Anti-Defamation League Publishes New "Interim" Definition of Racism
Group that declared only whites could be racist, and provided diversity training and programs in Alabama schools, reverses course after backlash
The Anti-Defamation League, which records show provided diversity training and programs to teachers and students in the Huntsville City Schools system, changed its controversial definition of racism this week after a backlash because of its extremist perspective.
The original definition read:
“Racism: The marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people.”
After the definition was highlighted in an article I wrote on January 26, word began to spread across social media and over the next few days similar articles were published widely, from the Blaze to the Post Millennial to the Times of Israel. Shorter versions of my article were also published by AL.com and the Montgomery Advertiser, among others, raising awareness of the issue both statewide and nationally.
And after the added attention the Anti-Defamation League brought to itself, and its definition, by condemning Whoopie Goldberg’s talk about how the Holocaust was “not about race,” because Jews are “white people,” the group made the following change:
“Racism (interim definition): Racism occurs when individuals or institutions show more favorable evaluation or treatment of an individual or group based on race or ethnicity.”
After publishing the new definition, the organization’s executive director, Johnathan Greenblatt, explained where they went wrong, and why:
A few years ago, ADL updated our definition to reflect that racism in the United States manifests in broader and systemic ways and to explicitly acknowledge the targeting of people of color — among many others — by the white supremacist extremism we have tracked for decades. While this is true, this new frame narrowed the meaning in other ways. And, by being so narrow, the resulting definition was incomplete, rendering it ineffective and therefore unacceptable. It’s true, it’s just not the whole truth. It alienated many people who did not see their own experience encompassed in this definition, including many in the Jewish community.
In all honesty, as I re-read it this past week, it struck me that it didn’t even speak to my own family’s experience with the racism they experienced as Jews from the Middle East.
Many people noticed the change and called it out, taking to Twitter to vent their feelings.
Correcting their mistake is a good thing, and they should be applauded for publishing a much more accurate and commonly understood definition of racism. But what’s the deal with it being “interim” only?
As I mentioned in my original post, the word is an established and well-defined member of the English lexicon. There’s no need for a committee to redefine the word (that’s what caused the problem in the first place), or worse, ask everyone else to redefine it, which is what they’re doing.
It remains to be seen if Huntsville City Schools will alter their “long-standing relationship with the Anti-Defamation League,” as one system official described it, and whether the system will still use the organization’s anti-bullying program for its students or allow the group to provide diversity training to its teachers again. The board members and the system’s superintendent have yet to comment on the matter.
While the Anti-Defamation League corrected this extreme definition, the fact that it was published in the first place offered us a glimpse into the internal thinking of the organization and the perspectives of those who create and implement their programs. We should remain watchful, and ensure that those perspectives don't leak into anything provided to our children or mandated for our teachers.
We’ll keep checking on Hunstville City Schools, and this “interim” definition, to see if and when things change, again.
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