as small as a world and as large as alone

11:40am March 14, 2015

returnofthejudai:

komandr:

“Some people still believe the lie that jewish america is a subset of white america. that “Jew=white”. people don’t even realize that there’s over 400,000 jews of color in america right now! Black jews, Latino jews, Asian jews…”

Y-Love in "Punk Jews”

I saw this movie. It’s worth seeking out if you have the opportunity. I think it’s a pretty eye-opening exploration about American Jews who don’t seem to get much attention and are out of the mainstream. Jews of Color are a major part of that.  The amount of erasure of communities of Jews of Color staggered me. I didn’t have the words at the time to describe how shock and disappointed I was that I lived in a relative veil of ignorance for so long. 

I met Shais Rison/MaNishtanah at a screening. He’s a major figure in this part of the film and is outspoken about Black Jews and how they are treated and far too often ignored by the greater American Jewish community. Our discussion was brief, but eye opening. I’ve since looked to his words and writings on a regular basis. 

He used to have several different blogs and platforms, but everything he wrote over the years is more or less consolidated here.  

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