SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — “We shouldn’t allow the national politics to confuse our ability to get along with our neighbors,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, C.E.O. and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization focused on fighting hate and extremism.
“I don’t care whether you’re a right-wing Republican or a left-wing Democrat,” said Greenblatt. “If you incite violence against others, that doesn’t fly no matter where you sit on the political spectrum.”
Jonathan’s new book titled, “It Could Happen Here,” focuses on the rise of extremism in this country over the past 5 years.
“My concern is that America is literally moving to the unthinkable because I think driven by hate and extremism, I think that our democracy is at risk,” said Greenblatt.
With the anniversary of the January 6 storming of the Capitol, Jonathan says it’s an opportunity to reflect on lessons learned.
“When you don’t call out extremism, when you don’t stop it in its tracks, it can mutate and explode into something far worse,” said Greenblatt.
Whether it be political extremism, acts of antisemitism or violent hate crimes against anyone, the ADL aims to support communities against hate.
“I was there in April of 2019 after the attack on the synagogue in Poway,” said Greenblatt. “If you think about that moment as kind of sandwiched between the attack in Pittsburgh, the attack in El Paso, we’ve seen the rise of not just rhetoric but real-world violence.”
With very polarizing national politics and viewpoints from all over the spectrum, Jonathan and the ADL emphasize that we can all do our part to confront prejudice and bigotry in our everyday lives.
“We’ve got to call out hate when it happens,” said Greenblatt. “There’s nothing political about promoting prejudice, so all of us, liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats need to call out hate.”
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