Dearest Community,
Your team, here at CAIR-AZ, has prepared templatized documents to advocate for you and your loved ones at work and school. Your voice is powerful. Use these letters to keep that power in your hands. Please reach out to CAIR-AZ if you feel you have been discriminated against.
Sincerely,
Azza Abuseif
Executive Director
*The attached documents are letters to be used pursuant to your personal case and judgment. This is not legal advice.
Letter to Employer Template `
Dear [Employer],
As you may be aware, I am an employee of Arab and/or Muslim heritage. The recent developments in the Middle East are, without question, ones that have had massive implications on my personal life and my community. It goes without saying that my community is in a state of grief. This reality is one that you conveniently neglected when you decided to circulate a company-wide email in support of Israel.
When I accepted the offer to be employed at this company, I accepted with the reasonable expectation that this environment be one free of racial hostility and discrimination. I expected a workplace that would uphold mutual respect, and, at the very least, concern for employee-wide wellbeing. When I read the company’s recently circulated statement, I realized this was not the case and my expectations were fundamentally violated
Contrary to the equal opportunity workplace demanded of employers by our laws, your statement chose to expressly communicate support for one race in this matter, effectively compromising the safety and sense of equal belonging in our workplace. While everyone is entitled under our laws to the expression of their personal beliefs, your position was expressed in your official capacity without consideration, to any extent, for a significant and core part of your workforce. You have a legal obligation to ensure that no race or nationality, within your purview as an employer, experiences hostility, discrimination, or repression. A pro-Israel statement, at this juncture, violates this standard and recklessly incites hostility against all those who do not belong to the group you expressed support for as a company. Furthermore, it erodes the trust your employees have in your ability to maintain an environment free of hostile and discriminatory conduct.
We strongly urge you to send a response that considers the repercussions encapsulated here and reinforces your unwavering commitment to the respect and fair treatment of everyone from all backgrounds. We also invite you to hold sincere conversations with those who wish to express how recent events have impacted them and their families.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Letter to Principal & Superintendent Template
Dear [Principal and Superintendent],
We are the parents of [students name] who is a student currently enrolled at [school name ] School. When we enrolled our children in our town’s public school system, we did so with the expectation that our heritage and race would be treated with inclusivity and mutual respect.
As of recently, following the events that are unfolding in the Middle East, it has become apparent that the expectations we held of our children’s school environment was defied. Our children have come home with feelings of alienation and dismissal as they sat through speeches given by their teachers that expressly communicated support for Israel. We are also in receipt of a school-wide email, circulated by [ name of email sender], that equally expresses support of one side of a political event that is not only a contentious one, but one with deep-rooted implications on an entire, core demographic of the school. This is irresponsible, at best, and at worst, exacerbates the persistent anti-Arab, anti-Muslim attitude that our community has been experiencing for decades. For the school’s Superintendent and teachers to come out in expressing solidarity for one-side recklessly incites hostility towards students of Arab and/or Muslim heritage who continue to grieve all while facing school-sanctioned alienation.
Teachers and administration alike have the right to their personal beliefs. However, the broadcasting of an overtly, one-sided political opinion, in their official capacities, is a breach of their duty as educators to be inclusive of students from all backgrounds. This type of conduct risks the very bedrock of the system- the students’ trust in their advisors.
The actions taken by the school will have an inevitable impact on the treatment of our children and subsequently on their ability to engage in their classrooms with safety and ease. Given the near irreparable harm the school’s position will have on children from Arab and/or Muslim backgrounds, we urge you to correct this massive oversight. We invite you to make a statement clarifying your position and reaffirm the school’s unwavering commitment to fostering an environment that upholds values of equality, fairness and respect for students of all backgrounds and lived experiences.
Please consider the influence your authority has on the impressionable students who are under your care.
We look forward to a prompt response to our letter.
Very truly yours,
[Your Name]
*The attached documents are letters to be used pursuant to your personal case and judgment. This is not legal advice. Should you have any questions please contact our CAIR-Arizona office at 480-704-3786 or visit our website at https://cair-az.org/ for more resources.
