From Our CEO: No One Makes It Alone

​As we know, Anti-Semitism sadly continues to be on the rise across the country. If you’ve watched the news recently, you’ve seen stories about bigoted signs, hateful statements on social media, and threats to local synagogues. All of these stories are extremely hurtful.

In response to this rise in Anti-Semitism, we are continuing to take precautions to ensure the safety of our members, participants, and staff. We are following our security protocols, which include working with NYPD, UJA, and JCRC’s Community Security Initiative, which connects us to many law enforcement agencies. We are in constant contact with these partners, who have been monitoring the situation and are keeping us updated on what has been happening locally and abroad.

While we’ve heard a lot about celebrities and Anti-Semitism lately, I want to focus on one celebrity in particular. Tyler Perry, the actor and filmmaker best known for the “Madea” movies, recently posted this photo of his late mother on Instagram. Willie Maxine Perry spent most of her career as a preschool teacher at the JCC in New Orleans. According to her son, the Anti-Semitism she experienced while working there impacted her deeply.
 
The post read, “I remember her coming home from work one day devastated because there was a bomb threat and my mother was horrified that there were people who wanted to blow up a building full of children because they were Jewish…It brought her back to that pain of having to live through the bombing of a church in Alabama where three little black girls died. My mother made sure that I knew the commonality of what black people and Jewish people have endured - she not only taught me about slavery but she also taught me about the Holocaust. But in teaching me about all our common pains she also taught me about the allies that Jewish people have been for black people.”
 
Perry’s post underscores the importance of standing strong together against hatred of any kind. Our shared struggles highlight the similarities between the Black and Jewish communities. We also know that there are Black Jews who are impacted by both racism and Anti-Semitism. All communities that face discrimination need to stand together as one against hatred and bigotry.
 
Perry ended his post perfectly by saying, “No one makes it alone. Refuse hate!!”
 
At the JCC, we have always stood with our neighbors in solidarity against racism and bigotry every time we see it. We are fortunate to have a community that supports us calls out Anti-Semitism when hateful incidents occur.
 
We are united in one message—we are one JCC family, and hate will not be tolerated in our community. I am grateful for Tyler Perry and others who have stood up and loudly voiced their opposition to Anti-Semitism. I encourage all of us to use our voices to fight back against hate.
 
The answer to hate is love!

-Orit Lender, CEO