At its March meeting, officials on the COG Board of Directors were joined by Meredith Weisel, Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Washington, D.C., for a briefing on rising antisemitism, hate, and extremism across the nation and regionally.
The briefing, recommended by COG Board Chair Kate Stewart following a number of incidents in the region, provided an opportunity for area leaders to unite against these acts of hate and extremism and find meaningful ways to collaborate in protecting the community against future incidents. The presentation to the full board followed a 90-minute briefing by Weisel last month titled “Fighting Hate for Good” which was attended by several elected officials, public safety officials, and city and county managers in the COG network.
“Antisemitic attitudes in America have increased tremendously. Honestly, I am somebody who does this on a daily basis and it was quite disturbing when I saw this data.” shared Weisel.
ADL briefing at the March 2023 COG Board meeting.
Weisel provided the board with ADL data on the rise in hate-based activity, tracked through a heat map available online to members of the public. The heat map revealed the “snowballing” impact that antisemitic sentiments has had on all forms of hate and extremism in the nation.
Weisel explained that with a rise in antisemitism, other disturbing incidents of hate and extremism have also increased, including domestic terrorism primarily fueled by white supremacist ideologies.
While recognizing the importance of continuing to “call out” and condemn these acts, board members expressed the strong desire to take additional actions and were presented with a series of recommended steps to combat hate and extremism, including coalition building, the legislation of education on the holocaust and other genocides, and the inclusion of antisemitism and religious bigotry in anti-discrimination policies.
Weisel credited the COG Board for having the unique position of being able to take action and share information regionally.
“I love the fact that COG exists here in our region, because some of this has such a regional aspect that we can be working on… Loudoun County has had issues, Prince William, Montgomery County, the District has had issues. Let’s figure out how we can do some more coalition building, more teaching events, legislation.”
The discussion touched on the importance of rebuking these ideologies while not wanting to provide additional attention to hateful sentiments and actions.
“Whenever I call it out on my social media, people invariably say ‘why are you broadcasting the hate and giving it a platform’, it’s always a line and I wonder, at what point am I giving it a platform versus calling it out?” asked COG Board member and Loudoun County Board Chair Phyllis Randall.
“Are we giving them a platform? Kind of. But at the same time, we need the public to be more aware because it is so prevalent now. It’s a virus that is spreading so rapidly,” answered Weisel, adding that not enough education has been done to combat misinformation presented to community members.
According to data presented by the ADL, many of these hateful and extremist ideologies are spread online, predominantly targeting young men.
Looking forward, many board members expressed interest in additional, in-depth briefings and trainings from the ADL tailored to the current climate in their own jurisdictions.