Dear John,

Imagine a classroom full of high school students standing in front of an American flag and raising their right hands, in unison, outstretched with palms facing down — the classic Nazi salute. Imagine the teacher is the one who instructed the students to do this. Imagine being a Jewish student in the classroom, who along with others refused to do the salute, and that Jewish student is the only one punished afterwards. Sounds like something out of 1930’s Germany, right?

Wrong. This is what reportedly occurred only days ago at Mountain Brook High School just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. If you are currently scratching your head and wondering, “Mountain Brook schools and antisemitism, why does that sound so familiar?” it might be because they made headlines two years ago when students were caught on video with swastikas drawn on their backs. Or it might be because last fall they made headlines once again after abruptly ending a longterm training program with ADL, citing as their excuse “divisive concepts” in the diversity training.

There are so many aspects of this story that are deeply disturbing, but most disgusting is the apparent reaction from the school — revealing a systemic issue that threatens the local Jewish community and the entire community as well.

Since this latest incident, ADL’s regional staff has engaged in conversations with the family and community leadership to determine how we can support the response to this challenging situation. You can read more about what happened in this Alabama community and ADL’s call for action, here.

The same week that this bizarre classroom uproar was making headlines in Alabama, a series of antisemitic incidents in the streets of Brooklyn also made the news.

In one violent assault, security cameras caught the scene of a man stalking up behind an orthodox Jew and punching him in the head before fleeing. Another alleged assault on a Jewish member of the community was reported in the same area that evening. In a third incident, several Brooklyn yeshiva school buses were spray painted with swastika graffiti

As our NY/NJ Regional Director Scott Richman noted, incidents like these are happening on a weekly basis in the city, and the Jewish community is on edge. ADL has offered a $7,500 reward for information that leads to arrests and convictions in the assaults. We are working with law enforcement, and providing support to the Jewish community. This is the eighth time in recent months that we have had to offer a reward for a violent antisemitic assault.

At a time of heightened concern about antisemitism, just weeks after the Colleyville hostage crisis, we must all be vigilant in speaking out against hateful acts like these. If you are a victim of or witness to an antisemitic incident, we encourage you to report it to ADL so we can assess the situation and respond.

Thank you for joining ADL in staying united against hate.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Greenblatt

CEO and National Director

ADL