Below is a statement from the New England Jewish Labor Committee:
As the the New England Jewish Labor Committee, we stand unequivocally on the side of all marginalized people. Especially in this moment, we stand in solidarity with the Black and brown populations of the United States, too long killed with impunity and subject to economic, environmental, housing, and healthcare violence by a system built to devalue their lives. We unequivocally support the Black Lives Matter movement and the protestors creating the 2020 Black Lives Matter uprising against police killing, brutality, and oppression.
The recent horrific killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and others - may their memories be a blessing - are just the tip of the iceberg. These acts are just a few examples of White Supremacy, a centuries-old system of violence that has stolen the labor and the lives of Black people and divided the working classes so as to protect the unearned, and therefore stolen, wealth of the capitalists.
As a Jewish organization, we urge our fellow Jews to connect the entirety of your synagogue or Jewish communal organization with black-led organizations and other organizations fighting for racial and economic justice. We also urge our members to donate to the Massachusetts Bail Fund.
As a labor organization, we must and will work towards ending the extreme disparities of wealth between white and non-white working people. The New England JLC has joined Black and Latinx activists to fight for the safety of essential and frontline workers by pushing for a reopening process that puts workers' health and safety first. We will resist layoffs of essential workers in the name of austerity, such as the mass layoffs in Brookline Public Schools. We will work with other labor organizations as they strive to eliminate racism in the workplace and our society.
The fight for economic justice is intertwined with the fight for racial justice. Right-wing zealots, including President Trump, attempt to deflect a discussion of racial and economic justice into a conversation about looting. We believe that real examples of "looting" include the $700 million stolen from Massachusetts low-wage workers annually. Real looting is the $434 billion gained by billionaires during the pandemic. Real looting is the median net-worth in Boston being $8 for Black households versus $247,500 for white households.
Through continued learning and practicing teshuvah (turning or repentance), we will engage the Jewish and Labor communities in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and in support of the struggle for a more just economic society.
In solidarity with Black Lives Matter,
The New England Jewish Labor Committee Board and Ari Fertig, Executive Director
The letter the New England Jewish Labor Committee delivered to President Bacow provides a full endorsement of the contract proposals student workers are demanding in a contract. The NEJLC letter concludes, “As a preeminent institution of higher learning, it is unbecoming of Harvard University to undervalue those who support students in the classrooms, libraries, and research labs every day. We urge you to live up to the high standards for which you are known, and negotiate a fair contract immediately.”If you are interested in getting involved with the Harvard grad student workers strike, email Emma Rose at emma@jewishlabor.org!