Newsroom
Two Jewish members of the state Assembly representing the Bay Area, Rebecca Bauer-Kahan and Marc Levine, have introduced legislation that would change hate crime laws by meting out the same punishment for using different “terror symbols,” such as swastikas, nooses and burning crosses.
AB 2282, motivated by the posting of pro-Nazi stickers in Marin County in November 2020, would also expand the number of places where the law is applied to include public property, parks and facilities; school campuses; places of worship and cemeteries.
Under current law, fines and minimum jail times vary depending on the hate symbol used. AB 2282 would apply the same ranges for sentencing and fines, no matter what the symbol.
A number of recent incidents have targeted local Jewish communities, such as the antisemtitic flyers dropped in several Bay Area cities earlier this year by adherents of Goyim TV, a group led by Petaluma’s Jon Minadeo Jr.
Last October, flyers reading “Hitler was right” were posted on a large menorah fixture at a messianic synagogue in Carmichael. Flyers advertising the Aryan Nations hate group were later left at homes and at Deterding Elementary School in Carmichael. Nicholas Sherman, 34, of Sacramento, was convicted of a misdemeanor count of making terrorizing threats for placing flyers bearing images of swastikas on school grounds, and a felony hate crime for desecrating a religious symbol by posting the flyers on the menorah. Sherman was sentenced to 180 days in county jail.
“The bill is focused on terror symbols that are used to, obviously given the name, terrorize people and used in hate crimes,” Bauer-Kahan told J. “Part of what we are trying to do is ensure that there is protection against the use of these terror symbols in more locations … as well as ensuring that we are consistent across the different symbols.”
SACRAMENTO, CA — The California Legislative Jewish Caucus issued the following statement regarding the Sierra Club’s decision to reinstate travel to Israel. The decision follows a meeting yesterday between Sierra Club senior leadership and Jewish Community leaders, including Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Woodland Hills) and Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), the Chair and Vice Chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus.
SACRAMENTO - Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Woodland Hills) and Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), Chair and Vice-Chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, released the following statement regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:
“President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is beyond horrific, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms. It is jarring to see such unprovoked and unjustified violence against the Ukrainian people.
Security Funding Provided to Nonprofits Across California Through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program; Established with Strong Support from the Jewish Caucus, the Program Provides Vital Security Enhancements to Nonprofits at Risk of Hate-Motivated Violence
Jewish Caucus Issues Statement on Passage of Ethnic Studies Legislation
Assembly Bill (AB) 101 Would Make Ethnic Studies a High School Graduation Requirement in California
A crumbling synagogue in a neighborhood long ago abandoned by the Jewish community just received millions of dollars from the State of California. At a time when the state faces urgent needs for affordable housing, homeless services and drought relief, you might ask: “A synagogue?”
On Aug. 10, the Breed Street Shul Project announced that California’s recently passed 2021 budget includes a $14.9 million allocation for the restoration of the historic Breed Street Shul in the Boyle Heights neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles.
Supporters of the largesse say the money will pay for much more than the rehabilitation of an old shul.
The money, said Stephen Sass, president of the Breed Street Shul Project, will not only renew a “culturally iconic historic” building but will spur collaboration among the Jewish, Latino and other minority communities in Boyle Heights and throughout the city.
LOS ANGELES (RNS) — The Breed Street Shul, once considered an epicenter of Jewish life in the western United States, has been granted $14.9 million in state funding to renovate its century-old buildings.
California legislators said the state budget allocation will help transform Breed Street Shul — heralded as the religious and cultural anchor of the early Jewish community in the Eastside of LA — into a shared multipurpose space that will honor the area’s Jewish and multicultural history as well as the current neighborhood’s mostly Latino residents.
The shul, which encompasses two buildings in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places and is the last of the Eastside synagogues to remain open after postwar-era population shifts.
“This was at one time the center of Jewish life in the city of Los Angeles, the center of Jewish life in the western United States,” said Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat who chairs the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, at a Tuesday (Aug. 10) gathering to announce the grant. “So much of our history as a community traces back to here in Boyle Heights.”
State Legislators Secure Nearly $15 Million to Restore Historic Breed Street Shul in Boyle Heights
Funding Will Transform Historic Landmark into Shared Multipurpose Space Serving the Boyle Heights Community, Strengthen Dialogue and Cooperation Between the Latino and Jewish Communities in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The century-old Breed Street Shul in Boyle Heights is getting a new lease on life thanks to millions in dollars championed by California’s Jewish and Latino lawmakers to renovate the historic landmark.
Nearly $15 million in state funding was announced Tuesday to transform the historic, cultural monument into a multipurpose space and highlight the rich and diverse immigrant history of the Latino and Jewish communities in the Boyle Heights neighborhood.
The California Jewish Legislative Caucus this year was able to push through several of its priorities benefiting the state’s Jewish communities, including funding for a Holocaust and antisemitism training program run by S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services and for a grant-making program for nonprofits looking to improve their security.