PRESS CONTACT:

Elliot Levy

[email protected]

786-200-4244

Patchogue, NY -- Constituents of New York’s 1st congressional district from Bend the Arc Jewish Action and allied groups joined in a rally Monday afternoon calling on Rep. Lee Zeldin to act against white supremacy and end his complicity with President Trump’s radical agenda, including the president’s recent decision to end the DACA program.  

In the spirit of the Jewish High Holidays, a time of awakening, atonement and accountability, activists rallied outside Rep. Zeldin’s Patchogue office to urge the Congressman, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, to wake up and Choose a Side: With or Against White Supremacy.

See video of the event here.

“Questioning and challenging the status quo is a core Jewish value,” said Phyllis Hartmann, a Zeldin constituent from Bellport and a member of Bend the Arc Jewish Action in New York. “It’s incredibly disheartening and disappointing to see Rep. Zeldin continually align with and refuse to question Trump's agenda, especially as a Jewish member of Congress. We’re demanding that Zeldin reject President Trump and his white supremacist allies and join those—including people of faith and conscience in his district—who oppose hatred and bigotry.”

The activists presented several demands for the Congressman:

•         Vote to censure Trump for his response to the violence in Charlottesville.
•         Demand Trump fire Stephen Miller, a leading advocate in the White House for a white nationalist agenda.
•         Vote to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol.
•         Support and help pass a clean DREAM Act—with no attached funding for a senseless border wall or out-of-control immigration enforcement—to protect all DACA beneficiaries immediately.

Other groups participating in the event included Make the Road NY, Progressive East End Reformers/NYPAN, Show Up Long Island, Let's Visit Lee Zeldin, Suffolk Progressives, Long Island Progressive Coalition, Action Together Long Island, and Sepa Mujer.

Bend the Arc Jewish Action has been a leading Jewish voice against the Trump administration’s embrace of white supremacy, calling for an end to deportation and detention of immigrants and speaking up against the Muslim ban. Their chapters in places like New York, Pittsburgh and the Bay Area participate in local actions to hold elected officials accountable.