Jew World Order

Reading Partners, a nonprofit organization that helps provide elementary school students with proper reading skills, barred a woman from continuing to volunteer with the organization after she criticized one of their pro-Black Lives Matter emails.

The email in question was sent out to the Reading Partners community in June 2020 in response to the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. Then-CEO Karine Apollon wrote that had it not been for video evidence in the deaths of the Black men, there would likely be “very different outcomes in each of these cases (both in the court of law and the court of public opinion).” Floyd died in May 2020 while in police custody in Minneapolis; Arbery was shot and killed while jogging in February in Brunswick.

“We must recognize that the racism that permeates American society infects us all, including our children,” Apollon wrote. “Ultimately, our collective societal health requires that people of all races, backgrounds, and levels of power and influence challenge systemic racism and help eradicate it in every instance.”

Apollon added that she has two sons who are Black, and that she “cannot pretend that George Floyd couldn’t conceivably have been one of my own boys. I cannot escape the feeling that there has been a knee on the neck of the Black community for 400 years and counting.” Police Officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on the neck of Floyd, asphyxiating him.

“Reading Partners stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in grieving the senseless death of George Floyd,” Apollon wrote. “The tragedy brought down on Minneapolis this time has all-too-often struck many corners of this country. This is a burden that all of us, and all of society must bear until it is made right.”

Lori Harrison, who had been volunteering with the organization since the spring of 2019, responded by arguing that there is evidence showing that “racial crime has been steadily declining” and that “more white men are killed by cops each year per population. There are bad people in every walk of life, but statistically this is not common.” She also argued that “if you cut police funding, you cut community policing in black and brown neighborhoods and crime increases. If groups like [Black Lives Matter and A[n]tifa really cared about black and brown lives, they would focus in communities where these problems exist.”

She then said, “By focusing on systemic and historical racism which is low and continues to decrease, they ignore their own people. This is my problem with good people who are liberal [D]emocrats. They don’t know the facts. And so we become tools of the anarchists who want to destroy America. Antifa left leaflets in the streets to explain to looters where and how to loot. Your understanding of the facts are just wrong.”

Harrison then argued that measures that could help such communities include “community policing, [H]ead [S]tart and [P]re-[K] programs, school vouchers, strong faith communities offering social services, helping kids stay in school and get job training, drug rehab programs…all of these strategies can help. But assisting white people in taking on guilt and blame and bemoaning the police is not helpful.”

She concluded by asking, “If America is really so racist, why did hundreds of thousands of Americans take to the streets? Why were all 4 cops [involved in the Floyd death] fired and arrested? Why are companies stating their positions anti-racism. You cannot solve a problem by stating that the same problem at the same level is prevalent as it was 400 years ago.”

Annie Chin, the External Relations Manager for Reading Partners Los Angeles, responded to Harrison’s email on October 29 by stating, “Based on your comments in response to our CEO’s message regarding racial justice in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, you are no longer eligible to continue volunteering with Reading Partners. Thank you so much for your service.” The previous day, Harrison had attended a Reading Partners orientation at her Los Angeles synagogue and liaison for the organization, Temple Beth Am, to sign up for their volunteer program again.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Harrison told the Journal. “I was completely stunned.” She responded to Chin demanding to speak to Reading Partners’ CEO and warning that cancel culture is a “dangerous development in our society.”

External Relations Director Chloe Oliveras wrote back to Harrison stating that the organization aims “to do everything in our power to ensure that this moment becomes a catalyst that propels our organization toward meaningful social transformation.” Harrison’s email does “not uphold the values we have as an organization. We are an organization of diverse opinions, backgrounds, and experiences, but are all committed to upholding this sentiment in all aspects of our work moving forward,” Oliveras stated in the email.

Temple Beth Am Rabbi Adam Kligfeld told the Journal that he was involved in an October 2020 email exchange with regional Reading Partners leaders over the matter and was told that the decision to bar Harrison was made at the national level. Kligfeld said he repeatedly offered to discuss the issue with someone at Reading Partners national office, but was rebuffed for months.

“As a result, we decided that we would no longer formally partner with RP by encouraging our members to volunteer with them as an extension of their tikkun olam work at Beth Am,” Kligfeld said to the Journal on December 30. “We objected, strenuously, to how RP [Reading Partners] handled this situation, essentially cancelling Lori as a result of her privately expressing her opinion — forcefully, but politely — in response to a public statement by the CEO of RP.”

He added that the synagogue is not taking a stance on what Harrison said in the email, but because she was “rejected outright for the mitzvah of helping a needy child learn how to read is … a decision that, in our minds, bows down to the idolatry of an echo-chamber approach to ideas.”  Kligfeld cautioned that “real children will suffer for losing the opportunity to be mentored by Lori, a truly devoted volunteer.”

“real children will suffer for losing the opportunity to be mentored by Lori, a truly devoted volunteer.” — Rabbi Adam Kligfeld

Oliveras told the Journal on January 5, 2021, that “Harrison’s comments (both in her original email and in subsequent conversations) do not align with Reading Partners’ values.” She specifically pointed to Harrison’s remarks about racism being low and how liberal Democrats “don’t know the facts. And so we become tools of the anarchists who want to destroy America.”

“We do not view the sentiment that Black lives matter as a political one, we see it as a human rights issue that is deeply connected and directly affects many of the students we serve,” Oliveras added. “Eighty-eight percent of the students we serve are students of color.”

Oliveras also said that Reading Partners COO Sue Slater reached out to Kligfeld on January 5 to talk to him about the matter, a couple of months after he initially reached out and after the synagogue stopped promoting its partnership with the organization. Kligfeld confirmed to the Journal that she reached out to him on January 5.

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