6 | APRIL 16 • 2020 

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ike so many media outlets 
nationwide, the Jewish 
News has faced a difficult 
revenue crunch in the past few 
weeks. We depend on advertis-
ing dollars to cover the cost of 
printing, strength-
ening our digital 
presence and pay-
ing staff, but many 
of our advertisers 
have been affected 
by the coronavi-
rus crisis and are 
unable at this time 
to offer their goods and services 
to our readers. As a result, the 
publication has had to cut two of 
our five full-time editorial posi-
tions and reduce our freelance 
budget for the foreseeable future.
This is gut-wrenching for our 
small team, and not the state 

any of us wanted to be in as our 
community continues to face a 
deadly pandemic of unknown 
length. 
The JN, like local publications 
across the country, has been hit 
hard by the economic downturn 
as a result of the coronavirus. 
We are trying to fulfill our mis-
sion of bringing you the most 
up-to-date, relevant information 
about how this virus has impact-
ed Metro Detroit’
s Jewish com-
munity, but we are also casting 
about for answers just like the 
rest of you. 
In the last three weeks since 
the coronavirus spread like 
wildfire across Michigan, our 
staff, supplemented by a stable 
of freelance writers, has pro-
duced more digital-first content 
than ever before, covering the 

crisis from every angle, includ-
ing pointed conversations with 
medical professionals and gov-
ernment officials; reports on the 
debilitating effect on the local 
economy and schools; and sto-
ries on local fundraising efforts 
to support vulnerable popula-
tions. We have also continued 
producing our weekly, up-to-
date print edition filled with spe-
cial coverage of COVID-19, and 
we’
ve done all of this remotely. 
Doing all this has been a 
physically and mentally draining 
experience for our staff. That 
will be even more true going 
forward. At the same time, we 
also understand and feel the 
extraordinary pain so many of 
you, our readers and advertisers, 
are enduring as your businesses 
close and jobs evaporate. We are 

in this together.
I am sharing this news with 
you because we exist to serve 
Metro Detroit’
s Jewish com-
munity and depend on your 
readership, patronage of our 
advertisers and support to sus-
tain us. And because of that, you 
deserve to know about our chal-
lenge. Though I’
ve been at my 
job for a little over two months, 
it feels as though I’
ve already 
been here for years. 
Nevertheless, we will continue 
to be guided by the Jewish value 
of emet (truth and integrity) as 
we press forward with our work. 
Like you, we will do the best 
we can with the resources we 
have. May we all see our way 
through these times together 
and make it to a brighter day. 

L

ast month, I joined an 
esteemed panel of experts 
to make history at the 
annual AIPAC Conference in our 
nation’
s capital. The panel’
s topic 
was “Identifying 
Potential Allies 
Among 15 Million 
Americans With 
Significant Jewish 
Ancestry.
” This 
was the first time 
that a major 
Jewish or pro-Israel organization 
held such a large and high-pro-
file event on this subject.
I’
m a suicide prevention grant 
manager at American Indian 
Health & Family Services in 
Southwest Detroit, executive 
director of Detroit Fashion 
Community, the managing 
director for USA-North Central 

for the Israeli based nonprofit 
Ezra L
’
Anousim and a founding 
partner, along with my husband, 
Marvin R. Fried, of Indijewness. 
I am what is known as Bnei 
Anousim (meaning “coerced” or 
“forced”). In the 14th century, 
around 80% of world Jewry lived 
in Iberia. Spain’
s Inquisition 
began in 1492, with Portugal’
s 
Expulsion following in 1497. 
Hundreds of thousands of Jews 
were forcibly disconnected from 
Judaism, then violently convert-
ed to Catholicism. Many sailed 
with Christopher Columbus to 
North and Latin America, and 
the Caribbean. 
The Anousim are a multi-ra-
cial/ethnic people of African, 
Indigenous and European 
admixture. Late last year, 50 
universities conducted a mas-
sive genetic research study, 
discovering the identities and 

locations of their descendants. 
There are around 200 million 
Anousim in the Americas, with 
at least 15 million in the United 
States. There is a database with 
around 11,000 surnames, which 
anyone with interest can check 
for their own connection to the 
Inquisition. 
In 2016, I received my mtDNA 
(maternal) full-sequence results 
from Family Tree DNA. Thanks 
to Ph.D. candidate Yehonatan 
Elazar-DeMota’
s research, my 
mother’
s family claim was scien-
tifically substantiated. Some of 
my ancestral surnames are De 
La Rosa, Diaz, Lara, Mederos, 
Miranda, Monteiro, Portes, 
Valdes, Sanchez and Tejeda.
I had assumed my Jewish con-
nection was from the Holocaust; 
however, with the examination of 
this diaspora’
s migration, a differ-
ent narrative emerged. Through 

wire-wrapped Swarovski crystals 
made into rings attached to small 
bags, called ringlets, each named 
after a maternal grandmother, 
Indijewness became a platform 
to share my story. I’
ve been 
fortunate to trace back six gen-
erations to date. My aim is to go 
back 15 generations, like Miami-
based author and educator Genie 
Milgrom.
I was on the panel with 
Reconectar President Ashley 
Perry, adviser to Israel’
s Minister 
of Foreign Affairs and Deputy 
Prime Minister from April 
2009 until May 2015 and direc-
tor of the Knesset Caucus for 
the Reconnection with the 
Descendants of Spanish and 
Portuguese Jewish Communities 
during the last Knesset; Dr. 
Lorenzo Trujillo, affiliate pro-
fessor of music and the direc-
tor of the Metropolitan State 

essay
Empowering Bnei Anousim

Editor’
s Note

A Rough Road For JN

Elizabeth C. 
Kincaid

Andrew Lapin

Facing the challenges ahead with a reduced staff.

continued on page 10

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