Jewish Voice for Peace applauds Starbucks’ decision to elevate the leadership of EJI, NAACP LDF and Demos in its racial bias training

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2018
Contact: Sonya E Meyerson-Knox | sonya@jvp.org | 929-290-0317
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Jewish Voice for Peace applauds Starbucks’ decision to name three African American racial justice leaders – the Equal Justice Initiative, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Demos – as the leadership team of their upcoming anti-bias training, where they will help Starbucks “demonstrate leadership in advancing a commitment to equal treatment and opportunity.”

JVP also welcomes the clear decision by Starbucks to remove the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from leadership in this initiative, and to seek guidance from organizations who serve directly impacted communities, including Muslims, LGBTQ people, Latinx communities and immigrants, who are under threat in our country.

“The demotion of the ADL from a leadership role is a clear reflection of the recognition by a wide variety of social justice organizations and individuals that the ADL’s status as a civil rights organization is compromised given its history and practices of anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Black racism,” said Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director of JVP. “Within 72 hours, our petition garnered over 11,000 signatures. We’re so pleased our voices were heard.”

Already the national discussion about the racist incident in Starbucks has contributed to the conversation in the U.S. about racial justice. JVP is particularly concerned with collaborations between U.S. and Israeli police and military forces – and their impacts on Palestinians there and all people of color here. In just a week, we’ve noticed and welcomed the increased scrutiny of the ADL’s sponsorship of those police exchanges, and the growing recognition that those exchanges are incompatible with a vision of safety for all.

Any organization working for civil rights should know that militarized policing is a huge problem that overwhelmingly affects communities of color. JVP is strongly committed to ending U.S./Israel police exchanges through our Deadly Exchange campaign and working towards a vision of safety for all people in the U.S. and Israel/Palestine.

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Jewish Voice for Peace is a national, grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. JVP has over 200,000 online supporters, over 70 chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Council, an Artist Council, an Academic Advisory Council, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.