Past Campaigns

College cancel culture has a history of shutting down controversial speakers, but Tulane University’s student government is taking things to a new extreme. Students threw a fit over a white anti-racism speaker who focuses on grappling with the racist atrocities in his family’s past, forcing the university to postpone the event. Sign the petition to join us in sending a message to Tulane’s student government: you’re failing the students who elected you! White author Edward Ball’s Life of a Klansman: A Family History of White Supremacy delves into the mind and times of his KKK-member great-great-grandfather and explores the atrocities this ancestor committed and the impact his actions had on the victims. The book was published on August 4th, and Ball was set to have a virtual discussion about it with a Tulane assistant professor of African American Studies on August 6th. When the university posted an announcement of the event on Instagram, students erupted, posting hundreds of comments on the now-deleted post demanding the event be canceled and that those responsible apologize. The Student Government led the charge, sending a message to event organizers that deemed the event “not only offensive and inappropriate” and said that it “undermines the efforts and experiences of Black people at Tulane and in our country” and that “an apology is the first step in undoing the harm you have caused…but is no way the last.” The university has since postponed the event and is reworking it to include more BIPOC participants, an action deemed insufficient by students who are demanding that Ball never be allowed to speak on their campus. Make no mistake, mainstream media has championed the book. The New York Times praised it as “a haunting tapestry of interwoven stories that inform us not just about our past but about the resentment-bred demons that are all too present in our society today” while NPR called it “resonant and important.” The New Republic wrote that Ball “builds a psychological portrait of white supremacy, which then radiates outward and across time, to explain the motives and historical background behind racist violence.” The book’s Amazon description even notes that to offer a non-white view of the KKK, Ball “seeks out descendants of African Americans who were once victimized by ‘our Klansman’ and his comrades, and shares their stories.” The book has also been praised by prominent anti-racism scholar Abram X. Kendi. The response from Tulane’s student government flies in the face of both logic and America’s discussion on racism which demands that the country confront its racist past. In Life of a Klansman, Ball does exactly that. Given the concern of Tulane’s elected student leaders that racism be confronted, they should be encouraging their fellow students to attend the virtual event with Ball rather than shut it down. In one week, NTC will send the petition to the Student Government President and key university staff members encouraging Tulane’s student leaders to reverse their illogical and harmful opposition to confronting racism. If they truly seek a more tolerant, anti-racist society, they’re going about it exactly the wrong way.

In mid-July, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) cut Air Force vet Jay Lorenzen from the speaker line-up for an annual secular JAG training after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) complained about his religious affiliation. Sign the petition to call on the Marine Corps to stop this religious discrimination and add Lorenzen back into their speaker rotation for future events! Lorenzen was scheduled to give three talks on leadership at the training event, but MRFF claimed that he was unfit to give these talks because he had given similarly titled talks on his own time to religious groups that included a Christian slant. They also pointed to his involvement in Campus Crusade for Christ’s (Cru) Military Ministry, which encourages soldiers to view themselves as “missionaries” during their time in the military. MRFF bragged that Lorenzen was removed from the training a mere 64 minutes after they issued their complaint.  The USMC confirmed only that he had been removed because “some of the participating Marines raised concerns.” There was no evidence or indication provided by MRFF or the Marine Corps that Lorenzen was planning to include religion in these trainings. It appears he was cut because of his private views and affiliation with religious groups, both unacceptable reasons for dismissal because they indicate religious discrimination. Americans enjoy freedom of association, religion, and speech, all of which peacefully coexist within the separation of church and state. In addition to being discriminatory, surely Lorenzen is not the only speaker engaged by the military who has an active private religious life. This duplicity signals horribly intolerant behavior by the Marine Corps, an organization that has long prided itself on welcoming the most qualified people into its ranks. If his leadership and teaching skills were good enough for the Marine Corps to hire him the first time, and they have not been called into question since, and he should never have been cut. Sign your name to stand up for religious freedom in our military and to demand that Lorenzen be reinstated for future trainings!

In a despicable act of anti-Semitism, NGO Believers Bail Out (BBO) organized an event on June 19 called “Muslims for Abolition Rally” that was “open to all, minus cops & zionists.” Join New Tolerance Campaign is calling on the group’s funders to immediately denounce the organization and withhold any future financial contributions that support this racism! The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism, which has been adopted by 31 countries and the U.S. Department of State, includes anti-Zionism as discrimination against Jews because Zionism is a core part of Jewish identity that predates the State of Israel by over 2,000 years. Therefore, to exclude Zionists is to exclude Jews.  Believers Bail Out has no moral justification for its actions, which harm the actual fight against ending racism by perpetuating hatred on the basis of identity. Believers Bail Out recently received a grant from the Pillars Fund, which is funded by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, MacArthur Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Pop Culture Collab, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, and Democracy Fund. BBO’s fiscal sponsor is Sirat Chicago. With just a few clicks, you can send emails and tweets to these foundations demanding that they denounce this inexcusable bigotry and cease any funding that allows it to continue.

