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Dear Friend,
Yesterday, at the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on hate
crimes, our friend Maya Berry, Executive Director of the Arab American
Institute, was verbally berated by Republican Senator John Kennedy —
who yelled, “You support Hamas, do you not?” and “You should hide your
head in a bag.”1
His anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry was on display at a
hearing on hate crimes. And he was pretending to speak on behalf
of American Jewish safety.
Senator Kennedy, we’d rather speak for ourselves:
Sign
the Jewish petition condemning the behavior of Sen. Kennedy and
Republicans who use Jewish safety as a pretense to divide and scare
our communities.
Yesterday’s hearing was titled “A Threat to Justice Everywhere:
Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America.” The tides are man-made.
And they are indeed everywhere. Including the U.S. Senate.
Maya Berry had just testified about the importance of fighting hate
crimes not only against Arab and Muslim Americans like herself, but
also against Jewish, Black, and Asian Americans, immigrants, and so
many other targeted communities.
She talked about the importance of fighting hate crimes in
solidarity and not in isolation, noting that the safety of us all is
linked together — that we are all one community, so hate crimes affect
all of us.
Maya responded with incredible grace to say that Senator Kennedy
was proving in that moment how critical this hearing was. But
Maya shouldn’t have to fight alone. Let’s show that we have her back
and that attacks on Muslim and Arab Americans should never happen in
our name.
Add
your name to the Jewish solidarity petition: American Jews condemn
anti-Arab and anti-Muslim abuse.
Thank you for your solidarity,
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