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Jewish and Muslim Protestors Join the Black Lives Matter Movement

Jewish Muslim Protestors

Jewish and Muslim Protestors Bring Attention to the #BlackLivesMatter Movement this Hanukkah.

December 16, Jewish and Muslim members were led by the Arab-American Association of NY, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice in front of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Their aim was to urge Commissioner William Bratton to bring an end to “discriminatory and abusive Broken Windows policing.” This is the 7th of 11 actions that make up #11Days of Action, a campaign by #ThisStopsToday to reform police action. The campaign will last 11 days, with demands to #ChangetheNYPD. 11 days to symbolize the amount of times Eric Garner said “I can’t breathe” before he died to police brutality.

Jews Agree: BlackLivesMatter and Police Brutality has gone Too Far

Our hearts are broken that in 2014 it is still urgent, necessary and even radical to affirm that #BlackLivesMatter,” says the website, vsgoliath.org. “But it couldn’t be more important to say. Together we can fill our social media networks with light and show our support at this key moment in the long fight for racial justice.”

The first night of Hanukkah brought large protests in 15 different cities across the country. While forms varied, the message was the same. The groups publically mourned the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police brutality and racial profiling. They presented the political demands of Ferguson Action, a list of 11. In Massachusetts, almost 300 Jews and Arabs marched from the Kehilath Israel temple to the Coolidge Corner. In Brooklyn, protestors assembled at the 78th precinct to hold a candle-lit vigil with a yellow banner that said “Jews and Arabs Say: Black Lives Matter.” These protests marked the 22nd day of protesting nationwide, following the jury’s decision to not indict officer Darren Wilson for shooting Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager. The protests often have a reading of the deceased names, having a moment of respectful silence and a reading of the Kaddish.

They have brought with them a list of political demands which focus primarily on eliminating police brutality and racial profiling. They demand the de-militarization of local law enforcement country wide, along with a review of systemic abuses by the local police departments and a publication of racially biased policing and better practices. They demand that the law enforcement repurpose their funding to support alternatives to incarceration, and congressional hearing investigation into the criminalization of color, profiling and police abuse. Read the full demands here.

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