Leading Arab-American advocacy group roiled by calls for leaders to resign and donations to be returned

Calls for board resignation and donor refunds shake the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee amid sexual harassment and governance scandals. | Contesto: cronaca

Punti chiave

• Leading Arab-American advocacy group roiled by calls for leaders to resign and donations to be returned

Contesto

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), one of the largest Arab-American civil rights organizations in the United States, has been thrown into turmoil this month after firing its executive director and a board member amid allegations of sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and governance failures. Former staffers, current employees, and Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are now demanding that the entire 10-member board step down and make way for a transitional team. The crisis, which has unfolded publicly through social media and legal letters, has also prompted longtime donors to demand refunds, threatening the financial stability of an organization that has played a prominent role in pro-Palestine activism and free speech litigation since the war in Gaza began in 2023. Congresswoman Tlaib posted a video last week detailing the harassment she faced during her time associated with the ADC, as well as stories from other victims who approached her after she was elected to public office. She demanded that the ADC remove her photo from its website. Within hours of her video, the ADC replaced its national executive director, Abed Ayoub, whom Tlaib named as being complicit in downplaying the harassment, with the organization’s national legal director, Jenin Younes. The ADC described the leadership change as deliberate, stating it comes at a time when its legal advocacy work is more urgent than ever in courts, campuses, and Congress. Lawyers for ADC chair Safa Rifka referred inquiries to a social media statement that apologized for incidents from more than a decade ago and reiterated a zero-tolerance harassment policy. Current employees, all of whom are Arab women, launched an Instagram account on April 25 to demand that the ADC return to its community-centered mission. In a statement, they wrote that they answer first to the Arab American community and that no small group of individuals has the right to compromise that mission. They explicitly stood with over a dozen women, including Tlaib, who were harmed and failed by the institution. Some of the women who have accused ADC board members of misconduct told Middle East Eye they had waited...

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Categoria: cronaca