unprecedented show of unity. Their stated common cause: To…

January 30, 2018 At a time when women have become increasingly vocal in addressing critical issues like sexual harassment and sexual violence, reproductive rights, workplace opportunity and equal pay, a group of far right trolls have deliberately appropriated slogans from the women’s movement in service of their own xenophobic cause. The far right campaign appropriates “No Means No” and recasts “My Body My Choice” as “My Borders My Choice.” …

January 25, 2018 In July 2017, after seven days of statements and testimony from more than 150 sexual abuse survivors, Larry Nassar, the former team doctor for the U.S. gymnastics team, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison. From the women's testimony, here's what we learned: Many of the accusers were minors, as young as six years old, at the time of the assaults. Most of the women were gymnasts but they also included dancers, rowers and runners. Some of those who shared their experiences…