Increase in Antisemitism Nationwide
By Sara Lennon
The increase in antisemitic hate speech, threats, and violence is alarming. According to the Anti Defamation League, antisemitic incidents reached an all-time high across the U.S. in 2021 with a total of 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism. This represents the largest number of reported incidents against Jews in the U.S. since the ADL started recording the data in 1979. 1,776 were cases of harassment, a 43% increase from 1,242 in 2020; 853 were cases of vandalism, a 14% increase from 751 in 2020; and 88 were assaults on 131 victims, a 167% increase from 33 in 2020. None of the assaults were deadly. To experience an interactive map on where they all occurred, learn to recognize hate symbols and terms, watch a video on the monetization of antisemitism, or listen at a podcast, click here.
Maine is fortunate to have a relatively low number of hate incidents. Nonetheless, schools are experiencing blatant acts of bigotry from students (and occasionally adults). These include Swastikas and slurs painted on walls, name calling, intimidation, and bullying on social media. A few districts have contacted the HHRC to facilitate conversations that help reduce the fear and anger and begin a process of healing. In addition, we have programs for both students and teachers on antisemitism, hate speech and symbols, and standing up to prejudice including: Antisemitism Past & Present, The Least One Can Demand, Anti-Bias Toolkit, Speak Up At Schools, and Finding Your Voice.
Recent antisemitic comments by a celebrity has brought this growing problem into the bright lights of public discourse. Major sponsors began to cancel accounts and distance themselves. Adidas announced they would sever ties in light of his statements and past comments; other companies quickly followed, including Balenciaga, Creative Artists Agency, MRC, TJ Maxx, the Gap, Peloton, and Foot Locker. Painful as it was to hear a celebrity be so publicly and blatantly antisemitic, it did reveal that major companies, measuring the public’s mood, will not tolerate antisemitism, and this is a positive step forward.
According to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center: Hate at School. Something ugly is happening in America’s schools. And, it’s not going away “Most of the hate and bias incidents witnessed by educators were not addressed by school leaders. No one was disciplined in 57 percent of them. Nine times out of ten, administrators failed to denounce the bias or reaffirm school values. The picture that emerges is the opposite of what schools should be: places where students feel welcome, safe and supported by the adults who are responsible for their well-being. Schools cannot ignore these problems. To ensure students are safe from harm, educators must take vigorous, proactive measures to counter prejudice and to promote equity and inclusiveness. And they must act swiftly and decisively to address all incidents of hate and bias when they happen, with a model that emphasizes communication, empathy, reconciliation and support to those who are harmed.”
Sixty-eight percent of the antisemitic incidents identified in the news media involved swastikas. Often when our educators go into a school to engage in anti-bias work, they find that some students do not understand the historical context of a Swastika, and don’t know much about the Holocaust or the history of what that symbol represents. After the presentation and an honest conversation, more students say they plan to speak up if they see or hear classmates using offensive language, bullying someone, or displaying hate symbols. Last year, Hillel tracked more than 500 instances of Jewish students and their campus institutions being subjected to antisemitic harassment, discrimination and attack — more than three times the number of incidents recorded when today’s seniors were starting college just a few years ago.
Listen to a PBS News Hour interview with Anti-Defamation League CEO and National Director Jonathn Greenblatt, author of the new book It Could Happen Here: Why America Is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable and How We Can Stop It. “In the past year alone, assaults increased 167 percent. And we saw examples of vandalism on the rise, harassment on the rise. So I think antisemitism really isn’t just, I would suggest, a Jewish problem. It’s an American problem. It’s typically the canary in the coal mine. And so, as things are beginning to unravel more broadly, the Jewish community is often the target of scapegoating and victimized in that way. And that’s exactly what’s happening here. Number one, I think individuals should feel empowered to interrupt intolerance when it happens. Call out hate when you hear it, whether it’s directed at Jewish people or, by the way, anyone else. And, in our polarized society, we often don’t want to—we point to the other side.
But we need to call it out when it happens among our own, conservatives calling it out when conservatives do it, liberals calling it out when liberals do it. That’s really important. I think the social media companies could play a huge role. Their algorithms don’t need to amplify intolerance and antisemitism. Just a little bit more discretion by the companies could dial down the drama dramatically. And then, finally, I’d like to see policymakers bring anti-bias education into classrooms, bring communities together. There’s a lot more that could be done.”
Anti-bias education in the classroom is growing. The Maine Department of Education, in collaboration with teachers and educators (including HHRC Education Coordinator Erica Nadelhaft) created a robust online curriculum of modules, with the acronym MOOSE for Maine Online Opportunities for Sustained Education. These learning modules engage students on anti-bias training, awareness of prejudice or othering, how to be an upstander, why speaking out matters and bullying is dangerous. They help students from Pre-K through 12th grade with the tools to stand up to hate, call out prejudice, and help create classrooms that welcome all members into community.
The HHRC provides Holocaust and human rights educational programs that include a slideshow and presentation from an experienced educator, discussion and interactive activities. Current programs, which range from 60-90 minutes, fall into three categories: The Holocaust/Shoah, Understanding and Confronting Bias, and Human Rights. The individual presentations are: Decision Making in Times of Injustice, Kristallnacht: The Night of Broken Glass The Message Matters, Antisemitism Past & Present, Jewish Resistance, Jewish Life Before the Holocaust, The Least One Can Demand, Yearning to Breathe Free, Civil Rights in America, Anti-Bias Toolkit, Speak Up At Schools, and Finding Your Voice. In addition, we help communities navigate their way through difficult conversations, offer resource to educators wrestling with hate incidents, sponsor talks and panels to explore ways to reduce stereotyping and prejudice, and sponsor exhibits, performances, events and gatherings to further our goal of building safe, open and welcoming communities.
Why do we have faith that these things work? It’s clear that the next generation is more aware, and engaged, in recognizing hate, calling it out, standing up, speaking out, and courageously insisting that we embrace difference in all of its forms. This can be threatening to a small minority that does not want change; one challenge is the amplification of this small minority on social media, YouTube, Right wing channels, and attention-grabbing actions make it seem as though the nation is “evenly divided” on these questions. It is not. Like virtually all societies that emerge into greater plurality, there is resistance. There is fear and hatred. But when young people believe that life is better together, progress happens. American is becoming interracial, pluralistic, interfaith and interdependent. Our next generation has a choice: they can resist and close up, or embrace and open up. This is our conviction.
Resources:
Graphs courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Read the full report here.
Helpful websites:
www.learningforjustice.org
www.adl.org
www.hhrcmaine.org
www.splcenter.org
www.APA.org
www.justice.go
www.ojp.gov