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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:
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Philadelphia, South Jersey, but across
the entire country,” said Alan Hoffman,
AJC Philadelphia/Southern NJ president
and co-chair of PAPAJA. “In joining
forces, we want to work together, under-
stand each other’s communities a little
bit better and fight against this hate that
we continue to be the victims of and is
continuing to increase in this country.”
Both populations share similar strug-
gles, such as model minority status and
the stereotype of dual loyalty.

“It’s a tool used to even create division
between communities,” Sun said. “When
people portray us as model minorities,
usually the concept behind it is, ‘Oh,
Jewish [people], they’re all rich from day
one. You just come to this country rich.

Oh, those Asians — they’re all doing
well; they’re all just lawyers, accountants,
bankers. They don’t need any resources;
they don’t need any help.’”
Though Sun believes that PAPAJA is
the first statewide alliance between the
Jewish and AAPI communities, the two
populations have a shared history of soli-
darity, Bronstein said.

In 1905, the Kishinev pogrom, which
took place in modern-day Moldova,
prompted American Jewish leaders to
respond and support pogrom victims.

AJC was founded in 1906 in New York.

“It wasn’t only the Jewish commu-
nity that wanted to do something.

The Chinese community in New York
City under Joseph Singleton offered to
arrange a benefit for Kishinev pogrom
victims,” Bronstein said. “And he orga-
nized this program at a Chinese theater,
and they put on three performances, and
the money that was raised went to the
victims of the Kishinev pogrom.”
AJC Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey
also has a long history of solidarity efforts
with other interfaith and marginalized
groups. AJC helped to found the Jewish-
Latino Coalition in 2013; the Bucks
County Christian Coalition Dialogue
group, created 30 years ago; and the Circle
of Friends, the Philadelphia chapter of the
Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council.

Bronstein draws on the aphorism that,
in times of crisis, one learns who their
real friends are. With shared experi-
ences of being the victims of hatred
and discrimination, Jewish and Asian
Americans, as well as other marginalized
groups, can forge deeper friendships.

“It ties into allyship, and it ties into
being there for one another and speak-
ing out and affirming that we’re part of
the fabric of this great nation,” Bronstein
said. “We’re here to strengthen one
another and work together.” JE
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Shanah tovah.

afmda.org/support srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com
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