NJAC Refers Brooklyn's Poetica Coffee to New York City Commission on Human Rights and United States Department of Justice Housing and Civil Enforcement Section

Dear Commissioner and Members of the Law Enforcement Bureau: The National Jewish Advocacy Center respectfully requests that the Commission exercise its authority under N.Y .C. Admin. Code §§ 8-105 and 8-109 to commence a Commission-initiated complaint and investigation into Poetica Coffee. Poetica has publicly announced a policy of excluding Jewish patrons from a place of public accommodation, and it has reduced that policy to writing for tens of thousands of readers. The violation is established on the face of Poetica’s own statement.

Read the full NYC Commission on Human Rights here:

NJAC Commission on Human Rights Referral.pdf

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Dear Assistant Attorney General and Counsel of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section: The National Jewish Advocacy Center refers Poetica Coffee for investigation under Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000a et seq. Poetica, a New York City coffee chain, has publicly announced and published a policy of refusing service to Jewish customers. The Department has recently and correctly recognized that a coffee house may not exclude Jews under the cover of anti-“Zionist” rhetoric, and this referral presents the same wrong in an aggravated form, because Poetica put its exclusionary policy in writing.

Read the full referral to the DOJ here:

NJAC DOJ Title II Referral Final.pdf

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