Jewish Community Solidarity with Asian Communities Confronting Racism
San Francisco, CA – In light of rising anti-Asian xenophobia, the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) has organized a letter of Jewish community solidarity with Chinese and Asian Pacific Islander (API) communities in the Bay Area and beyond. The letter will be translated into Chinese and published bilingually in Sing Tao Daily, the Bay Area’s largest circulation Asian newspaper, on April 25, 2020.
“It is essential at this time of coronavirus-related tension that the Jewish community demonstrate solidarity with our Asian neighbors, including Jews of Asian descent, who are suffering heightened vulnerability. Our community’s experience with antisemitism has made us all too familiar with this kind of scapegoating and its toxic effect,” Tyler Gregory, JCRC Executive Director, said. “This letter will also serve as our pledge to ensure all those feeling marginalized in this current environment feel safe and secure.”
Organizations signing onto the letter include A Wider Bridge; ADL Central Pacific Region; AJC San Francisco; Be’chol Lashon; Bend the Arc: Bay Area; The California Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; J Street; Jewish Vocational Service (JVS); Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund; Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Jewish Family & Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties; Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay; Jewish Film Institute; Jewish LearningWorks; JIMENA; National Council of Jewish Women San Francisco; and Northern California Board of Rabbis.
Full text of the letter:
We in the Jewish community want to express our solidarity and support for our friends in the Chinese and Asian Pacific Islander (API) communities, including Jews of Asian descent. We are deeply concerned about rising xenophobia and anti-Asian scapegoating, heightened by COVID-19. We pledge to do our part to ensure all those feeling marginalized in this current environment feel safe and secure in the Bay Area, the State of California, and across the United States. Sadly, these trends are all too familiar to our Jewish community’s own experiences. As reactions to the spread of coronavirus give rise to anti-Asian racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia, we must stand together. We reaffirm our dedication to a world without hate and intolerance and reiterate our commitment to a just and welcoming society.
The below organizations wish to express heartfelt solidarity with you during these tense and troubling times. JCRC of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda, and Contra Costa Counties is the central public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community and represents more than 60 synagogues and Jewish organizations on critical issues affecting the Bay Area Jewish community.
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