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education
Rights Group Applauds Vote by Largest US Teachers Union to Cut ADL Ties
"Despite its reputation as a civil rights organization, the ADL is not the social justice educational partner it claims to be," said the National Education Association.
Jul 08, 2025
A leading Muslim civil rights group was among those applauding on Tuesday after the largest labor union in the United States took a major step toward "fostering respect for the rights and dignity of all students in public schools" by voting to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League.
The National Education Association (NEA), which represents nearly 3 million educators, approved a measure saying it "will not use, endorse, or publicize materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), such as its curricular materials or statistics."
The move is significant considering the influence the ADL has had over curriculum related to Israel in U.S. schools for decades, with the organization devising recent lesson plans about antisemitism "in the extreme political left" in the U.S., noting that such supposed antisemitism "is often centered on opposition to the state of Israel."
The ADL published a report last year that equated antisemitism with anti-Zionism and pointed to nationwide demonstrations against Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Palestinians in Gaza as evidence that antisemitism is on the rise in the United States. The group has also lobbied in favor of legislation like the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which critics have said could be used to limit the right to criticize Israel on school campuses.
The NEA's 7,000-member Representative Assembly voted for the measure on Sunday, finding that "despite its reputation as a civil rights organization, the ADL is not the social justice educational partner it claims to be."
In the lead-up to the vote, former Massachusetts Teachers Association president Merrie Najimy cited the ADL's attacks last year in the MTA as evidence that the national group is focused on rooting out and ostracizing critics of Israel's U.S.-backed policies and defenders of Palestinian rights—not on promoting civil rights for all members of school communities.
"This principled move is a significant step toward fostering respect for the rights and dignity of all students in public schools, who must receive an education without facing biased, politically driven agendas."
When the MTA's elected board of directors called on the union to create resources for teachers to use to educate themselves about the history of Palestine, the ADL accused the union of "glorifying terrorism" and displayed what the MTA called "manipulated" resources at a state commission hearing on antisemitism in February.
"We had been led to believe that the commission hearing would provide the opportunity for a thoughtful discussion about how to teach this very difficult conflict with our students," said the MTA about the ADL's use of the resources. "The way these resources were manipulated in such a fashion, so as to label the state's largest union of educators as promoters of antisemitism, remains one of the more deplorable displays witnessed at the State House."
Labor Notes reported on Monday that MTA members are still facing attacks stemming from the ADL's claims that the union was promoting antisemitism in schools.
"Why would we partner with an organization that does us harm?" Najimy said ahead of the NEA vote.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Tuesday it welcomed the vote "to stop exposing public school students to biased materials provided by the Anti-Defamation League," and noted that in addition to "using false allegations of antisemitism to silence advocacy for Palestinian human rights," the ADL has historically demonstrated "opposition to Black movements for racial equality, including Black Lives Matter and the South African anti-apartheid movement."
ADL CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in the New York Jewish Week in 2016 that Black Lives Matter leaders "have expressed support for efforts to boycott and divest from the state of Israel" and claimed those efforts "often are rooted in bigotry." The group also targeted activists who opposed apartheid in South Africa
"The ADL has only become worse under its increasingly unhinged director Jonathan Greenblatt, who has repeatedly smeared and endangered students in recent years," said CAIR. "This principled move is a significant step toward fostering respect for the rights and dignity of all students in public schools, who must receive an education without facing biased, politically driven agendas."
CAIR pointed to recent statements made by Greenblatt in which he reportedly equated pro-Palestinian protesters to ISIS and falsely claimed that Jewish and other students protesting Israel's bombardment of Gaza are "campus proxies" for the Iranian government.
Palestinian-American civil rights attorney Huwaida Arraf said the ADL "has long masqueraded as a civil rights organization while actively working to suppress antiracist movements."
The anti-war group CodePink has led efforts to end the ADL's influence over public education, with organizer Marcy Winograd speaking out against the group's so-called "No Place for Hate" program earlier this year.
"The ADL's stated mission is to empower students, teachers, and parents to 'stand against bias and bullying...' with schoolwide pledges, projects, and games aimed at celebrating diversity and stamping out hate," wrote Winograd in a column at Common Dreams.
But when the Los Angeles Unified School District instituted the No Place for Hate program, its official website shared "an article attacking American Muslims for Palestine for 'being at the core of the anti-Israel and anti-Zionist movement in the United States.'"
"While selling schools on activities to bolster respect and community, the ADL... engineers the death of debate over Israel's right to exist as a Jewish nationalist state in historic Palestine," wrote Winograd.
"Schools," she wrote, "are no place for the ADL."
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The Secret to Saving Democracy in the US Is a New Kind of Civics Education
We need a huge pile of money to explain the truth of Trump’s authoritarian overreach to the millions who have checked out from political life.
Jul 05, 2025
Are you part of the newly reinvigorated resistance? Are you someone who recognizes that President Donald Trump is an existential threat to everything wise and decent in this country? Do you believe democracy in the United States is dangling from a high cliff hovering above rocky terrain?
I would bet that every person who reads this article will answer all three questions with a thunderous, “Hell, yes!”
I am right there with you. But here’s the problem: I would also bet that no one who is not already of this mindset will ever read this article. And the same is true, or at least largely true, of hundreds of other articles, books, news reports, speeches, and the like raising the warning of growing autocracy. It is now conventional wisdom that left-wing Americans live in a different-informational universe than right-wing Americans. Progressives generally rely on sources like major media, NPR and PBS, and progressive websites. MAGA enthusiasts rely on hard-right propaganda sources like Fox News, Breitbart, right-wing radio, and, yes, for some the internet ravings of QAnon.
