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Press Releases

New Tolerance Campaign Switches Gears to Say ‘Thank You’ to 5 Coronavirus Heroes

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For Immediate Release March 19, 2020 Contact: kon@newtolerance.org The New Tolerance Campaign (NTC) has a reputation for calling out organizations and leaders for their wrongdoings and demanding they correct course. Today, however, we’re switching gears to recognize and thank five companies that are doing good in the face of the deadly Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic by going above and beyond to help their employees and communities. To do this, NTC is creating a series of thank you cards that people can digitally sign and personalize. NTC will also give signers a simple way to tweet their gratitude and ask others to sign the card as well. NTC will then send a copy of the thank you card and responses by both email and snail mail to the recipients. We will engage our current network of activists and run ads on Facebook inviting people across the country to participate. The first thank you card launching today will go to restaurateur and philanthropist José Andrés and his company ThinkFoodGroup. Andrés proactively turned his upscale restaurants in the NYC and Washington D.C. areas into “community kitchens” where those who are struggling can get free meals, while those who can afford to pay can get a meal for an unusually reasonable price of $7. The continued cash flow will allow ThinkFoodGroup to pay all employees their full wages as they serve those in the community who need it most. He described his decision in a moving video that’s well worth a watch.  NTC has four additional recipients that will be rolled out daily over the following week, but suggestions are welcome and can be sent to info@newtolerance.org. New Tolerance Campaign was founded on the belief that businesses, organizations, and community leaders have the power and responsibility to create a more tolerant and compassionate society, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to lift up those who are doing it right!  ###

Blog

5 Ways to Use Your Time Alone to Promote Tolerance and Understanding

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Coronavirus has just been officially labeled a pandemic, and public officials are begging us to wash our hands and, when possible, to stay home. If you find yourself at home with more free time than you previously anticipated, why not make it your goal to use that time meaningfully? Here are NTC’s 5 suggestions for how you can work towards a more tolerant world and a more tolerant you without leaving your couch. 1. Find small ways to encourage friends and family Start small with your network. Our daily lives can be so busy that it’s easy to overlook what is going in in the lives of our friends, family, and coworkers. Take a moment and think about the people that would appreciate a supportive or congratulatory note in the mail. Do you have a lonely friend or relative who would love a phone call? Is there a new parent or someone with a health struggle that could use a home-cooked meal? Now is the perfect time to stop putting off the relationships that need a little TLC, even if you don’t spend time together in person. 2. Have a real conversation with someone you disagree with Be part of the solution to end division in our nation. Think of someone in your life who you respect, but generally disagree with. Set up a phone call or FaceTime date and ask them why they believe what they believe. Make your goal to listen and learn, and avoid arguing. Hopefully, they’ll ask you to share as well. You may not change each other’s minds, but you’ll both likely leave the conversation with greater empathy for those you disagree with. 3. Read a non-fiction book or watch a documentary you wouldn’t normally watch Similarly, you can seek a book or a documentary from a different perspective than yours and absorb it with an open mind. Look for something thoughtful, not angry or inflammatory. Can you find more common ground with the people who hold that view than you previously thought? Are there facts or arguments that can make you more deeply examine your own beliefs? You might be surprised by what you find. 4. Make a list of the things you admire about people you disagree with and a list of things you would change about your team As a nation, we have become experts at identifying everything wrong with the people we view as our opponents while making excuses and exceptions for our own team. Take a moment to identify a few things you genuinely admire about people on the other side and then honestly think through your own side’s weaknesses. Thinking in this way can help us disagree more productively and respectfully, and reveal where we ourselves may be part of the problem. 5. Take action with us You can’t attend a rally or volunteer in a soup kitchen from home, but you can send an email or a tweet urging American institutions to fight intolerance. Check out NTC’s campaigns to see if something you’re passionate about is on the list or find some motivation – or maybe check out something that you’ve never delved into before. Whatever you decide to do, we hope you stay safe and find a way to make the most of an uncertain time. If you do try one of our suggestions, we would love to hear about it. Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!

