Muslim and Jewish Women’s Day at the Capitol

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On Wednesday January 16th Muslim and Jewish women from around Minnesota came together to have their voices heard at the Capitol on 3 important issues: Eliminating the Statute of Limitations for reporting sexual assault; Bringing Menstrual Equity to all MN schools ; and Increasing the numbers of Teachers of Color in MN Schools.

Members of Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE) and National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) have been working together on issues for some time after initially starting conversations around their shared concerns about preventing gun violence.  These conversations led to building relationships among members addressing other issues of concern, including the three that were being discussed with individual’s legislators this day. In a time when different groups are encouraged to become more divisive, these women are celebrating their common bonds of friendship and concern for the greater good. In addition, members of Moms Demand Action were present as allies to this unified action.

The event started with a rally to welcome everyone , to discuss our shared purpose, and to elaborate on issues we would be lobbying legislators about this day.

Video of the rally

Participants then had an opportunity to build community and discuss legislation over a delicious shared lunch before going off to meet with their individual legislators.

You can help!

Speak to/email your local reps about the following 3 issues:

  1. Currently anyone who is sexually assaulted has only between 6 and 9 years to report their assault to police.  Survivors face a lot of stigma and fear around reporting and it can take years to report, especially in child abuse cases. Ask your representatives to support future survivors of sexual assault by eliminating the statute of limitations
  2. Many students in our public schools have a hard time accessing menstrual products such as pads and tampons.  Sometimes students miss days of school in order to take care of themselves. Ask your representatives to add in funding for menstrual products in the House Education bill
  3. Currently, only 4% of MN teachers are people of color, meaning students of color see little to no representation in their faculty. The hope is to increase this percentage to 8% by 2020.  Ask your representatives to support the MN Teachers of Color Act