Coronavirus has infected 930,000 people and killed at least 47,000 globally. It has brought many cities and countries to a near stand-still, creating historic rates of unemployment and economic hardship with no end in sight. While some are risking their lives to provide medical care and necessities, one professor used the pandemic as an opportunity to go on Hezbollah’s TV station and blame the U.S for the entire outbreak, even making comparisons to nuclear war and Hitler in the process. Please join NTC in calling for him to be immediately removed from his position. Seif Dana is the Associate Dean of UW-Parkside’s College of Social Science and Professional Studies, and Institute for Professional Educator Development Department Chair. On April 1st, he told terrorist organization Hezbollah’s television news station that COVID-19 is the result of a leak “from a laboratory at Fort Detrick in the United States,” and compared it to America’s bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.  In the same interview, Dana simultaneously downplayed the impact of the coronavirus, stating that “more people die every year, not just from diseases that you can get vaccinated for, like malaria, but also from the West’s economic policies…than what is happening now.” Dana then compared the situation to Hitler’s actions in World War II: “This is exactly what happened with Hitler. Hitler did not do anything out of the ordinary. He did not do anything that had not been done by the Europeans before….Hitler came to be viewed as Satan just because he did what he did in Europe.” These comments, clearly meant to spread an absurd anti-American conspiracy theory, are an abomination of the responsible and fact-based approach we expect from our university professors. UW-Parkside’s mission includes the effort to “generate, disseminate and apply knowledge through research, professional and creative activity that benefits communities throughout the region and the world.” Dana did the exact opposite. He must go.  With just a few clicks, you can join NTC in calling on Chancellor Debbie Ford of UW-Parkside to fire Dana for his despicable comments and ensure that the school does not continue to give him a platform for his vile conspiracy theories.

Your iPhone (or Android) may have been manufactured Uyghur Muslims being held in modern-day slavery. Now, you can use that iPhone to help put an end to this vile exploitation! Over the last two years, we’ve slowly been learning about how the Chinese government has been abducting, isolating, and brainwashing innocent people simply because of their religious beliefs. On March 1st, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released an explosive report revealing a sickening new twist to the terrifying saga: many of these already tortured Uyghurs are being rented as slave labor to Chinese manufacturers producing products for well-known American companies. After being held in dystopian brainwashing camps, Uyghurs are shipped across the country to work in factories. They aren’t allowed to leave or practice their religion, and any time away from the factory floor is spent in indoctrination classes meant to strip them of their Uyghur identity. Through extensive research, ASPI found that participating factories were in the supply lines of at least 83 American and international brands including Apple, Nike, Amazon, Victoria’s Secret, and Nintendo. While it’s possible that these companies previously had no idea what was going on, they know now. Will you join us in making sure this is an issue they can’t ignore? To start, we’re calling on Apple to take action. Apple proudly claims “we hold ourselves and our suppliers to the highest standards to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect,” but ASPI identified at least four Apple-linked factories that are using forced Uyghur labor, including one that CEO Tim Cook visited in 2017. Send an email to Apple and a tweet to Tim Cook urging them to act quickly and decisively. They can choose to be heroes to thousands or to be knowing participants in one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time. With your help, we believe they’ll make the right choice.  Photo Source: ‘Strengthening patriotism education and building a bridge of national unity’ (加强爱国主义教育搭建民族团结连心桥), China Ethnic Religion Net (中国民族宗教网), 7 November 2019, online.

Over 1,700 of you have joined the Mayor of Jersey City and the Governor of New Jersey in calling for the resignation of Joan Terrell-Paige, who posted an anti-Semitic tirade immediately following a deadly anti-Semitic shooting. Yet Terrell-Paige remains in office. Why? Because some in the community have decided to protect her. Now they are hoping that everyone will forget the whole incident and move on. But we won’t! On Dec. 18th, the Hudson County Democratic Black Caucus issued a statement that begins by saying that they “[do] not condone hatred towards any group.” It then spends the rest of its words trivializing Joan Terrell-Paige’s hateful words towards Jewish people by dismissing them in the name of another cause. Imagine a situation in which an elected leader blamed the city’s crime on its black community, and people rushed to the leader’s defense by saying that, in the Hudson County Democratic Black Caucus’ words, “While we do not agree with the delivery of the statement,” the leader “has heightened awareness around issues that must be addressed.” Would the black community – and all peace-loving communities – accept anything less than that person’s resignation? Of course not! Every principled person would insist on immediate resignation. That’s why we’re asking you to contact all 6 signers of this despicable statement. Using the form on this page, email or tweet a message to these influential community leaders with just a few clicks. You can choose to use our suggested language or write in your own message. We believe that with your help, we can send a message strong enough to get Terrell-Paige to resign, making Jersey City schools a much more welcoming place for students of every background.

