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.
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.
PS: Maya will be speaking on our panel next week, How We Fight Antisemitism Now: A Panel on Safety, Solidarity, and Winning Our Future. RSVP to hear from her directly.
Sources:
1. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, X/Twitter