COURTESY OF CAMP TANUGA ADL
NCJW Webinar Discusses Weaponizing White Supremacy during COVID-19 NCJW’s May 5 webinar provided an update on white supremacy and national efforts to combat racism and anti-Semitism. Cathy Cantor, NCJW state policy advocate, spoke about Women Cathy Cantor Confronting Racism, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping white women examine their biases and privilege. The organization brought 5,000 women to Detroit in 2017 for a conference and holds ongoing lectures. “We want to educate ourselves and others,” Cantor says. Amy Spitalnick, executive director of Integrity First for America, discussed the orga-
nization’s lawsuit against the leaders of Unite the Right, the white supremacist group that planned and carried out the racist and anti-Semitic protests and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2018. “The case takes on the leadership of these organizations, which could have an impact on their financial and legal operations. Many plaintiffs (Charlottesville community members) suffered serious injuries. Charlottesville has become a rallying cry and marker for many white Supremacists,” she explained. The ADL has invested $100,000 in the lawsuit, which is expected to come to trial in Charlottesville in October 2020.
that anti-Semitic conspiracy theories related to the virus were already spreading in the pandemic’s earliest weeks. Sikorski says that a “rise in the rhetoric can lead to action and we are keeping our eye on conspiracy theories.” However, Sikorski points out that most synagogues and other Jewishaffiliated facilities are closed due to COVID-19. “We’re always thinking of security — it’s an ongoing process. We advocate awareness and prevention with an all-hazards approach to crisis and emergency planning — not focusing on any one thing,” explains Sikorski. Spitalnick supports the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which she says is stalled in Congress. Passage of the
Act would counteract gaps in reporting of discriminatory acts and improve cooperation between levels of government, she says. While the FBI is supporting the fight against white supremacists, the federal government as a whole is not, Spitalnick claims, as evidenced by a sharp decline in federal civil rights investigations. She also criticizes social media companies for providing platforms for “hotbeds of extremism” without any liability. “Conspiracy theories get a lot of oxygen when people are afraid. It’s a difficult problem and I don’t see it going away. People have to call it out and challenge it. They need to assess where information comes from,” Normandin says.
Camp Tanuga Presses C amp T Tanuga P Presses On On The Kalkaska-based sleepaway camp will go forward, pending new state guidelines.s. MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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amp Tanuga, an overnight secular camp in Kalkaska, Michigan, that draws many Jewish campers from Metro Detroit, intends to move forward with camp this summer, provided state guidelines for doing so are released, according to an email sent to camper families. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order permitting day camps to open. Residential summer camps should still remain closed under her current order. The plan Camp Tanuga lays out includes some key changes in the camp’s operations. This year, the camp will run only one five-week session from July 11-Aug. 14. Campers have the option to only attend the first three weeks of the session. There will be no trips of any kind out of camp, and no outside deliveries of personal items or packages will be permitted. Mail will also be restricted. Campers will have to be symptom-free for 14 days prior to arrival, and Tanuga asks that campers stay socially distant from those outside their household for the two weeks leading up to camp. Families will be asked to keep a log of their camper’s health during this time. “That’s not going to be so easy because we know that kids are out not distancing
right now as we speak probably,” Tanuga director Sid Friedman told the Jewish News. “There is, through all this, an element of trust… that they’re going to do the right thing and adhere to these requirements before they come to camp.” One COVID test will be required of each camper two to three days before camp begins, and more tests will be performed on campers within the first two weeks at camp. Friedman emphasized that Tanuga leadership has made it clear to parents and staff that camp will look different this summer if it’s able to run. Most camper families still want to send their children to camp this summer if possible, Friedman said, but some families have decided not to have their kids attend this year. When asked what will happen if Michigan’s residential summer camps are still prohibited from opening in July, Friedman said he wasn’t sure. “There is a time element. Camp isn’t ‘turn on a switch and we’re open,’” he said. “We need a few weeks to get the place ready, we have to train our staff with all the new protocol. And getting staff to buy in is a huge variable. “Are we nervous about it? Certainly. We’re nervous but we’re optimistic,” he said.
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