Fighting Fire with Fire: An Internet Resource Guide

The Anti-Defamation League, whose Web address is www.adl.org, fights anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, collects information about hate groups, and provides news and educational resources for students and teachers.

The Anti-Violence Project, www.lambda.org, promotes civil rights, dignity, and self-respect for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive individuals. The project’s services include crime prevention and education, a 24-hour English-Spanish hotline at (800) 616-HATE, peer-to-peer support groups, and advocacy with and assistance in contacting police, the courts, and other service providers.

Hatewatch, www.hatewatch.org, monitors hate-group activity on the Internet. Its site provides a catalog of hate groups with links to Web sites that support white supremacy, racist music, racism, skinheads, Neo-nazism, anti-Semitism, holocaust denial, Christian identity, or black racism or that are anti-gay, anti-Christian, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, or anti-women. A report at the site “Hacking and Hate: Virtual Attacks with Real Consequences” tells how hate groups use e-mail harassment, cyberslander, hacking software, and other techniques to sabotage Web sites of other groups, businesses, and the government.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, www.wiesenthal.com, fights anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry by collecting and disseminating information, conducting conferences, and training law enforcement officers, community leaders, educators, and others. It also offers a hotline to report hate crimes. Its Cyberwatch program monitors hate groups’ use of the Internet to spread their messages. The center has catalogued some 2,800 ”problematic” Web sites and publishes an annual update on CD-ROM designed for use by community activists, law enforcement groups, the media, educators, and parents.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, www.splcenter.org, works against white supremacist groups and promotes interracial and intercultural understanding. The center has developed a national tolerance education program, Teaching Tolerance, with many free or low-cost resources for teachers, including videos and classroom posters.

United Against Hate, www.unitedagainsthate.org, is a campaign of individuals and 180 bipartisan, religious, and community grass-roots organizations working, with sponsorship from the Washington, D.C.-based Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, to support hate crimes legislation.

The U.S. Department of Justice, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/infores/hate.htm, provides full text documents such as “Promising Practices Against Hate Crimes: Five State and Local Demonstration Projects,” as well as links to related Web resources.