6 | APRIL 16 • 2020
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L
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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