NYC Council candidate suggests spike in anti-Asian hate crimes is ‘moment’ to also address antisemitism

Jacob Kornbluh, The Forward, April 6, 2021

An eastern Queens Council candidate is calling for community-based initiatives and cross-ethnic solidarity to deal with the recent spike in antisemitic incidents and anti-Asian hate crimes.

Jaslin Kaur, a South Asian candidate in the 23rd Council District, released a detailed plan, titled “Standing up to antisemitism and hate violence,” that seeks to move away from a “prosecution heavy approach” and focus on implementing community-based programs that would help deal with the root cause of the problem. It is featured on the issues page on the candidate’s campaign website.

“We are relying on community-based organizations to be the ones to tackle the issues that arise in our communities, to be able to do the responses needed to help our communities feel safer, and feel like we’re actually in coalition with people together,” Kaur said in an interview. She is one of 66 candidates for the City Council who called for the removal of police officers and security measures in all public schools. She pledged to reach out to the Jewish communities and institutions in her district “in a meaningful way” and be a friend and an ally to the communities who have been victims of hate crimes.

Kaur said she worked on her new plan with the progressive Jews For Racial & Economic Justice organization and consulted with other Jewish leaders. “As a South Asian American, it is really important for me to stand in solidarity with our Jewish communities given that there has been a parallel spike in antisemitic hate crimes and anti-Asian hate crimes” in Queens.

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