Joint statement regarding recent hateful messages in Berkeley

Yesterday, hundreds of neighbors in the North Berkeley hills were shocked to find plastic sandwich bags on their doorsteps filled with hateful anti-Semitic messaging.  Delivered randomly along streets, this action is the result of a small, fringe White Supremacist extremist group that targets Jewish communities as well as other minority groups throughout the Bay Area. Many cities across the country have also been hit with identical anti-Semitic screeds blaming the COVID pandemic on the Jewish people.

As the center of the free-speech movement, Berkeley has always supported people’s rights under the first amendment.  But let’s be clear - the Berkeley City Council and our community soundly reject and condemn ANY hate filled messages and any inference to discrimination of any kind to any person or group.

To our Jewish neighbors, be assured that as a community, Berkeley will stand up together to reject anti-Semitic messages and all forms of hate speech.  The Berkeley City Council stands united in our zero-tolerance position against all forms of hate speech in our city.

The Berkeley Police Department recognizes the impact of hate incidents and stands with the council and the community united against hate. The department highly prioritizes hate-incident and hate-crime investigations and is actively investigating this case. Anyone who has information or camera footage of this hate-incident is asked to call the Berkeley Police Department at (510) 981-5900.

Our campaign, "United Against Hate" has distributed posters to all Berkeley Fire Department fire stations.  Pick up a poster to take action to combat these hateful messages and send the message back by placing a poster in your yard or window.  “We Stand United Against Hate”.