Central Conference of American Rabbis Expresses Support For NAACP

Friday, January 6, 2017

This week, in Alabama, NAACP leaders, including NAACP President Cornell William Brooks, placed themselves on the front lines of justice, engaging in peaceful civil disobedience at the Alabama office of Sen. Jeff Sessions, calling upon Sessions to withdraw as President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee to be our nation’s next Attorney General.

The Central Conference of American Rabbis affirms its historic support for the NAACP, which stretches back to NAACP’s foundation. Our mutually supportive relationship was dramatically brought to life during the summer of 2015, when over 200 Reform rabbis joined in NAACP’s Journey for Justice, marching from Selma, Alabama to Washington, D.C., carrying a sacred scroll of our Torah, emphasizing our shared commitment to civil rights, voting rights, economic justice, education, and criminal justice reform.

The Senate owes the people of the United States a thorough airing of each nominee’s record and positions on the issues. That process must secure answers to important questions and concerns.  Within the Reform Movement, there is an opportunity to submit questions that will then be shared with the Senate. The questioning process must include Issues of racial justice, civil rights legislation, criminal justice reform, voting rights, immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, economic justice, education, and other matters of equality under the law for every nominee whose Department informs and implements the United States policy on these matters, especially the Department of Justice and the Attorney General who heads it.

Rabbi Denise L. Eger                         Rabbi Steven A. Fox
President                                          Chief Executive

Central Conference of American Rabbis