We are talking to ourselves.
This would be expensive. But then, how much is democracy worth to us?
These stark differences in the news consumed by the two groups has led to the left and right existing in two different perceived realities. One sees the world as it is, and the other sees it as portrayed in a far-right fever dream. Realistically, few hardcore MAGA supporters will change their outlook whatever they are told. Indeed, polls suggest that many would be perfectly happy with an autocratic form of government. But given the close political division in the United States, nudging even 1-2% of them into the real world could be enough to save American democracy.
There is, however, a more promising pool of Americans to try to recruit into the fight for democracy. The biggest opportunity isn’t MAGA (although we should still try). The better opportunity to find converts would be from, let’s call it, Team Oblivious.
They are out there by the millions. The term oblivious isn’t employed here as an insult. It’s a descriptor. These are people who pay absolutely no attention to politics or national news because they have absolutely no interest in them. Most aren’t stupid, and at least some would probably be reachable if we could somehow convince them to look up and see what is happening. Before we could do that effectively, however, we would first need to know how and where to talk to them.
The United States is flunking civics. Civics education in schools has been dramatically reduced. When the Founding Fathers spoke of the importance of widespread public education, they didn’t emphasize preparing children for employment as is true today. People like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams supported public education so the young would grow to become part of the informed citizenry necessary for a functioning republic.
Increasing civics education in schools, while important, obviously isn’t the answer to the current menace. We need to act now. Authoritarianism is on the march, and the rule of law is crumbling shockingly fast. It took Donald Trump only a few brief months to completely corrupt the Justice Department—turning it into his personal attack dog. He orders investigations of political opponents at the same time he protects his followers by deep-sixing investigations and abusing the pardon power. He is rapidly politicizing every part of the federal government, firing public servants in what are supposed to be apolitical positions and replacing them with unqualified hacks who will blindly follow him.
The good news is that the resistance is now largely past licking our wounds over Trump’s election and is ready to fight. But there is something else we should do. And that is where, at least in my dreams, a huge pile of money comes into play.
We need a new kind of civics education—and we need it soon.
This new form of civics education would feature a series of brief, professionally produced messages to be posted anywhere and everywhere “members” of Team Oblivious, and to a lesser extent MAGA, can be found. This would sometimes involve expensive media advertising, and at other times free messages such as emails and social media posts.
For this idea to come to fruition, people with the necessary skills (which I don’t have), and some initial funding, would need to create an organization dedicated to spreading the word of the attack against American democracy. Its mission statement could be educating the citizens of the United States about the growing threat to our democracy. The leadership of such an organization would need to be beyond reproach. Complete transparency would be essential as would vigorously auditing of the organization’s funds. I would personally suggest that no effort be made for such an organization to qualify as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization as that would open it to harassment by government officials answering to Trump.
Once set up, the organization’s first priority would have to be fundraising. Lots of fundraising. This would be expensive.
But then, how much is democracy worth to us?
Any such organization would be wise to consult with experts who can help paint a picture of Team Oblivious (group characteristics not personal information). What are their demographics, what they are interested in, what media do they consume, what social media do they visit, what type of work do they do, and what might move them. The answers would vary with different ages and other differing characteristics. The data would therefore need to be broken down into categories. At the same time, experts on every type of media, online and traditional, should also be consulted to assist in determining the best way to reach as many people as possible.
In terms of the actual messages to be sent, the best starting place would be the warning signs of authoritarianism. This would be combined with showing the many ways in which these signs point at Donald Trump. For example, experts agree that one particularly worrying sign of authoritarian government is the use of police and prosecutors to attack political opponents, something Trump is doing right now. This could be demonstrated in as little as 10 to 15 seconds, driving the point home before boredom grabs the wheel. This could be followed by new messages discussing other signs of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, as well as other relevant topics.
These messages would be spread anywhere and everywhere that Team Oblivious, and to some extent MAGA, can be found. As noted before, this would obviously be expensive, but well worth the cost.
Because if ever America needed an informed citizenry, it is now.
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'Everyone Is Welcome Here' Signs Banned From Idaho Schools as 'Political' Statement
"To say that 'Everyone is Welcome' in a public school system is not political, it's the law," said one Idaho teacher.
Jul 02, 2025
The Idaho attorney general's office has declared schools in the state will no longer be allowed to post signs declaring that "Everyone is welcome here" on the grounds that they are purportedly a political message aimed at criticizing the policies of President Donald Trump.
Idaho Ed News reported Monday that the office has found that signs stating "Everyone is welcome here" violate Idaho House Bill 41, a law passed back in March that bars schools from flying flags or displaying signs that represent "a political viewpoint, including but not limited to flags or banners regarding a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or a political ideology."
In explaining its rationale, the Idaho attorney general's office claimed that "these signs are part of an ideological/social movement which started in Twin Cities, Minnesota following the 2016 election of Donald Trump" and added that "since that time, the signs have been used by the Democratic Party as a political statement. The Idaho Democratic Party even sells these signs as part of its fundraising efforts.”
The signs became an issue after Sarah Inama, a teacher in Idaho's West Ada School District, had refused to take them down from her classroom in the wake of Idaho House Bill 41's passage because she did not believe that a sign welcoming students regardless of their race or ethnicity should be considered political.
In a statement to Idaho Ed News, Inama once again expressed bewilderment that anyone could find the signs to be a political statement, especially given that government institutions are already legally barred from engaging in racial discrimination.
"To say that 'Everyone is welcome' in a public school system is not political, it's the law," Inama told the publication.
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