Statement by Elaine Gross, President and Founder of ERASE Racism, January 2022
Beginning on Friday, January 21, and continuing through Sunday, many in America will share in the first full weekend of worship since the horrifying assault on Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. It’s a sadly appropriate time to reflect on how to reaffirm our national commitment not only to freedom of worship but to worship safely.
While the perpetrator in Texas traveled from another country, passing through Long Island’s own JFK Airport on the way to his violent end, historical facts tell us that the United States continues to have many individuals and groups who harbor hate and act out that hate. In 2020, the Southern Poverty Law Center identified 838 hate groups operating across the country that target religious minorities, immigrants, women, and LGBTQIA+ communities.
In attacking one synagogue, the perpetrator in Texas attacked every house of worship in America. He undermined freedom of religion for all of us.
The assault on Congregation Beth Israel is part of a growing pattern of hate crimes in America. More than 7,700 criminal hate crime incidents were reported to the FBI in 2020 – the highest tally of reported hate crime incidents in 12 years. Here, on Long Island, we have experienced a heightened presence of visible hate as well.
As Americans of many faiths gather to worship this weekend, ERASE Racism stands in solidarity with Congregation Beth Israel, with the Jewish community across the nation, and with worshipers of all faiths. Freedom of worship is not real unless it can be practiced without fear.
As Americans, we must reaffirm the fundamental freedoms on which our nation is founded. We must ensure that those freedoms extend to every American.