New York is experiencing a surge in hate violence that mirrors a rising tide of hate nationwide. According to the F.B.I., hate violence reached a 16-year high in 2018. The NYPD says reports of anti-Semitic crimes specifically rose by 24 percent in 2019, while gender related hate crimes nearly doubled and homophobic hate crimes rose as well. Nationally, hate violence against Latinx people is at a 10-year high.

NYC Against Hate has organized the Day Against Hate, a series of events occurring at various locations and times all across NYC on February 13th, 2020. NYC Against Hate is a coalition of nine community-based organizations working across differences to make New York safer for our communities. Jewish, Arab-American, Muslim, LGBTQ, and Black and Brown New Yorkers are uniting to create community safety for our communities and to build a stronger New York City.

The goal of the Day Against Hate is to draw attention to the epidemic of hate violence that New York is experiencing right now, and for communities across New York to come together, learn concrete skills, and build the relationships we need to better protect ourselves and each other from hate violence.

One of the painful effects of hate violence is to divide our communities. All of us deserve safety, and hate violence makes us feel unsafe.

Learning to be an upstander is a concrete way for all of us to protect each other from hate violence, without making assumptions about what an individual survivor of violence needs, or investing in approaches like policing or surveillance that can make other communities less safe. None of us is responsible for the bigoted ideologies that undergird hate violence, but all of us have the ability to fight back. By becoming upstanders, we can take greater responsibility for the safety and character of our city, and ourselves.

NCJW NY will be hosting an upstander training at Council House on February 13th at 5:30 pm. We hope that you can join us and be a part of this important movement.