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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Office of Public Information JEWISH COUNCIL FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS July 29, 1999 - New York, NY - The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) supports the efforts of the African American and Jewish members of Congress who together issued a powerful and meaningful statement condemning the synagogue fire-bombings in Sacramento and the shootings in the Midwest. Evoking a shared historical experience of the struggle for justice, the statement reminds us all that we have suffered enough. As legislation often follows on the heels of world events, the tragic prologue to the passage of the HCPA hit very close to home. Batya Abramson-Goldstein is the associate executive director of the St. Louis Jewish Community Relations Council, one of the JCPA's 122 local member agencies. Jewish community relations - the way in which Jews relate to the broader community - has been the overarching commitment of Batya's professional career. This past July 4th weekend, as Americans were celebrating the values and ideals that Independence Day embodies, Batya and her family were struggling with the religious and ethnic hatred that threatened to take her oldest son. Hillel Goldstein was among the six Jewish residents of the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago who were shot after Shabbat services that Friday night. They were targeted simply because they were Jews. The others who were attacked that weekend, some fatally, were shot because of their skin color, their appearance. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act may not halt hate crimes. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act will, however, extend federal authority to assist in local prosecutions and to investigate and prosecute cases in which the violence occurs because of the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender or disability. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs commends the Senate for overwhelmingly passing the Hate Crimes Prevention Act last week and urges the House to follow suit. Through the HCPA, people of goodwill say no to racism, no to extremism, no to bigotry. ### The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is the public affairs body of the organized Jewish community and serves as the national coordinating and advisory body for the 13 national and 122 community agencies which comprise the field of Jewish community relations. |
