Click here to subscribe today or Login.
The anniversary of a low point in American Jewish history and a devastating hate crime was marked this summer.
One hundred years ago, Leo Frank, a manager at the National Pencil Co. in Atlanta, was wrongly convicted of murder in a trial steeped in overt anti-Semitism. He was then kidnapped from prison, driven seven hours across Georgia and lynched in a public park. The murderous mob included a former governor and former and then-current mayors of Marietta, Georgia, (the scene of the crime), among other community leaders. The gang of bigoted murderers stood proudly for pictures with Frank’s corpse as it hung from a tree.
During Frank’s farcical trial two years earlier, shouts of “hang the Jew” rang out from the gallery and were reported in the press. After the lynching, half of Atlanta’s Jewish community, the largest in the American South, fled the state. Many of those who remained hid aspects of their Jewish observance. A leader of the lynch mob revived the Ku Klux Klan by burning a cross atop Georgia’s iconic Stone Mountain.
Unrepentant anti-Semitism on open display during Frank’s trial and in the aftermath was commonplace in early 20th-century America. This unchecked hostility against Jews helped establish the Anti-Defamation League as a premier voice against anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry and hatred.
Certainly anti-Semitic attitudes persist (10 percent of all Americans are infected with these bigoted views, according to ADL’s recent polling as revealed in the ADL Global 100 in 2014). Shocking incidents still occur, such as the deadly assault on a Jewish Community Center in Kansas. According to the FBI, Jews are targeted in hate crimes more often than all other religious groups combined. However, these views and events are widely condemned and, where appropriate, prosecuted.
So where are we 100 years after Leo Frank’s murder? We must appreciate our progress. While serious threats to the Jewish community endure, the notion that public officials would abide – let alone commit – such murderous anti-Semitic behavior is unfathomable in 21st-century America.
The anniversary of Frank’s murder reminds us of the tremendous impact that hate crimes have on an entire community; one need look no further than South Carolina and the horrific murders of nine African-Americans during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. For more than three decades, the Anti-Defamation League has spearheaded the drafting, enactment and implementation of hate crimes laws, working in partnership with other civil rights and religious organizations, law enforcement groups, civic agencies and business leaders. The federal government, 45 states and the District of Columbia have their own hate crimes laws.
Today, one hate crime is committed in the United States every 90 minutes. Five states (Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming) have no hate crime laws on their books. A number of states do not consider crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability a hate crime. Pennsylvania, regrettably, is one of these states.
Many other states have hate crime statutes that fail to protect victims based on various personal characteristics. For example, Utah’s hate crime statute does not enumerate any category of victim.
Hate crimes send messages of terror, exclusion and lawlessness. Hate crimes raise tensions that can divide and polarize communities. Hate crime laws send countervailing messages of acceptance, inclusion and consequences for the hate-filled acts.
For these reasons, the Anti-Defamation League, along with a diverse group of civil rights organizations, is launching 50 States Against Hate (#50StatesAgainstHate). This campaign will ensure that everyone in America will benefit from the legal protections of hate crime laws and realize freedom from the fear of hate-inspired violence.
This campaign also will seek to enhance training for law enforcement personnel on hate crime identification, response and reporting. In addition, it will strive to improve law enforcement data collection and reporting. According to the FBI’s most recent report on this subject, 85 cities in the United States with over 100,000 residents either did not report hate crime data or affirmatively reported zero hate crimes. Last, the goal of this campaign will be to educate communities about effective responses to hate violence to help build trust and advance police-community relations.
Fifty States Against Hate will help call attention to a very serious issue in our country. While we cannot outlaw anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia or other forms of bigotry, we, together, can significantly improve our response to hate crimes.