16 | FEBRUARY 20 • 2020 

HUES from page 15

households is increasing. 
Locally, no statistics are available 
on how many Jews of color live in 
the Metro Detroit area. The Jewish 
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit’
s 
2018 Jewish Population Study did not 
count them.
The JN talked to nearly a dozen 
Metro Detroit Jews of color about 
their thoughts on being a minority 
within a minority. They worship at a 
variety of congregations, from Reform 
to Orthodox. They range in age from 
15 to 71 and live in Novi, Oak Park, 
Farmington Hills, West Bloomfield and 
Detroit. 
Some were born Jewish while others 
converted. Some talked of feeling mar-
ginalized by the Jewish community while 
others said they felt embraced. 
A few, like Ariel Cummings of 
Farmington Hills, have struggled to con-
nect with their own families over their 
faith. 
When Cummings, a construction 
company owner who previously worked 
in the music industry, converted, his 
mother said: “Being black is hard 
enough. And you want to be Jewish on 
top of that?” 

WELCOMED, OR NOT
“The kind of happiness I feel from being 
Jewish is something nobody can take 
away from me,
” says Camille McMillan, 
63, of West Bloomfield. She and her hus-
band, George, are members of Temple 
Israel. George regularly attends Friday 
night services, while Camille watches 
a livestream from home. Her multiple 
sclerosis makes it challenging for her to 
join him. 
McMillan was raised Christian, but 
says she struggled to find spiritual mean-
ing. 
She asked one of her doctors, who 
is Jewish, where she could learn about 
Judaism. He suggested a class at Temple 
Israel. 
“The rest is history,
” she says. “It’
s the 
best thing I’
ve ever done.
”
Judaism, McMillan says, makes a lot 
of sense. From the moment she walked 
in the doors of Temple Israel, she liked 
what she saw. 
“I’
ve never felt different; I’
ve never 
felt my color at Temple Israel,
” she says. 
“I’
ve gone to plenty of all-white churches 
where I felt my color as soon as I hit the 
door. At Temple Israel, I’
m just another 
Jewish woman.
”

Jews in the D

“The kind of happiness I 

feel from being Jewish is 

something nobody can take 

away from me.”

— CAMILLE MCMILLAN

George and Camille McMillan found a home 
at Temple Israel.

Aliza Bracha and Aryeh 
Klein were married in 2017.
“I’
m still trying to find a 
shul where I feel like I fit,” 
she says.

continued on page 18

