Our country must fight to ensure full civil rights and access to opportunity, safety, and dignity for Americans of every gender identity and expression, race and ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation, and physical and mental ability. Confronting oppression at the intersection of these identities is vital to JWI’s work. As Jews we are committed, and have always been committed, to dismantling discrimination and white supremacy.
Systemic racism and police violence threaten Black and brown women’s lives, bodily autonomy, and capacity to raise families in safe communities. Decades of unjust law enforcement policies have disproportionately harmed communities of color and gutted their civil rights. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement demand us to take action and make immediate change. We need Congress to pass a federal law that holds police accountable for relentless misconduct, brutality, and bias. We must dismantle all oppressive systems and make safety, education, opportunity, and justice accessible to all.
The LGBTQ community, and particularly trans women of color, is also acutely vulnerable to violence and discrimination in health care, housing, and employment. The majority of states still lack fully inclusive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals. While the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 in Bostock v. Clayton County that it is illegal to fire an employee based on sexual orientation or gender identity, systemic discrimination – especially under the guise of “family values” and religious liberty— is far from over. Since 2015, hate crime incidence has surged, the vast majority of which target communities of color, ethnic and religious minorities, and LGBTQ people.