Press Releases

NTC Mobilizes Activists to Demand Apple Stop Using Forced Uyghur Muslim Labor

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For immediate release March 9, 2020 NTC is mobilizing activists to demand that Apple stop its grotesque use of forced Uyghur labor in their Chinese factories. This hypocritical practice – Apple often claims to be socially aware – is incredibly inhumane. Now that Apple is aware of their human rights violations, they must stop them immediately. Over the last two years, the world’s eyes have been opened to the cruel treatment of China’s Uyghur Muslim population by its government, which has been using an advanced surveillance state to abduct, isolate and brainwash innocent Uyghurs because of their religious beliefs. On March 1st, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released an explosive report revealing a sickening new twist to the terrifying saga: many of these already tortured Uyghurs are being rented as slave labor to Chinese manufacturers producing products for well-known American companies. After being held in dystopian brainwashing camps, Uyghurs are shipped across the country to work in factories. They aren’t allowed to leave or practice their religion, and any time away from the factory floor is spent in indoctrination classes meant to strip them of their Uyghur identity. Through extensive research, ASPI found that participating factories were in the supply lines of at least 83 American and international brands including Apple, Nike, Amazon, Victoria’s Secret, and Nintendo. While it’s possible that these companies previously had no idea what was going on, they know now. We’re starting with Apple because they claim to “hold ourselves and our suppliers to the highest standards to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect.” Yet, ASPI identified at least four Apple-linked factories that are using forced Uyghur labor, including one that CEO Tim Cook visited in 2017. In addition to the activism platform, NTC is also running Facebook ads targeting Apple employees: Apple responded to the initial report with a statement saying that they were unaware, but they need to know that their customers and the American people are watching closely and expect them to take absolutely corrective action as soon as possible. They can choose to be heroes to thousands or willing perpetrators of one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time. ### Photo Source: ‘Strengthening patriotism education and building a bridge of national unity’ (加强爱国主义教育搭建民族团结连心桥), China Ethnic Religion Net (中国民族宗教网), 7 November 2019, online.

Past Campaigns

Call on Apple to Stop Profiting from Forced Labor in China

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Your iPhone (or Android) may have been manufactured Uyghur Muslims being held in modern-day slavery. Now, you can use that iPhone to help put an end to this vile exploitation! Over the last two years, we’ve slowly been learning about how the Chinese government has been abducting, isolating, and brainwashing innocent people simply because of their religious beliefs. On March 1st, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released an explosive report revealing a sickening new twist to the terrifying saga: many of these already tortured Uyghurs are being rented as slave labor to Chinese manufacturers producing products for well-known American companies. After being held in dystopian brainwashing camps, Uyghurs are shipped across the country to work in factories. They aren’t allowed to leave or practice their religion, and any time away from the factory floor is spent in indoctrination classes meant to strip them of their Uyghur identity. Through extensive research, ASPI found that participating factories were in the supply lines of at least 83 American and international brands including Apple, Nike, Amazon, Victoria’s Secret, and Nintendo. While it’s possible that these companies previously had no idea what was going on, they know now. Will you join us in making sure this is an issue they can’t ignore? To start, we’re calling on Apple to take action. Apple proudly claims “we hold ourselves and our suppliers to the highest standards to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect,” but ASPI identified at least four Apple-linked factories that are using forced Uyghur labor, including one that CEO Tim Cook visited in 2017. Send an email to Apple and a tweet to Tim Cook urging them to act quickly and decisively. They can choose to be heroes to thousands or to be knowing participants in one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time. With your help, we believe they’ll make the right choice.  Photo Source: ‘Strengthening patriotism education and building a bridge of national unity’ (加强爱国主义教育搭建民族团结连心桥), China Ethnic Religion Net (中国民族宗教网), 7 November 2019, online.

Blog

Whose side are you on??