Amazon has a program called AmazonSmile that lets shoppers direct .5% of their purchases to charity. While this is generally admirable, the way Amazon decides which charities can participate is extremely problematic. We hope you’ll join us in calling on program director Sachin Shah to fix it!  Besides basic qualifications like being an IRS–registered non-profit in good standing, AmazonSmile has one condition for inclusion: the organization must not be on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) “hate map.”  The Arbiter of Hate The SPLC has an admirable history of fighting unambiguously bigoted groups like the KKK, and they are the only well-established group that even offers a blacklist of “hateful” organizations. However, they are also a poor choice as the sole non-government arbiter of who is and isn’t too problematic for Amazon due to serious outstanding questions about the organization’s ideological biases and moral authority.   The SPLC has a habit of looking through an  ideological lens  that leads it to be harsher on those on the other side of the political spectrum. In 2017, charity database GuideStar adopted and then quickly abandoned the SPLC’s hate classification,  saying they themselves  were driven by their  “commitment to objectivity” and that they had received many reasonable concerns about the SPLC’s list.   Recent reports  from  SPLC  employees about sexist and racist treatment within the organization caused a serious shakeup at the top, including the ousting of co-founder Morris Dees. As this unfolded, SPLC staffers have raised flags that they were still broadly concerned with “widespread pattern of racial and gender discrimination by the center’s current leadership, stretching back many years.”   The SPLC  also has a troubling history of leveraging lawsuits that net thousands for their clients to raise millions for itself. The organization has stashed some of those millions in Cayman Islands bank accounts – curious behavior for a “poverty” non-profit. Former SPLC employee Bob Moser  relayed an anecdote in The New Yorker that staffers used to parody a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote etched an SPLC wall from “Until justice rolls down like waters” into “Until justice rolls down like dollars.”   Questionable Choices Furthermore, by relying on the SPLC,  AmazonSmile lets organizations through that don’t register on the SPLC’s list but have a history of questionable actions. Some have already complained about right-wing sting group Project Veritas’s inclusion in the program. Two groups commemorating the Black Panther Party are included. And People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), famous for dousing people in fake blood and creating a  video game where players beat up researchers, can also receive donations.    Time For Change Amazon is a private company and can choose to donate as it pleases, but the use of the SPLC by AmazonSmile poisons the good intentions behind the program and contributes to our nation’s bitterness by signaling to your customers that charity should be informed by the opinion of a singular institution of highly questionable standing.   Join us in calling on AmazonSmile Director Sachin Shah and his team to stop relying on the SPLC, establish their own criteria, and apply it evenly without ideological bias! 

An explosive Buzzfeed report has revealed that leading American institutions like Duke, MIT, Princeton, and the Rockefeller Foundation are possibly linked to surveillance companies enabling the Chinese government’s brutal crackdown on Muslim and other minorities.  Buzzfeed’s reporting uncovered that these institutions’ endowments invest in firms that back Chinese technology companies Sensetime and Megvii, whose facial recognition technology has enabled the Chinese regime’s ongoing crackdown on Muslim minorities. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur Muslims under surveillance have been forced into dystopian “re-education camps” where their religious and cultural identity is systematically attacked. The reports about what goes on in these camps keep getting more and more horrific. Organs are harvested from detainees while spouses back home are sometimes forced to share living quarters and even beds with male Chinese officials. Meanwhile, mosques are also destroyed, and Arabic script is banned in public. Other minorities are caught up in this, too.  Mainstream American institutions should not be enabling such intolerance. Unfortunately, Duke, MIT, Princeton, and Rockefeller refused comment to Buzzfeed or NTC on their investments in Chinese surveillance. All four have mission statements claiming to foster freedom, tolerance, and understanding across the globe. These principles should permeate every aspect of their operations, including their finances.  Tell these leading American organizations to stop enabling intolerance. Encourage them to put their core values ahead of their bottom-line, and in the process, send an important message to the Chinese regime that their systematic crackdown on minorities will not be met with silence.