John Boutté to headline ADL’s Concert Against Hate on Wed., April 2
By ALAN SMASON
The Anti-Defamation League’s South Central division will hold its annual Concert Against Hate on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. As part of the event, the ADL will honor four individuals – two each – with its A. I. Botnick Torch of Liberty Award and its Barney Mintz Community Impact Award.
John Boutté, seen at the Touro Synagogue Jazz Fest Shabbat in 2012, headlines this year’s Concert Against Hate at the Orpheum Theater on Wed., April 2. (Photo by Alan Smason)
A fundraiser, the event will be held at the Orpheum Theater, 129 Roosevelt Way, with a cocktail party catered by Saba at 6:00 p.m. Or Shavaly will provide a musical background during the opening reception.
The concert and acknowledging of the recipients of the awards begins at 7:00 p.m. and will be followed by a live performance by award-winning singer John Boutté.
The event is aimed at showcasing the ADL’s outreach throughout the country and from nation to nation to stop the spread of antisemtism and Jewish hatred. The intent is to build an atmosphere where the fair and equal treatment of the Jewish people is assured.
The night will be peppered with stories and instances where individuals have distinguished themselves in fighting for justice and equity.
An announcement of the concert stated that the Concert Against Hate “represents the depth and breadth of ADL’s mission to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to ensure justice and fair treatment to all. A commitment to diversity and inclusion is at the heart of the ADL Concert message and in our current climate of increasing hate, fear, and misinformation, sharing stories of hope is more necessary now than ever.”
A.I. Botnick Torch of Liberty Award honorees this year are Andy Kopplin, the president and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation and Ruth Kullman, a community activist, philanthropist and volunteer for a number of non-profit boards, both in the larger Greater New Orleans sector and the New Orleans Jewish community.
Andy Kopplin (Courtesy ADL)
Kopplin , a former first deputy mayor and chief administrative officer for Mayor Mitch Landrieu, assumed his position with the GNO Foundation in 2016 and has grown the assets of the Greater New Orleans Foundation to over $500 million. He oversees an approximate $21 million in new endowments each year. He is the former executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) that enabled Louisiana to recover from the devastation from Hurricane Katrian and is a former advisor to Teach for America’s founder and CEO, Wendy Kopp.
Kullman, who has a master’s degree in social work from Tulane University, has demonstrated her commitment to the New Orleans Jewish community through her counseling work at Jewish Family Services and as a part of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. She is a tireless advocate for healthcare with a special emphasis on improving mental health support, especially for children. Since 2002, she has been associated with Kullman Consulting, an organization that advises and supports non-profit organizations as well as private clients.
Ruth Kullman (Courtesy ADL)
She has served on such community organization boards as Planned Parenthood of Louisiana and LCMC Health, the latter of which she served as board chair and was the board chair of Touro Synagogue during the rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina.
The two honorees for the Barney Mintz Community Impact Awards are David Ronnel of Little Rock, Arkansas and Missy Hopson, Ph.D.
Ronnel, a native of Little Rock, was exposed to antisemitism while attending middle school and as a student at Central High School. At 17, as he was graduating and preparing for a college career, he drafted a bill to require the teaching of Holocaust studies and Jewish history to combat Jewish hate. At the time of this campaign in 2022, Arkansas ranked last in Holocaust knowledge, according to a national survey.
David Ronnel (Courtesy ADL)
Thanks to his commitment and dilligence as a member of the Holocaust Education Living Proposal (HELP) Committee, Ronnel was responsible for the passage of Act 611 by the Arkansas Legislature, which makes Holocaust education in Arkansas mandatory, the first state in the ADL’s South Central Region to do so. He continues to work with the Arkansas Holocaust Educsation Award Donation (AHEAD) Fund, a non-profit that recognizes teachers of Holocaust education with monetary awards and promotions.
As the vice president for Talent Management and Workforce Development at Ochsner Health, Hopson works with a number of local colleges such as Tulane University, Xavier University and Delgado Community College to foster intersnhips, fellowships and apprenticeships in the nursing and related healthcare fields.
Missy Hopson, Ph.D. (Courtesy ADL)
Under her founding and guidance of Ochsner’s Career Center there has been a number of career opportunities created for professional development as well as for entry-level positions., which provides comprehensive support for career advancement and professional development for entry-level employees.
She also served on the boards of the New Orleans Workforce Development Board, the New Orleans Career Center, YouthForce NOLA, Morris Jeff Community School, Ellevate Louisiana, and Dress for Success New Orleans.
Boutté is a native born New Orleanian, who is an acknowledged jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues and Latin singer. The younger brother of Lillian Boutté, he is noted for “Treme Song,” the theme for the hit HBO series “Treme” that gave a fictionalized account of the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
Besides his sister, he has also worked with former Cowboy Mouth guitarist and singer Paul Sanchez, pianist and composer Tom McDermott, singer and trombone player Glen David Andrews and the popular band Galactic.
