How You Can Use Massachusetts' Antisemitism Report

So, Melissa, what would you say is in this report and who should see themselves in it? And how can we turn his recommendations into meaningful results in Massachusetts?

Yeah.

So excited to talk about this.

I

know you are.

And congratulations, former commissioner, on achieving this report.

I would say at the most basic level, the report recognizes that the responsibility of addressing anti-Semitism and creating the communities and institutions that reflect our values and are inclusive of society.

everybody and places where Jews feel seen and belong are everybody's collective responsibility.

So actually, I see also the report as not just a set of findings, but a vehicle for us to actually move from collective concern to collective action.

There have also been communities and institutions that have taken really meaningful action on addressing anti-Semitism, and I think the report adds credibility to what they're doing.

while also creating that roadmap for others to join that effort.

So I think it's everybody's report.

It is every institution in Greater Boston.

It is parents.

It is a faculty member.

It's a student.

It's a Jewish employee.

It's a corporation leader.

And it allows folks to actually put words and meaning behind show of support to actually acting on that support.

last December when the report was presented to the governor and the lieutenant governor, and they said this as well, is that this isn't something just to sit on a shelf.

This is not just, we have a report, it goes into the state system and it's there in perpetuity, but it's also really something that we want people to read and to engage with and then use as a tool in their own communities.

So before we get to the tools that you at CJP in partnership with JCR are going to be rolling out and we'll be including a link in the show notes to a new resource page at CJP.

Let's talk about how the report itself already established that people are doing this work.

So there were a few places that the commission's report actually recognized what is already happening in the workplace context and in the municipal grassroots community organizing context.

So over the past couple of years, in particular, since the attacks of October 7th, there's been a productive recognition that institutional change or change in institutions to address anti-Semitism has can't just happen from the top down, that everybody plays their part.