As the Jewish community continues to learn from and engage with Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color, communal leaders are sharing their reflections, wonders, and hopes for what comes next. Adapted from two dynamic panel conversations with Jewish leaders of color, this article shares the voices of Dr. Analucía Lopezrevoredo, Janu Mendel, Ginna Green, Paula Pretlow, Tiffany Harris, and Gamal Palmer.
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As the selection of fellows for our Jews of Color Initiative Leadership Fellowship in New York comes to a close, we sat down to talk with Riki Robinson, Program Director of our New York Hub, about how the Fellowship was developed. This conversation revealed how communal learning is at the core of the Fellowship’s design, paving the way for fellows to confidently enter the Jewish professional ecosystem.
Built on data from 1,118 survey respondents and 61 interview participants, our study Beyond the Count is painting an unprecedented picture of Jews of Color. Here are the top five teachings we see emerging from this new study.
I hope the findings empower our community. We have to collectively commit to the path of anti-racism and racial justice. We have to accept that the Jewish community is not sustainable if racism exists among us, especially as our community becomes more and more diverse. I hope there is a chorus of “I’ve had enough” from every person in the Jewish community.
Before we even announced the August 12 launch of Beyond the Count, Ilana Kaufman and Dr. Harriette Wimms, Founder and Executive Director of the Jews of Color Mishpacha Project, held a conversation on why this study matters and how it might impact the Jewish community.
The more that we learn about the Jews of Color community, the more we are able to demonstrate the nuanced and varied experiences within it, or the “mosaic nature of the Jewish community,” as Dr. Lopezrevoredo said. Because Beyond the Count researchers used surveys and interviews, the findings from the study will share real experiences and perspectives of Jews of Color. "We’re anything but a monolith.”
Healing is an essential element of moving toward a multiracial, anti-racist, and just future. In April 2021, Rabbi Mira Rivera partnered with the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center to provide space for what she believes are essential therapeutic and medical resources for the JoC community.
“I really believe that the best ways to which stories can change our lives is when people tell their own stories and really decolonize that idea of storytelling, especially within the Latino community that is so diverse and so complex,” said Lopezrevoredo. Her extensive background in ethnographic storytelling, gained through her research and studies in academia, shapes her approach to the life stories of others.
Spanning a variety of religious backgrounds, the speakers discussed not only how racism rears its head in their communities, but also how faith traditions can offer road maps for advancing racial justice.
There are at least one million Jews of Color in the United States. That’s what the Jews of Color Initiative’s study, Counting Inconsistencies, found. From social media users to other Jewish population researchers, this number has been restructuring perceptions about Jews of Color.