Thread by @IlhanMN

I am someone who has survived war and experienced injustice firsthand, who is alive today because I was welcomed into this country as a refugee.

I know that many of my colleagues—both Jewish and non-Jewish—deeply share that commitment to fighting injustice. A brief thread.

I also know that the Black community and the Jewish community have historically stood side-by-side in the fight against injustice and throughout our history we have faced efforts to divide us based on our differences.

In this moment, we must stand in solidarity because what unites us is so much greater than what unites us.

The Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s was not Black people working in isolation.

It took a multiracial, multi-religious coalition of freedom fighters, including Jewish leaders like Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Kivie Kaplan, and Arnie Aronson, organizing in solidarity.

Heschel in particular was a deep inspiration to Martin Luther King and a moral leader of the movement.

The NAACP was founded not just by WEB Dubois, but Henry Moskowitz, a Jewish immigrant housing organizer and civil rights activists. rac.org/brief-history-…

These values of fighting injustice and inequality are a core part of the faith, much as they are in the Muslim faith.

Today, groups like @theJewishvote, @JREJ, @jewishaction and @JCA_MN in my district are reminding us that the Jewish community have always been on the frontlines of social change, even amidst threats to their safety.

These threats are not a thing of the past.

It is not lost on me that today people go shoot up a synagogue because people think orgs like HIAS are helping refugees like me come to this country.

Most of my colleagues across Congress may not be refugees themselves, but fleeing war and persecution only to find a refuge in the United States of America—*is* the Jewish-American experience. This binds us.

That is why it is so important for us to build solidarity in the here and now, to make clear that the threats we face can only be solved if we see racism, anti-Muslim hate, and xenophobia as inextricably linked to antisemitism.

That is the work we have tried to do in Congress.

That is why I am a Member of the Black-Jewish caucus.

That is why I joined forces with Jan Schakowsky on a campaign to root out both Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate and emphasize our shared values. cnn.com/2019/05/14/opi…

As a refugee and survivor of war, I see it is as a core responsibility to fight *all* injustice and engage *all* my colleagues in finding mechanisms of justice for the oppressed.

Building solidarity is a painstaking process—especially in a country and media environment as polarized and contentious ours is now.

But we know it is the only path forward.

It is when we build community with one another, when we cut through all the efforts to keep us afraid and angry, that we see our destinies as tied.

That’s the work I’ll continue to do, and I hope you’ll join me.

What unites us is so much greater than what divides us, of course.*

https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1410245287361327105