Summit Will Empower Educators to Combat Antisemitism and Hate in Schools
by Lisa Armony, Chief Impact Officer and Director, Rose Project, Jewish Federation of Orange County
July 20, 2022
Antisemitism, the hatred of, and bigotry toward, Jews, is at historically high levels in Orange County, across the U.S., and around the world. Sadly, this trend is mirrored in our nation’s schools. The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) 2021 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents reported 331 antisemitic incidents in K-12 schools nationwide last year, a 93 percent increase from 2020. Because most hate incidents go unreported, the actual number of incidents is certainly much higher.
At the same time, hate targeting other marginalized communities is likewise rising. The multifold increase in hate acts targeting the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is just one of many disturbing examples, but escalating levels of hate targeting Black Americans, the LGBTQ+ community, Muslims, Sikhs, and others also gives us cause for alarm.
The parallel rise of antisemitism and other forms of hate is no coincidence. It is a historical pattern, and a warning sign we must not ignore. It is why Jewish Federation of Orange County, in partnership with UC Irvine, ADL, and other community organizations, is convening the county’s diverse stakeholders for a one-day summit on antisemitism and hate on Tuesday, August 30 on the UCI campus. Scholarships are available to K-12 educators and administrators who wish to attend and specials sessions will be geared to this community.
We have seen that what starts with hostility, discrimination, and violence against Jews never ends with Jews. As the driving force behind a range of extremist ideologies, antisemitism is typically accompanied by other discriminatory ideologies and biases, including misogyny, homophobia and racism. Antisemitism thus has a profound impact on the safety of marginalized communities, on their rights to freedom of religion and belief, and on their human rights protections.
The danger of antisemitism doesn’t stop there. In his 2019 United Nations report, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Dr. Ahmed Shaheed calls antisemitism “toxic” to democratic societies and a threat everywhere it goes unchallenged. Antisemitism is a conspiracy theory that characterizes Jews as greedy, disloyal, and plotting world domination. It blames Jews for the problems that befall societies, all part of a scheme to gain power and control at the expense of the communities in which they live. As such, it constitutes an assault on truth that blinds believers and leads them to seek simple, fanciful, but dangerous solutions to vexing problems. It also signals a loss of faith in democratic values and norms.
This conspiratorial thread is woven throughout history wherever antisemitism has embedded itself, and has been used to justify the murder of Jews and the expulsion and destruction of Jewish communities for hundreds of years.
Today, Jewish conspiracy theories are baked into the worldviews of extremists on the far right and far left of the political spectrum. They underlie the so-called “Great Replacement Theory” – the white nationalist canard that claims that Jewish “elites” are conspiring to undermine or “replace” the political power and cultural influence of white Americans through immigration policies favoring people of color. This was the clarion call of extremists who marched through Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us.” Tragically, this belief inspired mass shootings in Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, in a Chabad Center in Poway, in two Christchurch, New Zealand mosques, in one of South Carolina’s oldest Black churches, and in commercial outlets in El Paso and Buffalo that targeted not only Jews, but also Muslims, Black Americans, and the Latino community.
On the extreme left, Jewish conspiracy theories underlie some of what adherents claim to be mere criticism of Zionism or Israel, but they are founded on the same stereotypical elements as their right-wing counterparts. The recent publication of the “Mapping Project” by the group, “BDS Boston,” strips the political cover off these claims. This “interactive map” pinpoints the locations of 400 Massachusetts-based Jewish communal organizations, including schools, synagogues, and social service providers, along with certain non-Jewish organizations, in an effort to “expose,” “isolate,” and “dismantle” these groups for their alleged responsibility for the “colonialization of Palestine” and other “linked harms,” including policing, U.S. imperialism and displacement. In other words, BDS Boston blames American Jews and those connected to them for what is its members perceive as heinous ills facing the Middle East and American society.
These examples underscore, as Western States Center Executive Director and summit speaker, Eric K. Ward, rightly points out, that when it comes to antisemitism, we all have “skin in the game.” As antisemitic beliefs migrate from the extremist margins of society into the mainstream, fueled by social media’s belief-reinforcing echo chambers and by certain politicians and media figures who prey on public fears and biases, we can expect the danger confronting all of our communities to grow.
The summit will bring together Orange County stakeholders committed to a hate-free society, including K-12 educators, to explore antisemitism’s complex manifestations and its relationship to other forms of hate and threats to democracy; to gain valuable tools and resources; and to build relationships that will support ongoing collaboration to combat hate and inspire community change.
Educators play a vital role in countering hate and empowering young people to recognize and resist hateful ideologies. The summit features two expert-led breakout sessions for OC teachers and administrators that will offer insight into the climate for Jewish students today, and share best practices and curricular and extracurricular resources to enable them to stand up for their students when hate happens and build hate-free school communities.
For information on the summit visit our webpage. For scholarships, contact Lisa Armony at LArmony@JFedOC.org.