COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A metro Atlanta Jewish Community is taking a stand alongside the Anti-Defamation League after leaders say swastikas were painted outside a local neighborhood.
Temple Kol Emeth is planning an "interfaith unified response" to condemn the discovery of six large swastikas that were outside a neighborhood in East Cobb on Friday.
The event was originally scheduled for Monday but has been postponed due to scheduling conflicts. However, officials still intend to hold the event.
The temple is a Southern Reform congregation that was founded in Cobb County nearly four decades earlier.
In attendance of Monday's event will be Rabbi Larry Sernovitz, the Senior Rabbi at Temple Kol Emeth, and Dr. Allison Padilla-Goodman, the vice president of ADL's southern division. The event is expected to also include interfaith leaders from across the community to "stand up against hatred together."
"In the midst of a broken and challenged world, we must stand up to acts of hatred, bigotry, and discrimination and say that in our world there is no place for hate, Rabbi Sernovitz wrote. "The antidote to hatred is unity and hope, and we will stand together to show the unity of our community."
Padilla-Goodman meanwhile, pointed to statistics showing a rise in hatred, bigotry, and antisemitism.
"Last year, ADL documented our largest number ever of antisemitic incidents, including a 19% increase in incidents of antisemitic vandalism from the previous year," she said. "Each of these incidents leave entire communities feeling targeted, fearful, and alone."
The Anti-Defamation League, meanwhile, was founded in 1913 in response to antisemitism and bigotry.
According to another group that tracks hate crimes and groups across the United States, Southern Poverty Law Center, there are 38 hate groups with bases in Georgia - many of them in metro Atlanta.
11Alive has reached out to Cobb County Police for further information on the swastikas and any details they may be willing to release about possible suspects in the crime.
