by admin

Black & Jewish and Facing White Supremacy

To be Black and Jewish is to stand with two peoples whose very existence is an act of defiance spanning hundreds or even thousands of years. To be Black and Jewish is to identify with two peoples for whom a racist, violent attack on one of us is felt by all of us. These attacks, these invasions—in our sacred spaces, in our very homes—Black people, Jewish people, Black and Jewish people, we feel them personally, viscerally. Even learning the details of these events causes us trauma. We collectively live our pain. But that is why we survive. The we is why we survive…

The doors of Tree of Life, as many have said, stood open, welcoming the we that is the Jewish people. That is what was attacked: the openness that is our strength. Maintaining that openness is an act of defiance, too.

MARCELLA WHITE CAMPBELL, “After Pittsburgh, Why ‘They’ Won’t Win: Mom draws on Black and Jewish heritage in face of daughter’s fear,” My Jewish Learning, October 31, 2018.