Sunrise Petition & Talking Points Background: On October 20, 2021, the D.C. chapter of the Sunrise Movement, an American 501(c)(4) political action organization that advocates political action on climate change, announced in a statement that they would not be participating in the Freedom to Vote Rally-Rally at the Finish Line, a major voting rights march, in protest to the participation of three Jewish non-profit organizations, including The Jewish Council on Public Affairs, the National Council of Jewish Women and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Sunrise D.C. stated they protest these Jewish organizations' participation because Sunrise D.C. opposes Zionism. Petition: https://www.stopsunrisemovementshate.com Talking Points: ● The DC chapter of the Sunrise Movement, a national climate action group, broke their commitment to participate in a critical voting rights rally this weekend in Washington, DC due to the participation of a number of Jewish organizations, including Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) and the Jewish Council on Public Affairs (JCPA) who are joining in solidarity with the voting rights movement. ● On October 20th, the DC Sunrise Movement chapter released a statement on their Twitter about their boycott of Jewish organizations. According to the statement, Sunrise DC’s leaders claim their pledge to uphold justice and “indigenous sovereignty” prevents them from working alongside Jewish groups who support Israel. ● This reasoning is as hypocritical as the group’s promise to promote inclusivity and acceptance in the fight for equal rights. ● The Sunrise Movement claims to support human rights and yet wrote to President Biden imploring him to cooperate with China despite the human rights abuses and atrocities committed in China against the Uyghur Muslim people. This hypocrisy demonstrates that this boycott is clearly an attack on the Jewish community and Jewish organizations whose part of their mission is to protect voting rights and fight for climate justice. ● Excluding Jewish organizations from our nation’s most imperative conversations is antisemitic. Jews, who make up a mere 2 percent of the US population yet are the victims of 60 percent of religious hate crimes, are once again being targeted. ● DC Sunrise’s boycott of Jewish organizations is reminiscent of the Nazi Germany era in which Jewish businesses were boycotted. ● By ostracizing and boycotting Jewish groups and targeting their members, Sunrise DC is both undermining support for the causes the group claims to care about while igniting the world’s oldest hatred of antisemitism. ● At a time when assaults against the Jewish community, both within the United States and around the world, are surging at an alarming rate, any group dedicated to justice must stand against antisemitism, not contribute to it. ● We are already seeing local Sunrise affiliates condemn this antisemitic boycott of Jewish organizations. For example, Sunrise GW, The George Washington University campus chapter affiliate, unequivocally condemned Sunrise DC’s antisemitic boycott of these Jewish organizations.
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