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NTC’s last campaign brought out some pretty angry responses. The campaign, if you missed it, focused on a Republican MT state rep who claimed that the Constitution calls for socialists to be shot. His own party had already called on him to resign, and we thought it was a no brainer to join the call. Isn’t the whole point of American Constitutional freedom that the government can’t punish you for what you believe? Here are just a few of the many responses that we got to our email announcing the campaign: “Go get f***ed you left wing b*tches!” “His concept is great! Gitmo would be more humane for the Socialists and Communist Leftists in America.” “When you can be a true American and support the president in the American people then I listen. But you know what Nazis that’s what you are. That’s all you are.” The troubling thing is that these people were on our email list because that had participated in a past campaign calling for some other entity to stop enabling intolerance. In fact, most of them had participated specifically with a campaign asking Congress to retract support for CAIR because of their history of alliances with anti-Semites like Linda Sarsour, a Bernie Sanders surrogate, and Ilhan Omar, a Democratic representative from Minnesota. To be clear, NTC is non-partisan and non-political although our campaigns do occasionally involve politicians. We take action on a wide variety of issues because tolerance touches a wide variety of issues, and true tolerance means calling out intolerance no matter who perpetrates it. That’s why we’ve targeted both Democrats and Republicans. While these email responses were a new level of vitriol and labeling, the basic pattern is nothing new. Since we launched in October, NTC’s social media channels have been full of commenters speculating about our politics and coming to wildly different conclusions based on the most recent post. As a society, we seem to have lost the ability to engage with other people or organizations as unique entities instead of members of “my team” or “the other team.” This tribalism that has gripped our nation has given everyone blind spots. Far too often, we will strongly condemn bigotry against some groups, then shrug off bigotry against others, or worse, quietly speculate about whether the victim deserved it…. or openly speculate that they should be shot! This needs to stop. When our society has so strongly sorted itself into us vs. them, it’s not surprising that people make assumptions about NTC. But ultimately, that’s why we exist. Bridging the divide starts with consistent standards. Bigotry is bigotry, no matter which “team” the victim or the aggressor is on. That’s why we’re asking you to join us. Our goal is to bring together people with a wide variety of viewpoints who can respectfully point out inconsistencies in others while welcoming constructive criticism themselves. So who’s side are we on? We’re on the side of anyone working in good faith to make our nation more tolerant. Are you in?

Press Releases

NTC Mobilizes Activists to Call for Resignation of MT Rep Who Says Socialists Should Be Shot

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For Immediate Release On Jan. 31, Montana State Rep. Rodney Garcia sparked outrage by claiming at a public forum that the United States Constitution calls for all socialists to be jailed or shot. Whether Garcia knew this was a lie or not, it is un-American to silence political opponents, especially forcibly. Montana would be better off without him in public office, and he must resign. The Constitution actually says the exact opposite of Garcia’s claim and goes to great lengths to enshrine the right to free speech and ensure that our government does not have the authority to silence or punish political rivals. It is imperative that we guard against attempts to weaponize government power against political opponents, especially during fractured times like we have today. That’s why New Tolerance Campaign (NTC) is mobilizing Americans from every political background to take a stand. When given a chance to clarify his statements, Garcia doubled down, telling the Billings Gazette that “[socialists] are enemies of the free state. What do we do with our enemies in war? In Vietnam, (Afghanistan), all those. What did we do? … according to the Constitution, I’m telling you.” On Feb 3, the leadership of the Montana Republican party called on him to resign, addressing him directly by saying that “your actions have irreparably undermined the body in which you serve and irrevocably broken the trust of those you were elected to represent.” They are absolutely right. Garcia has the right to express disagreement with socialism, but it is never okay for an elected official to call for government violence against fellow citizens because of their political views. This is an insidious form of intolerance that has historically led to brutal atrocities time and time again.  NTC is providing activists with an opportunity to tell Garcia directly that he must go with just a few clicks. We are also collecting email-senders’ political affiliation, if they are willing to share it, in order to demonstrate that people of all political backgrounds oppose his remarks. All emails will be sent directly to Garcia immediately, and in addition, we will mail a list of all signers and a copy of the Constitution to Garcia. It is our hope that he will actually read the Constitution he claims to abide by and amend his ways accordingly. ###

Blog

Racism by the Numbers

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Three polls caught our attention in the last couple of weeks that deserve a closer look. Don’t worry, none of them involve elections or politics. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a poll at the end of January that found that 11% of respondents “intensely harbor” anti-Semitic views. If that truly is representative of the nation, that means 28 million people harbor this racism. Another 61% – yes, a clear majority – believe at least one anti-Semitic trope. This past week, the Military Times found that “More than one-third of all active-duty troops and more than half of minority service members say they have personally witnessed examples of white nationalism or ideological-driven racism within the ranks in recent months.” This is unacceptable.  We count on these men and women to protect every American, regardless of background.  Looking at the comments on the coverage of these polls, and even NTC’s own social media posts that link to these articles, it’s clear that many people have a hard time believing these numbers. Yes, all polls have weaknesses and some things are subjective, but the underlying truth can’t be explained away by rounding errors or sample sizes: our nation still struggles with racism, and it’s not limited to sparse backwoods pockets. We still have a long way to go as a nation. A third poll brought some much-needed good news. Gallup found that 90% of Americans are satisfied or very satisfied with the way things are going in their personal lives. That’s fantastic! It sounds like most people have found a way to live lives they’re proud of without letting the constant negativity get them down.  A nation of generally satisfied people should absolutely not be a nation rife with racism. Let’s make a point of reaching beyond ourselves in order to bring that number to 100%. That’s part of why New Tolerance Campaign exists. Let’s call out racism where ever we see it, and instead of clinging to prejudice, make a point of celebrating each other’s successes. We’re in this together. Let’s act like it!

