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AJC Helps Launch Pennsylvania Asian
Pacifi c American Jewish Alliance
O SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
n Sept. 29, the Pennsylvania Asian Pacifi c
American Jewish Alliance will convene for
the fi rst time, marking a pioneering local
eff ort to build solidarity between the Jewish and Asian
American Pacifi c Islander communities.

Spearheaded by leaders from the American Jewish
Committee Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey and the
Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on
Asian Pacifi c American Aff airs, PAPAJA “aims to cre-
ate ties between the two groups, whose backgrounds
may be diff erent but have come to have much in com-
mon living in Pennsylvania,” according to an AJC
Philadelphia/Southern NJ press release.

Th e meeting falls right aft er Rosh Hashanah and, in
addition to outlining goals, fi nding cultural similarities
and ways to advocate for shared values, there will be an
opportunity for AAPI leaders to learn about the Jewish
New Year. Th e alliance is scheduled to meet quarterly.

Talks about forming the groups began nine months
ago when AJC Philadelphia/Southern NJ Regional
AJC Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey Regional
Director Marcia Bronstein (left) with Pennsylvania
Sen. Sharif Street and Pennsylvania Governor’s
Advisory Commission on Asian Pacifi c American
Aff airs Executive Director Stephanie Sun
Director Marcia Bronstein approached Stephanie Sun,
executive director of Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory
Commission on Asian Pacifi c American Aff airs. Six
members from each community gathered to discuss
ways to unite the two groups in a more offi cial capacity.

According to PAPAJA leaders, both the Jewish and
AAPI communities have experienced an increase in
hatred and discrimination in recent years.

AJC’s annual State of Antisemitism in America sur-
vey, released in October, reported that 82% of Jewish
Americans and 44% of the general public surveyed
found antisemitism in the U.S. to have increased; 46% of
American Jews and 38% surveyed believed that antisem-
itism is taken less seriously than other forms of hatred.

Since the onset of the pandemic, anti-Asian hatred
also has increased. FBI data from October found a
73% increase in anti-Asian hate from 2020 to 2021.

Discrimination toward AAPI populations in the U.S.

increased around the same time that former President
Donald Trump used anti-Chinese rhetoric to describe
the coronavirus, Sun believes.

“Not only the Chinese community, but also the
Vietnamese, Korean — many Asian communities —
they have been attacked physically or verbally,” Sun said.

On Nov. 17, four Asian American high school stu-
dents were verbally attacked on SEPTA’s Broad Street
Line. Th e same month, two teenagers beat a 27-year-
old Asian woman on the Market Frankford Line.

“Th e incidence of hate has really risen in our cities:
The Jewish Federation’s
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