Current Events Classroom lesson from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), re the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, October 30, 2018

Current Events Classroom lesson from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), re the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh:

[Kip Currier: I'm posting helpful information below, received from my former and now-retired University of Pittsburgh colleague Dr. Ellen Detlefsen, whose son David Reynolds works within the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Education Division. As Ellen wrote:

"David...has put together a lesson plan and resource page about the tragedy in Pittsburgh.  He has asked us to share this widely, and we urge you to do the same!  Sadly, it is more needed now than ever, so please see that this is shared with teachers, preachers, health workers, and your friends, neighbors, and relatives!"] 

"ADL has a new HS Current Events Classroom lesson: Deadly Shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

 On the morning of October 27, at Sabbath services, Robert Bowers entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA and yelled “All Jews must die,” then opened fire upon the congregants. He was armed with an assault rifle and several handguns and killed eleven congregants and wounded six others, four of whom are police officers.  When surrendering to law enforcement, Bowers told an officer that he “wanted all Jews to die” and that Jews “were committing genocide against his people.” This shooting is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the U.S. This lesson provides an opportunity for students to analyze this incident in the context of the shooter’s background and history of anti-Semitism, as well as the nationwide rise of anti-Semitic incidents over the last year.  In this lesson, students will learn more about the incident, understand and consider the larger context of anti-Semitism in the U.S., explore how the escalation of hate operates and how allyship can make a difference.

We also posted a new blog: The Week in Hate and Bias and How to Talk with Young People

Here is a landing page with all the related resources that I’ve been sending the past few days plus these—all in one place!  After the Deadly Shooting at a Pittsburgh Synagogue: Resources for Educators

Dave Reynolds, Director of Professional Development and Regional Support

40 Court St. Boston, MA 02108

t: 617.406.6345 | email: dreynolds@adl.org
adl.org"

Why I Quit Twitter — and Left Behind 35,000 Followers; New York Times, 6/10/16

Jonathan Weisman, New York Times; Why I Quit Twitter — and Left Behind 35,000 Followers:

"I have been encouraged to return to Twitter, and told that I should continue to fight, that my exit was cowardly, that I let the haters win. And I might. I miss the quick rush of a scan through my time line.

But the fact is, giving up one social media space wasn’t exactly martyrdom. It wasn’t much of a loss at all. I have found myself reading whole articles through The New York Times and Washington Post apps on my phone — imagine that. I can actually look at the profiles of people requesting to be my friend on Facebook to see if they are, in fact, trolls. If one slips through, I not only can “unfriend” him but can delete his posts. It feels liberating.

And I am awaiting some sign from Twitter that it cares whether its platform is becoming a cesspit of hate. Until then, sayonara."

‘Klinghoffer’ Composer Responds to Met’s Decision; New York Times, 6/18/14

Michael Cooper, New York Times; ‘Klinghoffer’ Composer Responds to Met’s Decision:

"Mr. Gelb, a champion of Mr. Adams’s who was the first to bring his operas to the Met stage, has faced sharp criticism for canceling the “Klinghoffer” transmission from some music critics and arts administrators. (Nicholas Kenyon, the managing director of the Barbican Center in London, posted on Twitter that the Met’s decision was “shocking shortsighted and indefensible.”)

Suzanne Nossel, the executive director of the PEN American Center, which promotes free expression, called the decision troubling. “We are deeply troubled by the decision of an arts organization to withhold a performance not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because someone, somewhere might misconstrue it,” she said in an email.

Mr. Gelb said that the Met remains committed to the work.

“The Met is resolute on going forward with it, and the fact that we offered this compromise outside the United States doesn’t mean that we’re prepared to compromise on artistic integrity inside the opera house,” Mr. Gelb said in an interview on Tuesday. “This is a great work of art that should be seen and heard at the Met, where it belongs.”

Mr. Adams, one of America’s foremost composers, said that he did not understand why the cinema transmission and radio broadcast were still being canceled if Mr. Gelb and the Anti-Defamation League agreed that the work is not anti-Semitic, though some critics have said otherwise. And he said he had been concerned by what he called “the really completely unjust charges” about his opera, especially by people who have not heard it."