News

Jerusalem Post: Thousands call for congressmen to withdraw support for ‘antisemitic’ CAIR

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More than 9,000 Americans have signed a petition calling on members of Congress to withdraw statements of support issued to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization which the petition’s signatories say is antisemitic. More than 120 members of Congress, including Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Pramila Jayapal and Mark Poucan, and presidential hopefuls, senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, wrote letters to CAIR last year ahead of the organization’s 25th anniversary, praising its work. The letters were printed in full in the program for a gala held to mark the occasion; three were from Republican representatives. But thousands of Americans have called on the congressmen to renounce their letters, arguing that CAIR is an antisemitic organization and therefore cannot be supported by anyone who claims to oppose racism. Read more from Jerusalem Post

Press Releases

After 1,700+ demand anti-Semite Terrell-Paige resign, NTC rallies supporters to demand Democratic Black Caucus withdraw support of Terrell-Paige.

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For Immediate Release Earlier this month, New Tolerance Campaign launched an initiative empowering concerned citizens to send emails to the Jersey City Board of Education pushing for Joan Terrell-Paige’s resignation. Over 1,700 people have sent emails through NTC’s campaign, but Terrell-Paige remains in her position. NTC’s next step is to empower its concerned activists to call out the people making excuses for Terrell-Paige’s racism. On Dec. 18th, the Hudson County Democratic Black Caucus issued a statement that begins by saying that they “[do] not condone hatred towards any group.” It then spends the rest of its words trivializing Joan Terrell-Paige’s hateful words towards Jewish people by dismissing them in the name of another cause. Imagine a situation in which an elected Jersey City leader blamed the city’s crime on its black community, and people rushed to the leader’s defense by saying that, in the words of the Hudson County Democratic Black Caucus’ statement, “While we do not agree with the delivery of the statement,” the leader “has heightened awareness around issues that must be addressed.” Would the black community – and all peace-loving communities – accept anything less than that person’s resignation? NTC wouldn’t. There would be a national outcry. Every principled person would insist on immediate resignation. That’s why NTC is providing people with an easy, quick and effective way to contact all 6 signers of this despicable statement with just a few clicks and tell them to take their words back. NTC issued the following statement: “The right course of action for all Jersey City leaders including the Hudson County Democratic Black Caucus is to call for Terrell Paige’s resignation. That is why New Tolerance Campaign is asking its supporters to email the signers of the unacceptable statement, demanding both a retraction and a public statement calling for Terrell-Paige’s resignation. We will not let this blatant racism be forgotten while Terrell-Paige remains in a position of power over the city’s youth, especially those from the Jewish community which she grotesquely maligned.” The call-to-action page can be found at: https://newtolerance.org/topcampaign/tell-jersey-city-leaders-to-stop-protecting-anti-semitism/ ###

Past Campaigns

Tell Jersey City Leaders to Stop Protecting Anti-Semitism

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Over 1,700 of you have joined the Mayor of Jersey City and the Governor of New Jersey in calling for the resignation of Joan Terrell-Paige, who posted an anti-Semitic tirade immediately following a deadly anti-Semitic shooting. Yet Terrell-Paige remains in office. Why? Because some in the community have decided to protect her. Now they are hoping that everyone will forget the whole incident and move on. But we won’t! On Dec. 18th, the Hudson County Democratic Black Caucus issued a statement that begins by saying that they “[do] not condone hatred towards any group.” It then spends the rest of its words trivializing Joan Terrell-Paige’s hateful words towards Jewish people by dismissing them in the name of another cause. Imagine a situation in which an elected leader blamed the city’s crime on its black community, and people rushed to the leader’s defense by saying that, in the Hudson County Democratic Black Caucus’ words, “While we do not agree with the delivery of the statement,” the leader “has heightened awareness around issues that must be addressed.” Would the black community – and all peace-loving communities – accept anything less than that person’s resignation? Of course not! Every principled person would insist on immediate resignation. That’s why we’re asking you to contact all 6 signers of this despicable statement. Using the form on this page, email or tweet a message to these influential community leaders with just a few clicks. You can choose to use our suggested language or write in your own message. We believe that with your help, we can send a message strong enough to get Terrell-Paige to resign, making Jersey City schools a much more welcoming place for students of every background.

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