Florida Senate - 2013 (NP) SR 1874
By Senator Sobel
33-02888-13 20131874__
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution recognizing the Anti-Defamation League on
3 the occasion of its 100th anniversary.
4
5 WHEREAS, the Anti-Defamation League is an invaluable
6 organization that has spent the past century working to
7 eradicate prejudice, racism, and bigotry of all forms, and
8 WHEREAS, founded in 1913 to “stop the defamation of the
9 Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all,”
10 the Anti-Defamation League in its early years targeted quotas
11 limiting the admission of Jews to American colleges and
12 universities and fought the exclusion of Jews from specific
13 neighborhoods and professions, and
14 WHEREAS, in the 1930s, the Anti-Defamation League took on
15 the mantle of fighting for American democracy, responding to the
16 rise of fascist and nativist groups by establishing a research
17 division that monitored and exposed extremists, an operation
18 that is still in existence today, and
19 WHEREAS, from the 1940s through the 1960s, the Anti
20 Defamation League worked particularly closely with African
21 Americans, helping black citizens navigate the judicial and
22 legislative systems and working to expose acts plotted by the Ku
23 Klux Klan, and
24 WHEREAS, in the 1950s, the Anti-Defamation League
25 successfully lobbied for a Florida anti-discrimination law,
26 signed by Governor LeRoy Collins, which addressed discriminatory
27 hotel and resort advertising targeting Jews and other
28 minorities, and
29 WHEREAS, in the 1970s, the Anti-Defamation League opened
30 offices in Israel and worked against a boycott of companies
31 doing business with Israel, and
32 WHEREAS, in the 1980s, the Anti-Defamation League was the
33 leading voice and architect of Florida’s Hate Crimes Reporting
34 Act, which requires officers to report hate crimes to the
35 Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Hate Crimes Act,
36 which imposes harsher penalties for hate crimes, and
37 WHEREAS, during the same time period the Anti-Defamation
38 League launched its A World of Difference Institute and has
39 helped innumerable students around the globe learn how to fight
40 bias and hatred, and
41 WHEREAS, in the 1990s, the Anti-Defamation League took a
42 lead role in lobbying for the Florida private club anti
43 discrimination law, banning discrimination by private clubs on
44 the basis of race, national origin, religion, handicap, gender,
45 or marital status, and age for those over 21 years of age, and
46 WHEREAS, since 2004, the Anti-Defamation League has
47 provided anti-bullying and prejudice reduction trainings to
48 4,815 teachers, 1,800 student peer leaders, and 21,274 students,
49 impacting more than 616,624 educators and students statewide,
50 and
51 WHEREAS, in 2008, the Anti-Defamation League was a
52 principal advocate of the “Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All
53 Students Act,” leading to the Florida Senate’s unanimous passage
54 and the state’s adoption of this anti-bullying bill, which
55 requires all K-12 Florida public schools to adopt policies that
56 prohibit bullying or harassment of any student or employee, as
57 well as certain forms of cyberbullying, and
58 WHEREAS, the Anti-Defamation League has spent the past
59 century defending the downtrodden, regardless of race, creed, or
60 religion, and is highly deserving of praise and recognition,
61 NOW, THEREFORE,
62
63 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
64
65 That we hereby commend the Anti-Defamation League on the
66 occasion of its 100th anniversary and extend to its members
67 sincere best wishes for the future.
68 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
69 presented to the Anti-Defamation League as a tangible token of
70 the sentiments expressed in this resolution.