The Honorable Richard J. Durbin
Chair, Senate Committee on the Judiciary
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Lindsay Graham
Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Judiciary
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senators Durbin and Graham, and Members of the Committee,
As the Washington Director of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, I write to thank you for holding this hearing on hate crimes in America, and to share our organization’s perspective on this critical issue. As the largest national Jewish organization focused on domestic policy with supporters across the country, Bend the Arc is deeply concerned about antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab bigotry, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian hate, anti-LGBTQ hate, and anti-immigrant xenophobia in our country today. We work to fight antisemitism and other oppressions for the safety of our multiracial, multiethnic American Jewish community, and also for the health of our democracy more broadly. Following the deadly attacks on October 7th, American Jewish, Arab, and Muslim communities have all experienced violence in our country, including the murder of a six-year-old Palestinian boy, the shooting of three Palestinian college students, as well as the targeting of Jewish students at Cornell University. We firmly believe Jewish safety is bound up in our collective safety, and we urge the committee to take several measures to support the safety of all American communities threatened by hate crimes.
White supremacy has a long and shameful place in the history of the United States. Its current manifestation in the White Nationalist movement, and its enablers, pose a grave threat to the safety of individuals, communities, and the fabric of democracy itself. Antisemitism is part of the machinery of division and fear that white supremacist movements rely on for power. This is the same machinery these movements and their enablers use to endanger Black, Indigenous, and people of color, people who are immigrants, people who are Muslim, and so many more communities.
A core part of this movement’s dangerous rhetoric is the “great replacement” conspiracy theory which has become mainstreamed by politicians on the national stage, emboldening white supremacists and leading to violence against several communities. In the weeks before the massacre at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, political leaders, as well as press outlets, stoked fear through their warnings about a so-called “invasion” of refugees seeking asylum at our borders. Many added conspiracy theories about powerful Jewish financiers funding this supposed invasion. The murderer in Pittsburgh pointed to those very news reports and conspiracy theories as his motivation. With our colleagues at Political Research Associates (PRA), we detailed this dangerous process in our report, Taking Aim at Multiracial Democracy. The mainstreaming of the great replacement conspiracy theory was also horrifically at play in the shooting that killed 10 members of the Black community in Buffalo, as detailed by America’s Voice in their report, Two Years After the Deadly Terror Attack in Buffalo, the Replacement Theory has Only Gone More Mainstream. It is critical that our elected officials denounce, and cease using the great replacement conspiracy theory and other bigoted rhetoric.
Additionally, to adequately combat hate crimes and direct resources where they are most needed, we must have better data on hate crimes. As the Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked, there is a chronic problem of “consistently inconsistent” reporting of hate crimes by local law enforcement agencies to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with thousands of jurisdictions underreporting or not reporting data at all. The transition to the new National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) can hopefully improve data collection, but additional measures are needed, including the implementation of mandatory reporting by all law enforcement agencies. It is also critical to prevent hate crimes before they happen, and so we urge Congress to robustly fund prevention initiatives. Sadly, we also know that prevention is not always possible and that communities need support in the aftermath of hate-based violence, so we urge Congress to see that the Community Relations Service of the Department of Justice has the funding it needs. Additionally, federal resources must be adequately directed at tracking white supremacist-motivated violent extremism, so we urge the Committee to support the passage of the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (S.1591), which would establish offices and procedures for this purpose.
Finally, we urge the Committee to refrain from supporting the codification of the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Rather than a codified definition, we need a multi-pronged approach to fighting antisemitism and all forms of bigotry that uses and invests in the existing tools of government as well as structural reforms that ensure a thriving and inclusive democracy where every single one of us is safe, no matter our race, class, or faith. Indeed, we know from decades of work with government entities that not having a codified definition does not prevent necessary and important work to fight antisemitism and other forms of hate crimes. Indeed, no other form of bias has a legally codified definition, and that fact does not hinder governments from enforcing statutes preventing discrimination, prosecuting hate crimes, and doing other important work to prevent hate crimes. One important recent example is the Biden Administration's national strategy to combat antisemitism that was developed last year, without such a codified definition. We also urge the Committee to support the full implementation of the White House’s national strategy to combat antisemitism.
The path toward a safer future for all people exists in a multiracial democracy where everyone has what they need to thrive. We know that Jewish safety is deeply connected to the safety of all people targeted by white supremacy, and the safety of every single one of us will not exist in isolation.
Again, we thank the Committee for holding this hearing and we urge you to implement policies that combat hate crimes against all targets of white supremacy and that can prevent hate crimes from happening in the first place.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block
Washington Director
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
