ADL Fights Anti Immigrant Bias

The ADL jeopardizes its reputation "saying that hostility toward immigrants represents a growing form of intolerance." The intolerance is toward illegal immigration. If the ADL cannot make the distinction it has joined the many interest groups who distort reality and confuse the public. (Yvonne Abraham, "For ADL, another mission, Group will combat anti-immigrant bias," Boston Globe, March 17, 2007)
Also troubling is Andrew Tarsey's comment, "We fight against bigotry in all forms." The ADL local and national ignored my many inquiries about why the ADL ignores the hatred toward and exploitation of persons with disabilities especially persons accused of psychiatric illness.
Perplexing is the ADL's opposition "authoriz[ing] State Police to arrest people who are here illegally." Persons with disabilities are arrested by police who openly advocate using electrical weapons (TASERs) on persons with disabilities who committed no crime and who live here legally.
The ADL joins the ACLU promoting the interests of wealthy and politically powerful groups while ignoring vulnerable individuals with disabilities. It is shameful that that ADL has lowered its standards to compete for support among the powerful and ignores continued exploitation of the weak.
--
Roy Bercaw, Editor
ENOUGH ROOM
Cambridge MA USA
http://enoughroom.blogspot.com

For ADL, another mission Group will combat anti-immigrant bias
By Yvonne Abraham,
Boston Globe Staff
March 17, 2007

The Anti-Defamation League of New England, saying that hostility toward immigrants represents a growing form of intolerance, is making the fight against anti-immigrant sentiment a significant focus of the 60-year-old organization. Leaders of the ADL, which is known primarily for its efforts to combat anti-Semitism, say they are alarmed at the animus toward immigrants that seems to be surfacing as the debate over securing the country's borders intensifies.
Andrew Tarsy, regional director of the ADL of New England, said recent events in immigrant communities around Boston demonstrate the urgency for more activism. "We fight against bigotry in all forms," Tarsy said. "It has become clear both in the extremist world and even in the mainstream that the conversation about immigrants is laced with bigotry." The efforts will take several forms: events to reach out directly to immigrants; advocacy on state and local immigrant issues; monitoring hate activity in communities; and meeting with police chiefs to alert them to possible tensions in their communities over immigrants.
On Thursday, the ADL will host its first immigrant-themed Passover Seder titled "Nation of Immigrants." The dinner for 800, including hundreds of immigrants, will highlight Passover traditions that celebrate the exodus of Jewish people from slavery in Egypt and feature readings of stories of immigration throughout the dinner. The readings will include passages from the Book of Exodus and Mexican labor activist Cesar Chavez.
ADL leaders hope they will raise awareness of the immigrant experience among the organization's members while promoting understanding between Jews and immigrants. "The story of Passover is: We were slaves, and then we were free," Tarsy said. "And you need to tell that story in every generation and appreciate that freedom. It's an insight into other human conditions, like immigration, the journey to be part of a diverse America, where we respect differences."
Earlier this month, the ADL held a youth congress, in which 800 high school students discussed the way the debate over immigration was playing out in their schools. Some immigrant students told their own stories of harassment and discrimination. Tarsy said there has been an upsurge in anti-immigrant activity nationally among organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. The ADL here received reports in the last week of hate literature about immigrants being distributed in Taunton, Easton, and Brockton by another group, he said.
In Massachusetts, the influx of tens of thousands of new immigrants has led to tensions in some communities. The ADL, among the most influential civil rights organization in the region, has been working alongside immigrants' rights groups to stem the expansion of state and local powers to enforce immigration laws, such as former Governor Mitt Romney's push to authorize State Police to arrest people who are here illegally. While immigration has grown increasingly central to the local ADL's concerns over the past year, the organization plans to make a more public push on the issue. "Hate against one is hate against all," Tarsy said. "There is a bigotry here that comes from a very dangerous place." He said a March 6 immigration raid at a New Bedford leather goods factory and the consequences for families of arrested workers, "put a human face on this abstraction everybody's talking about." Regardless of one's stance on border control and immigration laws, Tarsy said, the raid demonstrated the need "to treat people with greater compassion," which is the message the ADL wants to convey. Leaders point out that the ADL has a long tradition of working for causes other than anti-Semitism. The organization was prominent in the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s and has supported the liberalization of immigration laws for decades. "Historically, the Jewish community has always cared about immigration issues," said Jonathan Sarna, professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and author of "The Jews of Boston." "So many Jews were immigrants or are descendants of immigrants," he said. Still, Tarsy said, there is a clear need to act now, because "this is a critical moment in the American conversation about immigration." "There is an urgency to humanize the issue in 2007, so that [immigrants do] not become some abstraction facing all manner of exclusion and suspicion," he said. Tarsy said that minority groups gain power when they unite and that it is in the Jewish community's interest to reach out to Hispanics, the fastest-growing minority group in the state, and one with increasing clout nationally. The regional ADL's emphasis follows a similar push by the 94-year-old national organization. "Jews have long understood, and the Boston ADL understands better than almost anybody, that, as a small minority in America, their clout totally depends on their ability to build coalitions," he said. One Hispanic leader welcomed the ADL efforts. "I don't think there were many efforts in the past to bring together Latino and Jewish communities," said Vanessa Calderon-Rosado, chief executive officer of Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion, or Puerto Rican Tenants in Action, which is helping to organize Thursday's Seder. "We haven't done a good job yet." Sarna said Jewish leaders hope that as Latinos recognize the Jewish community's support for their issues, Latinos, whose political clout is expected to grow with their numbers, will support Jews on other issues, such as US Middle East policy. Building coalitions between Jews and Latinos is not without challenges, however. A 2005 ADL survey found that 35 percent of Latinos born outside the United States hold "hard core anti-Semitic beliefs," while 19 percent of Latinos born in the United States fall into the same category.