Jews for Racial and Economic Justice

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
Founded	1990
Type	Nonprofit
Headquarters	New York City, NY, U.S.
Executive Director	Audrey Sasson
Volunteers	6,000+
Website	www.jfrej.org

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) is an American left-wing non-profit grassroots Jewish organization. JFREJ describes itself as a "movement to dismantle racism and economic exploitation" and is based in New York City. It operates both a 501(c)(3), also known as JFREJ Community and a 501(c)(4) known as JFREJ Action.

History

JFREJ was founded in New York City in 1990. Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz served as the organization's first director. Although it was founded as a local organization to work on local issues, JFREJ's first event was a Shabbat to honor Nelson Mandela. During Mandela's 1990 visit to New York City, during which many local Jewish groups and leaders, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, requested that Mandela clarify his views on Israel following a recent embrace of Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi. Some members of New York City's Jewish community protested Mandela during his visit. To counter to this response, JFREJ's first event, held on June 15, 1990, honored Nelson Mandela and raised $50,000 for the anti-apartheid cause.

After the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo by four NYPD officers, JFREJ began organizing its members in response to police violence and to advocate for police accountability. The New York Times reported that 126 JFREJ members were among the 212 New Yorkers arrested on March 24 protesting Diallo's death.

From the early 2000s to 2010, JFREJ participated in the successful campaign led by Domestic Workers United (DWU) to pass a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York State. JFREJ began working with DWU in 2002, and in 2003–2004, JFREJ helped pass a New York City Council resolution for domestic workers rights. JFREJ organized Jewish employers of domestic workers to improve their own employment practices, and advocate alongside domestic workers for the legislation to codify these workers' rights into state law. After the successful passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York State, Ai-jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and JFREJ members who had been organizing domestic employers founded a new organization, Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network.

In October 2012, JFREJ began working with Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) to oppose Stop & Frisk in New York City.

From its founding through the mid-2010s, JFREJ membership was composed primarily of white Jews, and the organization allied with communities of color through partnerships with non-Jewish organizations. Leo Ferguson joined JFREJ in 2014 intending to change this, bringing a greater focus on incorporating the diversity within the Jewish community. By 2020, this led to greater diversity in membership, a Jews of color caucus initiated by Ferguson, and a third of staff members coming from racially-diverse Jewish backgrounds.

During the Trump administration, JFREJ was active in protests against the Muslim Ban and as part of the movement to Abolish ICE.

In 2019, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke at a JFREJ event where she discussed her Puerto Rican ancestors' distant Sephardi Jewish heritage.

Following the Monsey Hanukkah stabbing in 2019, calls came from Jewish community organizations, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to increase security and investigate the incident. Audrey Sasson, JFREJ executive director, opposed increased police presence as a means to counter the growth of violent antisemitism in the United States, citing the concerns that Black Jews and other Jews of color would feel unsafe.

In June 2022, the Anti-Defamation League condemned JFREJ as "out of touch" with mainstream Jewish-American opinion. The ADL's CEO Jonathan Greenblatt retweeted a Twitter thread singling out JFREJ and the Jewish Vote as a "far-left scam". An ADL spokesperson later confirmed the organization's agreement with the sentiment that JFREJ isn't representative of Jewish opinion or Jewish values. Sophie Ellman-Golan, communications director for JFREJ, criticized the ADL for attacking the Jewish identity of JFREJ members.

Initiatives

The Jewish Vote

The Jewish Vote is the electoral arm of JFREJ. Their goal is to endorse and help elect a new generation of "reformers and radicals" who will fight for Medicare for All, universal rent control, a Green New Deal, publicly funded elections, fair wages and working conditions for all, and an end to mass incarceration and criminalization of people of color.

The Jewish Vote played a key role in Congressman Jamaal Bowman's insurgent primary win in NY-16 against 16-term incumbent, Congressman Eliot Engel. Before announcing his candidacy, Bowman met with JFREJ members to learn more about Jewish history and antisemitism, and 100 JFREJ members volunteered under the banner #JewsForJamaal in support of his primary campaign.

Fair Pay for Home Care

As part of the NY Caring Majority Coalition, JFREJ advocated to pass the Fair Pay for Home Care Act in New York State, which would increase home care workers' salaries to 150% of minimum wage. While ultimately wage increases did not meet the target of 150% in the year 2022, the new budget did include the biggest investment in the state's home care workforce in history with $8 billion over four years dedicated to raise wages for home care workers.

Fighting Antisemitism and White Nationalism

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice has advised the White House on fighting antisemitism.

In partnership with other Jewish organizations JFREJ sponsored the Jews Against White Nationalism project whose call was to fight antisemitism and white nationalism in the far-right, and to uncover its ties to the GOP.

In 2019, JFREJ convened the NYC Against Hate, a coalition of community-based organizations working across identities to make New York safer for minority communities. The program received over $1 million in funding from the New York City Council in the city's 2020 budget, but this funding was cut entirely from the 2021 budget. With coalition partners, JFREJ leads community safety canvasses and bystander intervention trainings in response to incidents of antisemitism.

Jews for Black Lives

In 2014, JFREJ was active in the Black Lives Matter protests in New York City following the killing of Eric Garner.

In 2016, JFREJ organized a month of action for #JewsForBlackLives, culminating in a march of 400 people, the largest-ever mobilization of Jews for Black Lives Matter at the time.

In 2018, Black Jews in JFREJ's Jews of Color caucus organized a Juneteenth Seder. The Seder used traditions from the Passover Seder to celebrate the emancipation holiday, demand justice for Black New Yorkers killed by the NYPD, and call for reparations.

In 2020, after the killing of George Floyd, JFREJ participated in the ensuing Black Lives Matter protests in New York City, joined advocacy efforts to defund the NYPD, and organized a Shabbat service at the Occupy City Hall encampment.