The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has been an integral player in the response to the Original Mothers bar incident.

The ADL contacted the group of six black students three days after the original incident to offer them access to the organization’s infrastructure and advocacy from the group. This was unusual, as most people with a complaint need to contact the ADL before it will consider a case.

In this case, however, a parent of a University student was an ADL board member in Houston, and according to ADL Chicago regional director Lonnie Nasatir, “it kind of came through the ranks.”

For the students from Washington University, the support came as a welcome surprise.

“I was surprised because I hadn’t contacted them,” said Fernando Cutz, senior class president. “I was just really grateful they reached out.”

The ADL first asked the students if they would be interested in the organization writing a coalition letter to be circulated among civil rights groups in Chicago. The organization then hand-delivered a letter to the bar last Friday. This prompted the first response from Mothers. According to Cutz, the ADL “was certainly a major part in that reaction.” The group also helped the students find free legal counsel.

The Anti-Defamation League is a non-profit organization focused on fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry.

“It goes back to that notion that if one minority group is targeted, we all are targeted, and that we can really be much more effective in a broad way than if we just sort of stick within our own communities,” said Karen Aroesty, the St. Louis regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.