How are the historical experiences of the Black and Jewish communities at once distinct and interconnected? Should we see efforts to combat racism and anti-Semitism as separate struggles? What are African Americans’ and Jews’ responsibilities to one another in America’s current racial reckoning?
On Monday at 7 p.m., American Public Square at Jewell is partnering with the University of California-Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies for a conversation, “Race & Responsibility: A Conversation on Black-Jewish Relations,” a free virtual program.
This event is sponsored in partnership with The Forward newspaper and UC-Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies, the Center for Democracy, Toleration, and Religion, the Department of African American Studies, the Othering and Belonging Institute, Berkeley Hillel, the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, the Graduate Theological Union, and the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies.
The discussion will be moderated by Professor Tina Sacks of the School of Social Welfare. Panelists include:
Erik K. Ward is a nationally-recognized expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements, hate violence, and preserving inclusive democracy. He is currently the executive director of the Western States Center and a Senior Fellow of the Southern Poverty Law Center. His essays include “Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism” (Public Eye, 2017), “As White Supremacy Falls Down, White Nationalism Stands Up” (Pop Culture Collaborative, 2017) and “The Evolution of Identity Politics” (Tikkun, 2018).
Michael Rothberg, a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA, where he holds the 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies. His first book was “Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization” (Stanford UP, 2009).His most recent book is “The Implicated Subject: Beyond Victims and Perpetrators” (Stanford UP, 2020).
Tina Sacks, an assistant professor in University of California- Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare. An expert on racial inequities in health, social determinants of health, and poverty and inequality, she is the author of “Invisible Visits: Black Middle Class Women in the American Healthcare System” (Oxford, 2019). She has written about the way that her Black and Jewish roots shaped her sensitivity to systems of discrimination and violence.
Audience members will be able to ask questions through Zoom’s Q&A function. Advance registration is required at: https://americanpublicsquare.org/event/race-responsibility/.For more information about this or any of APS programs, please visit the organization’s web site at www.americanpublicsquare.org.
