Athletes against Antisemitism and Discrimination
Please click here to view and sign the Athletes Stand Together Against Antisemitism Solidarity Statement.
Over the past few years, we have seen student athletes follow in the steps of professional athletes in their desire to use their position to advocate for change. With antisemitism and other forms of identity-based hate on the rise not only in the United States but the entire world, innovative programs that help educate and empower athlete-activists to use their platform to shape conversations and enhance relationships between the university and the surrounding community are of paramount importance.
In 2018, the Maimonides Institute for Medicine, Ethics and the Holocaust (MIMEH), a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, and CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center, organized a life-changing trip to Auschwitz for the Davidson College men’s basketball team led by Holocaust survivor and CANDLES founder Eva Mozes Kor. The team spent four harrowing days touring Auschwitz-Birkenau and hearing survivor testimony from Ms. Kor, a survivor of Dr. Josef Mengele’s infamous “twin experiments.” They walked through former barracks of the concentration camps that now serve as a memorial and house personal artifacts of the victims: clothing, shoes, prosthetic limbs, even human hair. They stood in the gas chambers and saw the ovens used to burn the bodies of those who were murdered. They saw the worst that humankind has to offer. They also heard Eva’s story of forgiveness. They took part in a memorial service, after which they affirmed their commitment to the importance of respecting the basic human dignity of all individuals and ensuring that our differences do not divide us, but rather unite us. In interviews done at the end of the trip, each and every person—players and coaches alike—said that this trip transformed them. This was not a one-off experience; it was the beginning of a life-long journey towards becoming ethical leaders who understand their moral obligation to stand up and speak out whenever they see acts of hatred and injustice.
Click here to view a short video about the trip:
Click here to read Coach Bob McKillop’s article in the Washington Post:
Introducing Our Consortium
Based on the success of the 2018 Davidson College Men’s Basketball Journey of Remembrance and other similar programs, the Benjamin Ferencz Institute for Ethics, Human Rights and the Holocaust (formerly the Maimonides Institute for Medicine, Ethics and the Holocaust) and CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center are launching a Consortium to continue to engage athletes—both at the student level and beyond—and empower them to use their platform to help raise awareness regarding the Holocaust, antisemitism and other forms of identity-based hate. Through the use of a comprehensive, experiential curriculum that includes the aforementioned books, videos, interactive online discussions, in-person and virtual lectures utilizing our speakers’ bureau, interactive online discussions and immersive, guided tours to Auschwitz-Birkenau, we aim to create agents of change who stand up and speak out when faced with intolerance and injustice and serve as ethical role models for future generations.
The Consortium will be headed by recently retired Davidson College Coach Bob McKillop, whose guidance and leadership have been integral not only to the Davidson Journey of Remembrance but also to the programming leading up to and including the creation of the Consortium. Initial members will also include Dr. Stacy Gallin and Dr. Amanda Caleb, Founding Director and Educational Consultant, respectively, of the Ferencz Institute for Ethics Human Rights and the Holocaust (formerly MIMEH) and leaders of the Davidson Journey of Remembrance; Dr. Alex Kor, son of Eva Mozes Kor and sports enthusiast; Dan Grunfeld, grandchild of Holocaust survivors and son of Olympic Gold medalist, NBA player and executive Ernie Grunfeld, and author of the book, By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream; Graham Honaker and Jerry Logan, authors of the book, Unbracketed: Big-Time College Basketball Done the Right Way, which details the Davidson trip to Auschwitz; and Rabbi Erez Sherman, co-senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and host of the podcast Rabbi on the Sidelines, which features interviews with key figures in the sports world who are using athletics as a way to foster unity and promote peace among different faiths and cultures. We look forward to adding additional like-minded individuals and organizations in the future.
What We Offer
Click here to view the Athletes Against Antisemitism and Discrimination Information Session Webinar from 10/30/23
The Athletes Against Antisemitism and Discrimination Consortium will offer a broad range of benefits for participants, including:
Benefits to the Individual (Players and Coaches) – In post-trip interviews done with players and coaches immediately after the trip, every participant reported that this trip had made a significant impact on them and that they planned to utilize the lessons from this trip throughout their life; continued contact with players and coaches has supported that this trip has continued to impact their attitudes and, more importantly, actions. Kellan Grady, a sophomore at the time of the trip and who went on to play for the Denver Nuggets G-League team, used this experience as the impetus for creating College Athletes for Respect and Equality (CARE), an initiative launched in conjunction with the Maimonides Institute for Medicine, Ethics and the Holocaust (now the Ferencz Institute for Ethics, Human Rights and the Holocaust) to raise awareness about systemic racial injustice and promote equality through education. On Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) in 2019, Grady stated, “Auschwitz taught me the importance of respecting the dignity of all individuals regardless of their background. On Yom HaShoah and every day, it’s imperative that we continue to honor and remember the victims of the Holocaust, while also making a concerted effort to continue to respect the dignity of all people.”
Benefits to the Team – Going through an experience like this together bonds a team in ways that nothing else can. From the book, Unbracketed: Big-Time College Basketball Done Right, released in October 2022: “One of McKillop’s assistants described the effect in an email to Eva’s son Alex Kor: ‘I cannot say with 100 percent certainty, but I believe a large part of the togetherness of this team is the shared experience they had that summer.” Said KiShawn Pritchett, a senior at the time of the trip, to the student newspaper at Davidson, “I’ve been a part of four different teams, and I think this year’s team is the closest that it’s ever been. We had never gone through such experiences with each other, and we had never cried to each other.”
Benefits to the School – An increased awareness of antisemitism as a legitimate form of identity-based hate and an opportunity to use this experience to commit to addressing antisemitism and all forms of identity-based hate through respectful, open, honest communication led by student leaders; Davidson students used the 2018 Journey of Remembrance as a platform to launch a petition to start a Jewish Studies program, with then-president Carol Quillen reaching out to MIMEH’s Founding Director, Dr. Stacy Gallin, for assistance
Benefits to the Community – Student athletes become agents of change within the college and the community. They bring back messages of hope, unity and peace and learn to channel their efforts into becoming leaders in the community. After the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the players wrote a statement of solidarity that was read before a home game and reached out to the local Jewish community to offer their support.
To learn more or to get involved with this consortium, please contact Dr. Stacy Gallin at stacygallin@ferenczinstitute.org
In addition to bringing student athletes to Auschwitz-Birkenau to experience the power of place-based learning, Athletes Against Antisemitism and Discrimination also provides the following programs:
-Access to Dan Grunfeld's book, By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream, along with a guided curriculum to help student athletes to reflect upon the book within the context of Holocaust education and through an application of the book’s lessons in their everyday lives.
-A speaker's bureau who will visit college campuses either in person or virtually to discuss AAAD and provide guidance for individuals and/or teams interested in learning how to use their platform to raise awareness about antisemitism and other forms of identity-based hate.
-Mentors who will work to help engage, educate and empower individuals and/or teams interested in becoming active agents of change within the campus community or beyond.