Dear John,

I am excited to start the new year by telling you about my new book: IT COULD HAPPEN HERE: Why America Is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable — And How We Can Stop It.

This deeply personal book is dedicated to my grandfather, Bernard Greenblatt. He was a German Jew born in a town that no longer had a Jewish population by the time I visited to explore my roots in 1990. Many of us could not imagine such a scenario in our own lives. Most Americans could never conceive that hate will ever come for us or our loved ones. We live in the United States, after all, a place of laws and human rights and democracy. And certainly nothing like what happened to the Jews in Germany could ever happen here...

I wrote this book because I’ve seen the alarming rise of antisemitism and hate in recent years. I know that this age-old trend is intensifying, gathering momentum right here in the United States. Between 2015 and 2018, the United States saw a doubling of antisemitic incidents. The individuals behind antisemitic incidents subscribe to a range of ideologies — extreme right and far left, white supremacists, QAnon adherents, Black Hebrew Israelites, anti-Zionists and so-called activists whose seething and obsessive hostility toward the world’s only Jewish state and its supporters becomes almost indistinguishable from outright hostility toward the Jewish people.

The sad fact is that hatred of all kinds — including anti-black racism, anti-AAPI hate, anti-immigrant xenophobia, homophobia, anti-Muslim bias and more — has exploded in recent years.

The good news is that decent, upstanding people far outnumber the bigots and insurgents. The even better news is that we have the tools to strike back against hate and avert the dangerous path we’re on...

There is no silver bullet to stop hate. It will take a whole-of-society strategy, but we can dial back even deeply entrenched intolerance if we mobilize citizens, elected officials, faith leaders, business executives and others; if we employ a combination of education and public advocacy; if we summon the courage to call out those who perpetuate prejudice.

Norms do shift. Progress does happen. The world can become a better place. But we have to work at it.

I know you care as deeply about this as I do, and so I sincerely hope you will find this book a valuable tool in the fight against hate and a way to support our work as a portion of the proceeds of each book sold will go towards ADL’s work to make the world a better place. Thank you for continuing to fight the good fight!

Sincerely,

Jonathan Greenblatt

CEO and National Director

ADL