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“There is an epidemic of hate facing our country. We’re seeing a rapid rise in antisemitic rhetoric and acts. Let me be clear: Words matter. People are no longer saying the quiet parts out loud. They are literally screaming them.”
These are the opening remarks Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff gave at the start of the December 7 White House roundtable on combating antisemitism.
Mr. Emhoff was joined by Biden administration officials and leaders from more than a dozen Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), whose most recent data show the past year had the highest number of antisemitic incidents on record since the ADL began tracking them more than 40 years ago. This has continued a sharp rise in harassment, vandalism, and violence against Jewish people, homes, schools, community centers, cemeteries, and synagogues and places of worship that began in 2016.
Though the conference was planned well in advance, there was obvious symbolism to the fact that it took place just days after former President Trump welcomed Kanye West (Ye), who has very publicly espoused his antisemitic beliefs and admiration for Hitler, and white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes to dinner at his Florida home.
As current White House Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice said during the roundtable, “There’s nothing more vicious than what we are seeing today out of the mouths of our leaders, our public figures, our celebrities, our elected officials.”
Read the Full Column: https://www.childrensdefense.org/child-watch-columns/health/2022/an-epidemic-of-hate/
Marian Wright Edelman is Founder and President Emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go to www.childrensdefense.org.
