Comments on: The fellowship of blacks and Jews

By: Ben F

Ben F — Wed, 24 May 2006 14:40:54 +0000

One of the Jewish speakers at the April 30 Save Darfur rally on the mall in DC spoke of renewing the Black-Jewish political alliance. Unfortunately, it came off (to my ears) as whiny, superficial, and self-serving.

Especially in light of the most striking feature of that rally, which was that Jews in the crowd as well as on the podium far outnumbered blacks, notwithstanding the location and subject matter of the event.

I find far more hope for the future in small-scale people-to-people interactions such as yours.

By: scottage

scottage — Wed, 24 May 2006 05:09:24 +0000

In 1985, following an incident called “Move” in Philadelphia, I served on a commission to improve race relations in the city (representing Jewish youth), and there we created the first inter-faith seder. The members of the African-American community and members of the Jewish community quickly found commonalities, but it was quite apparent that we may have been the first Jews many members of the African American community met. We were all encouraged by the effects of even two hours of speaking and seeing these commonalities, but recognized that such opportunities are few and far between, and need to occur more often.

By: Larry G

Larry G — Wed, 24 May 2006 01:03:52 +0000

That is wonderful Meryl. Ezzie’s link is pretty good as well.

By: J. Lichty

J. Lichty — Tue, 23 May 2006 18:54:36 +0000

I know itâ€s become fashionable for African-Americans to wear Stars of David. some black non-jewish wearers are part of the religious sect known as the "black hebrews" who argue that they are the true israelites or are a lost tribe of Israel. Other non-jewish wearers include members of the street gang "Black Gangster Disciples," which uses the magen david as one of its emblems.

By: Ezzie

Ezzie — Tue, 23 May 2006 17:08:57 +0000

On a related note: Check this guy out.

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 23 May 2006 17:07:34 +0000

Unfortunately the civil rights movement since 1968 has become increasingly militant and tolerant of anti Semitic elements within. The original civil rights movement leaders – Martin Luther King, Whitney Young, Ralph Abernathy, Roy Wilkins, Bayard Rustin – were splendid allies. I cannot say the same of the Jesse Jackson’s, Al Sharpton’s, Louis Farrakhan’s, Joseph Lowrey’s, Cynthia McKinney’s.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 23 May 2006 16:26:25 +0000

“If someone besides a black ever sings the real gut bucket blues, it’ll be a Jew. We both know what it’s like to be someone else’s footstool”

Ray Charles

By: alexenberg

alexenberg — Tue, 23 May 2006 16:23:41 +0000

If someone besides a black ever sings the real gut bucket blues, it’ll be a Jew. We both know what it’s like to be someone else’s footstool