With antisemitism attacks on rise, OKC leaders reiterate importance of reporting, leading

Antisemitic flyers that have been circulating in northwest Oklahoma City, and are on the FBI's radar, were a topic of discussion during a recent community forum about antisemitism.

And just a day after "A Conversation About Antisemitism" was held at an Oklahoma City Jewish temple, federal prosecutors charged a man with two hate crimes, accusing him of shooting two Jewish men in two separate incidents as they were each leaving their Los Angeles-area synagogues on Feb. 15 and 16.

Antisemitism is on the rise both close to home and across the country, Shira Goodman, with the Anti-Defamation League's Texoma region, told Oklahomans at the Feb. 16 discussion at Temple B'nai Israel, 4901 N Pennsylvania. Goodman, along with another special guest, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, talked with the local Jewish community and other residents and leaders about ways to combat the troubling trend.

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The Texoma region of the Anti-Defamation League includes Oklahoma and North Texas. Goodman, a member of the Jewish advocacy group's Government Relations, Advocacy and Community Engagement (GRACE) team, commended community members for their attendance, saying that such conversations are important in combatting antisemitism and other forms of hate and bigotry. Goodman said her organization had been tracking antisemitism and other forms of hate and bigotry since 1979. She said there were many years in which such incidents decreased, but a disturbing uptick began in 2013 and continues today.

Goodman said according to the Anti-Defamation League's 2021 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, antisemitic incidents in the U.S. increased by 34% over the previous year — amounting to an all-time high of 2,717 (since the organization began tracking in 1979) incidents, including assaults, harassment and vandalism. Goodman said results of the 2022 audit have not yet been released.

Among the highlights of her presentation, Goodman encouraged residents to report incidents of antisemitism like the flyers circulating in Oklahoma City. She said those flyers also have been seen in other parts of the country, and though they are protected by the First Amendment as free speech, they should be reported to her organization or another group that tracks such occurrences. Local Jewish leaders would not elaborate on the images or wording of the flyers because they did not want to promote the antisemitic material.

Kayla McCleery, a spokeswoman for the FBI Oklahoma City office, said the FBI became aware of the antisemitic flyers being distributed in Oklahoma City at the end of January. She confirmed Goodman's assessment of the flyers being protected as free speech, but she also wanted people to continue keeping the FBI abreast of such things.

"Unfortunately, with these flyers being distributed, that's a First Amendment protected act of free speech, so we can't really investigate that," she said in a phone interview. "We are just wanting to let the community know that we're aware that it's happening and just let them know that we are available as a reporting mechanism for anything that they do see, that may constitute a hate crime or an act of terrorism."

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Meanwhile, Goodman thanked Holt for his commitment to combatting antisemitism and hate. In 2021, Holt joined the Mayors United Against Antisemitism initiative, a partnership between the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the American Jewish Committee, a Jewish advocacy group.

"I think it's really important to say that we at the ADL, and I think everybody in this room, it means a lot to us to hear from somebody in an elected position, and how important that is to hear that commitment to stand with us in our fight against hate of all kinds," Goodman said. "That's no small thing."

Holt, referring to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, said he was aware of his position as mayor of a city that has experienced what happens when people hate and dehumanize others. He said individuals in positions of responsibility should be working to combat hate.

"Whether it's a mayor, president, a governor, a rabbi, a teacher, a boss — whatever your sphere of influence — you've got to push back against that, you have to be visible and you have to bring awareness to it in the right way," Holt said.

He also urged the crowd to include local law enforcement as a reporting resource when they considered informing the Anti-Defamation League and other organizations on concerning incidents of antisemitism and bigotry.

The community conversation was sponsored by Temple B'nai Israel, Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City, Anti-Defamation League, Hillel at the University of Oklahoma, Emanuel Synagogue and the Schusterman Center for Judaic & Israel Studies at OU.

Reporting an incident of antisemitism

For more information about the Anti-Defamation League-Texoma region, or to report an antisemitic incident or hate crime using the organization's online incident report form, go to https://dallas.adl.org/.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC mayor and Anti-Defamation League discuss fighting antisemitism