by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
It has been in existence for nearly a century promoting a message of “tolerance over intolerance” and two Jacksonville lawyers were recognized for spreading the ideals and mission of the Anti-Defamation League at its first “Jacksonville Jurisprudence Awards Luncheon” at the Hyatt Thursday.
Attorneys Evan Yegelwel and Hugh Cotney were both recognized with the awards given to “individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the legal profession and to the community at large, while exemplifying the principles upon which the Anti-Defamation League was founded.” The principles were forged in 1913, when the organization was founded, and it developed a mission statement that displayed those principles: “.. to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.”
ADL Florida Regional Director Andrew Rosenkranz spoke at the luncheon to educate the audience on the different programs the organization uses to teach law enforcement, teachers and children about tolerance. He also revealed some stirring stories of recent cases that the ADL provided some training to help address the situation.
“Our office was recently in Naples, Fla., because some middle school students held a ‘Kick a Jew Day’,” said Rosenkranz. “They were going around asking other students if they were Jewish and if they found someone, that person got a kick. We asked, ‘How can we turn this into a learning experience?’”
The ADL has worked locally with the local police and the Jacksonville office of the FBI to identify hate crimes and assist law enforcement in the fight against extremism and terrorism. For schools, the ADL develops programs to help teachers convey a message of tolerance. Rosenkranz also revealed that the money raised at the awards luncheon would be spent developing those programs in Jacksonville.
The honorees of the luncheon were well versed in the mission of the ADL.
“Over the last 96 years, the ADL has stood up against bigotry, racism and all forms of hatred,” said Cotney. “Everyone needs someone like that. It’s easy to learn how to hate, but it’s also easy to learn not to hate, and that’s the example the ADL sets.”
Yegelwel summed up the importance of the ADL through a poem by Pastor Martin Niemoller who was a German pastor who spent eight-and-a-half years in a Nazi concentration camp.
“The poem reads, ‘First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist,’” said Yegelwel. “Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.’”
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