The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish organization founding to combat anti-Semitism, has changed its definition of racism again.
The first definition change was noticed last week, though it appears to have been changed in July 2020, following the riots sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. As The Daily Wire reported earlier this week, that definition read: “The marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people.”
As noted by multiple commenters, with this new definition, it could be denied that the Holocaust had anything to do with race. On Wednesday, the ADL changed the definition again to what it describes as an “interim definition”: “Racism occurs when individuals or institutions show more favorable evaluation or treatment of an individual or group based on race or ethnicity.”
As Seth Mandel, executive editor of Washington Examiner Magazine noted on Twitter, the ADL’s definition of “systemic racism” still focuses on white privilege:
A combination of systems, institutions and factors that advantage white people and for people of color, cause widespread harm and disadvantages in access and opportunity. One person or even one group of people did not create systemic racism, rather it: (1) is grounded in the history of our laws and institutions which were created on a foundation of white supremacy;* (2) exists in the institutions and policies that advantage white people and disadvantage people of color; and (3) takes places [sic] in interpersonal communication and behavior (e.g., slurs, bullying, offensive language) that maintains and supports systemic inequities and systemic racism.
For the record, ADL’s definition of ‘systemic racism’ still follows the white-centric definition pic.twitter.com/ne7iuqMutV
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) February 2, 2022
Jonathan Greenblatt, a former Obama administration official who is now the CEO and national director of the ADL, asked for feedback on the new definition of racism, linking to a new page on the website for users to submit comments so that so that the organization can “move beyond the mindless trolling on social media.”
Mandel mocked the ADL’s new “interim definition,” joking that it was “a placeholder until they can find a permanent candidate!”
Incredible. Some time today the ADL changed its definition of racism again, this time to an “interim definition”, as if a placeholder until they can find a permanent candidate! What a debacle. Shameful what they’ve done to this organization pic.twitter.com/VtNkymF1wP
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) February 2, 2022
Prior to the definition change that occurred in July 2020, the ADL’s definition for racism read:
Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. Racial separatism is the belief, most of the time based on racism, that different races should remain segregated and apart from one another.
As The Daily Wire reported, Greenblatt in 2016 told the Atlantic: “There’s no doubt that the vast majority of American Jews live with what we would call white privilege. They aren’t looked at twice when they walk into a store. They aren’t looked at twice by someone in uniform … That obviously isn’t a privilege that people of color have the luxury of enjoying.”
To recap, prior to July 2020, the ADL’s definition of racism read: “Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. Racial separatism is the belief, most of the time based on racism, that different races should remain segregated and apart from one another.”
In July 2020, it was changed to, “The marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people.”
It now reads: “Racism occurs when individuals or institutions show more favorable evaluation or treatment of an individual or group based on race or ethnicity.”
The latest definition, however, appears to be temporary.