The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State
by Emmaia Gelman

A conversation with the author and Asher Firestone.
From 4:00-5:00pm. Free to attend.

While the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is often portrayed as a defender against antisemitism and racism, its history shows that it is better understood as a proponent of the racial state and US empire.

The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State presents the ADL's history through its conflicts with social justice movements, illuminating the ADL's outsize role in shaping the ideas about race.

"A gutsy, razor-sharp demystification of a powerful organization."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how accusations of antisemitism have been weaponized in the United States against the Left. Gelman helps us make sense of why the ADL is still seen as an authority on civil rights while it continues to drift rightward, accommodating and excusing some of the most racist right-wing antisemites. For parents, educators, and students in schools where ADL materials are still ubiquitous, this book is a call to action. For Jewish leftists, this book challenges us to build alternative institutions to fight for racial justice and to better understand how class and race shape Jewish politics."—Adam Sanchez, Managing Editor of Rethinking Schools

About the Author:

Emmaia Gelman is the founding Director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism. She has taught social and cultural analysis at NYU and social sciences at Sarah Lawrence College. Her writing appears in Jewish Currents, Boston Review, The Forward, and elsewhere.

About Asher Firestone:
Asher Firestone is a Critical Ethnic Studies PhD candidate at CU Boulder. They are a performance artist, teacher and scholar-activist from Jerusalem organizing in queer sex work solidarity movements and Jewish anti-Zionist spaces.