The Jewish communities of Greater Kansas City and St. Louis released a statement late last week condemning the “anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, homophobic and racist rhetoric” of Steve West, who won the Republic primary earlier this month for Missouri House District 15 in Clay County. The Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City disseminated the statement in a large ad in The Kansas City Star. It appeared on page 11A on Sunday, Aug. 19.
“We felt it was important to make a public statement that speaks out against hate and discrimination,” said Dr. Helene Lotman, president and CEO of the local Jewish Federation. “We want to make voters and the Missouri state legislature aware of the fact that there is a candidate out there who embraces hatred and bigotry.”
The idea for such a statement initially came from St. Louis. Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of St. Louis, said their first instinct was not to give West any additional attention or “more of a platform to share this hate speech.”
However, as they saw news sources and social media across the country and the world “talking about this candidate in Missouri that is espousing anti-Semitism,” Neiss said, “we felt that it was important for the Jewish community of Missouri to respond.”
Most members of the Jewish community had not heard of West or his hate speech until after the Aug. 7 primary election. The ADL’s Karen Aroesty told JTA she didn’t know how he was able to fly under the radar.
Marvin Szneler, director of JCRB|AJC, the KC regional office of AJC, told The Chronicle last week that the community’s lack of knowledge about West was likely due to the “shrinking resources of the big newspapers in our area, which are no longer thoroughly covering every state and local race as they once did. For generations we relied on journalists to bring these issues to light.”
JCRC’s Neiss said by Monday, Aug. 13, Andrew Rehfeld, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, had reached out to the Jewish Federation here. Once the statement was crafted, Lotman said, the local Jewish Federation reached out to the organizations involved in Jewish Voices United, an organization formed 2017 that describes itself as a coalition for inclusion and diversity in Kansas City, to give them the option to sign the letter.
The statement was first released on the JCRC’s Facebook page on Thursday, Aug. 16, and then in the large ad in Sunday’s Kansas City Star. The statement has not yet been published in the St. Louis daily newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Lotman believes the joint effort between the Jewish communities of greater Kansas City and St. Louis is an important partnership.
“Since we both cover Missouri, it is critical that we work together toward this common goal,” Lotman said. “We are now sending letters to the Democratic and Republican parties as a follow-up to the publication of the letter in The Kansas City Star. The first round included Jewish organizations because we wanted to get the word out quickly. We are now making the letter available for non-Jewish organizations to sign.”
The JCRC in St. Louis is also reaching out to additional Jewish organizations and interfaith partners in its community to sign the letter as well. Neiss said they do plan to put an ad in the Post-Dispatch with the longer list of signatories, but no date for that has been set.
According to Lotman, the Kansas City response to the letter has been “very positive.”
The entire text of the letter follows:
Jewish Communities of Missouri Pen Open Letter Against Hatred
The Jewish communities across Missouri welcome the Missouri Republican Party’s comments unequivocally condemning the anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, homophobic, and racist rhetoric of Steve West, who won the Republican primary for Missouri House District 15.
We are grateful for the recent statement that this “abhorrent rhetoric has absolutely no place in the Missouri Republican Party or anywhere.” We wholeheartedly agree. While our Constitution protects every person’s right to free speech, this kind of bigotry and hate speech — whether targeting Jews, or any other group —has no place in legitimate public discourse, let alone public office. It is incumbent upon us as community leaders and elected officials to work together to ensure that such views will be repudiated loudly and clearly.
We expect all parties to closely monitor their candidates throughout the state and to demonstrate swiftly and in the strongest possible terms that our Missouri leadership finds all forms of bigotry unacceptable. The custom of parties not intervening in primaries should not extend to those who proudly proclaim discriminatory beliefs.
Our Jewish values make clear our obligation to speak out against all forms of discrimination. As a minority community intimately acquainted with the dangers of bigotry and scapegoating, we recognize that our own security is inexorably tied to the security of all minorities.
The Jewish communities of Missouri welcome ongoing dialogue with both parties about ways in which we can collaborate to ensure that our elected officials are held to the highest moral standard and reflect the diversity of our state.
Respectfully,
John Kalishman, Board Chair
Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, Executive Director
Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis
Gerald P. Greiman, Board Chair
Dr. Andrew Rehfeld, President and CEO
Jewish Federation of St. Louis
John Isenberg, Board Chair
Dr. Helene Lotman, President and CEO
Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City
AJC St. Louis
Hillel at Washington University in St. Louis
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, Kansas City
Jewish Community Relations Bureau|AJC, Kansas City
Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City
Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City
Jewish Family and Children’s Service of St. Louis
Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), Kansas City
Jewish Voices United, Kansas City
Maryville University Hillel
Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, Kansas City
National Council of Jewish Women, St. Louis
St. Louis Rabbinical Association
The Holocaust Museum and Learning Center, St. Louis
University of Kansas Hillel
University of Missouri Hillel, Columbia