Please join us at the next Richmond Racial Equity meeting this Wednesday, Feb 19 from 6:30-8p.
We will continue our Israel/Palestine Discussion, with Alexis facilitating.
- Land Acknowledgment (Alexis — unless someone else wants to do this)
- Discussion, continued : Why do you think that this group should (or shouldn’t) get involved? That is, how does it fit in with our mission? Is this a racial issue?
- Have your thoughts on this changed since Jan 22? Now that DEI is under attack and the White House is openly advocating the ethnic cleansing (and genocide) of Gaza? Do we need to revisit this discussion?
- Is it an omission we should fix that Islamophobia and antisemitism are not in the mission statement? How will we define antisemitism to distinguish it from criticism of Israel or Zionism?
RRE Mission statement:
“Engaging our community in rejecting racism and fostering inclusion by advancing equity for Indigenous, Black, and People of Color – through education, policy change, and reparations.”
For a discussion of distinguishing antisemitism from anti-zionism or criticism of Israel, please have a look at these two pages (The International Holocaust Remembrance Association and Jewish Voices for Peace) if you have a chance:
NOTE: Wafic has proposed (in his email to this group) that we reject the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its examples.
https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism
Here is an alternative viewpoint from Jewish Voices for Peace on the meaning of antisemitism, Zionism, and anti-Zionism.
https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2023/11/09/antisemitism-dangerous/
5. Ideas/Proposals for actions we might take.
Hope to see you there! Zoom link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87978589435?pwd=vBwCbuzrCrF0zcO7bRB173jfvEKumC.1
Meeting ID: 879 7858 9435
Passcode: 769933