RELEASE — Outlive Them NYC and Allies Announce Care Not Cops! Contingent at the March against Anti-Semitism
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/664301347437111/
Contact: outlivethem@riseup.net
January 5th, 2020 — Outlive Them NYC is committed to fighting antisemitism and building a world without Jew hatred — and we will be marching against antisemitism today at Foley Square. As Jews committed to a world where everyone is free to live, work, play, and pray in safety, we will respond to anti-Jewish terror with interracial solidarity. We must fight anti-Semitism with education, not incarceration. We need to invest in our communities, housing, and health care for all — not more cops, camps, or cages.
“Our Jewish liberation is linked to the liberation of all people,” said Sharona, a member of Outlive Them NYC. “We can build a future without bigotry by fighting for the Jewish community, and by fighting for every community that faces violence and oppression.”
Rooted in Jewish solidarity with all oppressed peoples, we envision a better and more beautiful world — a world without pogroms, a future without fascism or antisemitism — where everyone is free to live with dignity. We are organizing to defend all of our communities from those who would attack us.
While we are pleased to see so many groups coming together to fight antisemitism, we are concerned about some of the organizations, institutions, and individuals involved, and their proposed solutions to the recent uptick in antisemitic violence. Some members of the Jewish community have been pushing a militarized police and jail program to address antisemitism — their “solutions” are the same “solutions” they peddle for every social problem: more people of color in prison; more surveillance cameras in our communities; more angry white men with guns stalking our streets. There is no evidence that any of these approaches make us safer. But there is ample evidence that they make our neighbors less safe. We’re here to show an injury to any of us is an injury to all of us.
We know that increased police presence leads to more black and brown people being harassed and brutalized by police, and made to feel less safe — a fact that is true for both non-Jews and for Jews of color, who will find themselves an even greater target of suspicion and excluded even more often, and more forcefully, from Jewish spaces. Relying on a heightened and permanent police presence in our communities is not an appropriate or effective solution to antisemitism. Racist and white nationalist affiliations and beliefs within law enforcement in both the federal government and the NYPD are well-documented - including the 66th precinct, located in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Boro Park. Jews may find themselves on the wrong side of law enforcement when the political winds continue to change as they have so many times in the past — we cannot outsource our safety to the police.
“You can’t fight hate with hate, fear with fear, terror with terror. And you can’t fight anti-Semitism with racism. We’re here today to show what Jewish solidarity really looks like in our time, in our city,” said Michael Gould-Wartofsky, a member of OLT and a lifelong New Yorker who is himself a survivor of antisemitic violence.
Last, we are appalled that the UJA and other march organizers have partnered with racists for today’s action. We will never successfully eradicate antisemitism by building a coalition with bigots and racists. Mort Klein, of the Zionist Organization of America has repeatedly and flagrantly used explicitly racist anti-black language when discussing antisemitism in NYC. Allying with racists makes both Jews and non-Jews less safe. We also always stand in solidarity with Palestinians, and anti-Palestinian racism is, sadly, far too common among some supporters of today’s march. (This anti-Palestinian bias is too volumnious to be documented in a single press release.)
We recognize that some opponents of antisemitism have decided not to take part in today’s action because of the ideology and/or past actions of some of the march organizers and supporters. We respect this decision, and we are committed to other events and actions where we can continue to fight antisemitism without having to march alongside groups who espouse harmful rhetoric and policies. We decided not to cede this space to groups that engage in racist, anti-Black, anti-Palestinian fearmongering, and throughout the day we will share our vision of Jewish safety and security in solidarity with all our neighbors.
Outlive Them - NYC, formed in October 2018 in response to the Pittsburgh Massacre, is an all-city coalition of antifascist Jews and allies organizing to defend all our communities from those who would exterminate us. We answer anti-Jewish terror with Jewish solidarity. This same solidarity is our answer to all forms of violence against racial, gender, sexual, and other oppressed minorities.
Email: outlivethem@riseup.net
Website: https://medium.com/@outlivethemnyc
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/OutliveThemNYC
Instagram: www.instagram.com/OutliveThemNYC
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/OutliveThemNYC
