The South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race, whose work is focused on our communities in New Jersey, strongly condemns antisemitism and Islamophobia. Antisemitic and Islamophobic bias crimes, already at an all-time high since 2022, have surged throughout the country. In our own backyards over recent years our neighbors have experienced fear; our own communities' synagogues and Jewish community centers have been targeted by many forms of antisemitism including swatting events, bomb threats, and antisemitic graffiti meant to stir fear in the hearts of our Jewish neighbors. When there are acts of terror elsewhere in the world, despite the perpetrators, Islamophobia and hate crimes rise against both Muslims and people perceived as Muslim in our own community. We know that antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia are all cut from the same cloth; these forms of bias and hate are meant to divide us and pull us away from the work of creating a beloved community.  

Our commitment to racial equity extends to advocating for a just and inclusive community where people of different faiths, races, and ethnicities can live free from prejudice and discrimination. The Community Coalition on Race's mission is to build a stably racially integrated community of true inclusion, and thus we believe there is no space to deny the reality within our own community, state, and country that antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia exist. It is up to us all to challenge our own biases and to combat every one of these forms of bigotry and exclusion so that we can achieve the goal of an equitable and inclusive community.