Click HERE for JCRC-NY Statement.

Click HERE for Security Information Update.

Click HERE for Statements from NY Elected Officials.

Click HERE for Solidarity Statement from WAANY, Alumni & Friends

Click HERE for Statements of Solidarity from Community Partners

Click HERE for Rabbi Michael Miller’s Invocation at NYC Council Oct. 31, 2018

We are shocked by this week’s two, horrific, unprovoked assaults in two neighborhoods in two days. The Boro Park and the Crown Heights attackers each clearly intended to cause serious bodily harm, as they pummeled and chased their Jewish victims even when they tried to run away.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of NY (JCRC-NY) commends the local Shomrim, the 66 and the 71 precincts of the NYPD, for the swift arrests of each attacker. An intensive, ongoing investigation by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is underway. They are highly skilled professionals and we are confident that their investigators will follow the evidence wherever it leads.

In addition, we support an increased NYPD patrol presence in Boro Park and Crown Heights which would reassure the residents that their communities are safe.

We agree with Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez that: “Hate and intolerance as we’ve seen in recent days have no place in our city.” The best antidote for gratuitous hate crimes is the prosecution and conviction of the perpetrators. The District Attorney’s Hate Crimes Unit is vigorously investigating both assaults and both of these perpetrators should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

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In our Focus on Communal Priorities published in February 2018,  we stated “that the proposed inclusion of a question regarding citizenship and immigration status in the decennial census will suppress response rates, contribute to a substantial undercount of the population in our region, and inevitably result in the malapportionment of our elected representatives.” In March 2018 the United States Department of Commerce and the Bureau of the Census decided to include a question on citizenship and a coalition of State Attorneys General and other parties sued to ensure a full and fair Census. Yesterday, Judge Jesse Furman of the United States District Court,  Southern District of NY ruled that the plaintiffs could proceed with the next phase of litigation: discovery.

The Attorneys Generals’ complaint documents the fact that the citizenship question did not appear in the decennial census since 1950. For decades the Census Bureau itself maintained that, “demanding citizenship or immigration status on the decennial census would drive down response rates and seriously impair the accuracy of the decennial population count”. The JCRC-NY applauds the exemplary leadership of New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood on this issue.

We agree with Attorney General Underwood’s conclusion, based on decades of Census Bureau and academic research, that the insertion of the citizenship question could lead to a “major undercount that would threaten billions in federal funds and New York’s fair representation in Congress and the Electoral College.” Charles S. Temel, President and Michael S. Miller, Executive Vice President and CEO of the JCRC-NY observed, “Demographic changes across the United States will inevitably cost New York a seat in Congress. An undercount might lead to the loss of a second seat.”