WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), cofounder and co-chair of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism and a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Coast Guard, released a statement after she successfully pushed the Coast Guard to reverse its recent decision to no longer prohibit nor classify swastikas and nooses as symbols whose display constitute “potential hate incidents.” This reversal comes after Senator Rosen called on the Trump Administration to stop the changes before they went into effect and after a productive conversation with the Acting Commandant of the Coast Guard about the need to combat antisemitism and hate in all of their forms.
“After pushing the Trump Administration and Coast Guard to not weaken its standards on hate symbols, I’m relieved to see them reverse course on ambiguous language that made it seem as if swastikas and nooses weren’t prohibited,” said Senator Rosen. “While this is a step in the right direction, I’m still calling on the Coast Guard to ensure its policies on investigating incidents when a hate symbol is found are done in a fulsome and transparent manner. At a moment when antisemitism and other acts of hate are rising, we must continue to uphold strong safeguards that keep our personnel safe and send a definitive message that acts of hate have no place in our uniformed services.”
For years, Senator Rosen has worked across party lines to combat antisemitism and hate crimes and prevent efforts to do so from becoming politicized. Rosen helped launch the first-ever Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism with Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and led the push to create the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism. Earlier this year, Senator Rosen introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen Holocaust education. She also introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning recent antisemitic attacks in the United States, and a bipartisan resolution commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz that unanimously passed the Senate. Last year, her bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Never Again Education Act became law.
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