Members of the Jewish Social Work group ask for your support. Read below and sign the petition re: choice of speaker for NASW Conference on Social Change.
Dear Dr. Anthony Estreet, Dr, Yvonne Chase, Ms. Gail Woods-Waller, and Mr. Richard Loomis,
We, the undersigned, are concerned about your choice of speaker for the upcoming NASW conference about social change. Maryum Ali’s public social media posts (see below), have exhibited one-sided reports, partisan, and biased messaging, giving voice to age-old antisemitic tropes while also accusing Jews of shutting down free speech with supposedly false accusations of antisemitism. This sort of messaging, now rampant on social media, isolates and demonizes Israel and Jewish people, prompting the largest spike of antisemitism and antisemitic violence worldwide since pre-Holocaust times.* It also denies Jewish people the same right ascribed to all other minority groups: to define what is hurtful and hateful to us, to speak for ourselves and not have other groups impose their narratives on us, a basic tenet of the work we do as social workers.
Based on Ali’s messaging, we remain concerned that her talk will present a one-sided narrative and contain key omissions: the narratives of Jews brutally raped, mutilated, kidnapped and currently held captive; narratives of those who had to assemble body parts to bury the victims, those of Jews desperate for missing family, those fearing more attacks, those routinely subjected to hate, since, in the eyes of many, all Jews are deemed responsible for Israeli military action.
Further, your choice of speaker occurs in a broader context. As antisemitism rages, NASW has stayed silent. Incidents of antisemitism go unnoticed by NASW which has not responded to some below who have reached out with concerns about this issue. Those supposedly committed to uncovering biases and eliminating “isms" have failed to register concern, even though in 2022, Jews - just 2% of the population – were victims of 55% of reported religious hate crimes. By comparison, 8% of hate crimes were anti-Islam and 5% were anti-Catholic.
NASW must take a clear, consistent stand against hate, engaging speakers who will fight bias, bullying, intimidation, and violence in ALL sectors. Granting a podium to those who downplay the experience of a marginalized group pilloried by record levels of hate is dangerous and unethical. We urge you to provide a safe learning environment for all by showcasing speakers who allow for the complexity of multiple narratives, highlighting voices that can help us to remember our most important ideals as social workers.
* In the three months since the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, U.S. antisemitic incidents have seen a 361-percent increase compared to the same period one year prior.
