U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Testimony
My name is Amanda Stulman, and I speak today on behalf of the Intersectionality Project of the Legal Insurrection Foundation. Thank you, commissioners, for the opportunity to speak with you today on how intersectionality ideology is one of the root causes of mainstreaming antisemitism on American campuses.
As a theory, intersectionality was originally most well-known for the idea that different forms of discrimination can overlap and should be reflected as such in the law.
However, even from its inception, intersectionality used a framework of systems of “privilege” and “oppression” to assign status based on group identity.
Viewed through a simplistic and divisive oppressor-oppressed dynamic, intersectionalists argue that all struggles against oppression are linked, encouraging perceived marginalized groups, no matter how disparate or in conflict their interest, to unite together in radicalized collective action. For decades, intersectionality has been the dominant ideology on campus, both in and out of the classroom.
Through their focus on Israel, activists have placed Jews firmly in an “oppressor” role. This is in large part the result of years of false marketing of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict using intersectional language.
Under this twisted framing, the existence of Israel itself is labeled racist, genocidal, apartheid, white supremacist, imperialist. Jews, unless they openly adopt this intersectional lens of Israel as illegitimate, risk being tainted as white, privileged, Nazi, colonizers, oppressors.
This is not a political dispute about particular Israeli policies. It is part of an ongoing effort to de-legitimize a Western democracy, and the use of such extreme and hyperbolic language invites hate and violence.
The main form of antisemitism on campus today is viewing Jews through the prism of anti-Zionism. This leaves Jews fair game to be attacked socially, verbally, and even physically, as you heard yesterday and today.
As ever, Jews are the canaries in the coal mine. What starts with Jews on campus does not end either on campus or end with the Jews. On or off campus, intersectionality serves as an intellectual foundation for violence, terrorism, as well as normalizing more mainstream antisemitism and anti-Westernism.
One example of the former took place less than a year ago, just over a mile from here, on American soil, at an American Jewish museum, at an American Jewish Committee event, which was focused on humanitarian relief and not billed as related to Israel. Two attendees were gunned down by a man shouting that common collegiate refrain, “Free Palestine.”
Intersectionality ideology taught on campuses today puts Jews and anyone allied with Jews in the crosshairs. It must be addressed. Thank you.
Amanda Stulman is a Senior Researcher and Attorney at the Legal Insurrection Foundation
