83R7722 KEK-F
By: Wu H.R. No. 417
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was founded in 1913
"to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and secure justice and
fair treatment for all citizens," because you cannot fight one type
of hatred without fighting all types of hatred; and
WHEREAS, ADL has been at the forefront of the struggle to
eradicate bias, prejudice, racism, and bigotry in all its forms
nationally for 100 years and has maintained offices in Texas for
more than 60 years; and
WHEREAS, In the 1920s, ADL challenged quotas limiting Jews'
admission to colleges and universities and fought the exclusion of
Jews from certain neighborhoods and professions; and
WHEREAS, In the 1930s, alarmed that American nativist and
fascist groups not only threatened Jews but American democracy, ADL
established a research operation aimed at monitoring and exposing
extremists, an operation which exists today; and
WHEREAS, In the 1940s, ADL launched a massive operation to
uncover Nazi supporters and hate groups in the United States and
worked to expose the Ku Klux Klan as it prepared to increase its
racist terror against black Americans; and
WHEREAS, In the 1950s, ADL strengthened its efforts to help
black Americans through the courts, the legislatures, and the
media, filing an amicus brief in the Brown v. Board of Education
case, and wrote a model anti-mask statute that helped unmask
members of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups; and
WHEREAS, In the 1960s, ADL worked closely with civil rights
leaders and government officials to pass laws providing equal
rights in voting, employment, and housing for black Americans and
helped engender a new era of dialogue and friendship between
Catholics and Jews by working closely with the Vatican on Nostra
Aetate; and
WHEREAS, In the 1970s, ADL became an international
organization, opening offices in Israel and Europe, fought with
other organizations to counteract an Arab boycott of companies that
did business with Israel, and began its Audit of Anti-Semitic
Incidents; and
WHEREAS, In the 1980s, ADL created its groundbreaking
education campaign, the A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE Institute, which has
helped nearly 100,000,000 students, 11,000 educators, and nearly
8,000 family and community members around the world embrace respect
and fight bias and hatred; and
WHEREAS, In the 1990s, ADL stepped forward to expose the
beginnings of online hate and established its No Place for Hate
campaign, which has helped forge an atmosphere of respect and
appreciation for diversity in over 600 schools in Texas and many
more throughout the nation; and
WHEREAS, In the 2000s, ADL responded to the terrorist attack
of September 11, 2001, by intensifying its training for law
enforcement and working to help officers and others understand how
terrorists and extremists operate, including the signs, symbols,
and ideologies they employ, to prevent additional acts of
terrorism; it worked with the family of James Byrd, Jr., in Texas to
pass a monumental hate crime law with the James Byrd, Jr., Hate
Crimes Act, and a groundbreaking national law with the Matthew
Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act; and
WHEREAS, In the 2010s, ADL has made significant progress
against prejudice and hatred; the need for the Anti-Defamation
League still exists and ADL will never give up in the fight to make
hatred a thing of the past; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas
Legislature, hereby honor the Anti-Defamation League, extend to its
staff and leaders sincere best wishes in all their endeavors, and
join with ADL in its efforts this centennial year to "Imagine a
World Without Hate."