1942 - 2024

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6 | FEBRUARY 22 • 2024 J
N

PURELY COMMENTARY

column
Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity 
Kicks Off Leadership Academy
A 

few weeks ago, I 
attended a speech 
given by Jonathon 
Greenblatt, the director 
of the Anti-Defamation 
League (ADL). 
Afterwards, he 
was asked if he’s 
been disappoint-
ed in the Black 
community’s 
response since 
the Oct. 7 mas-
sacre in Israel. 
His answer seemed to surprise 
everyone. 
“
Actually,” he said, “some of 
the very first calls I received 
that day were from Rev. Al 
Sharpton, Martin Luther King 
III and other Black leaders. 
They all wanted to know how 
they could help.”
He explained that he wasn’t 
trying to sugarcoat the issue 

of Black and Jewish relations. 
He specifically called out the 
Black Lives Matter movement 
as fomenting antisemitism 
among its supporters. But, he 
added, there are also plenty 
of heartwarming examples of 
solidarity, as was evident from 
those Black leaders on Oct. 7, 
who immediately prepared a 
statement of support of Israel.
I get it. As a co-founder and 
co-director of the Coalition for 
Black and Jewish Unity, I often 

experience beautiful moments 
of solidarity, friendship and 
even love between both com-
munities. But my colleagues 
and I are not naive. The history 
of Black and Jewish relations 
in this country has ebbed and 
flowed over the years, and 
these days — especially since 
Oct. 7 — are particularly chal-
lenging.
To strengthen that relation-
ship for the next generation, 
the Coalition is kicking off our 
most exciting and ambitious 
project yet: the formation 
of the Coalition Leadership 
Academy. Shortly after return-
ing from our Civil Rights 
trip in the South last spring, 
we formed a Task Force to 
begin planning the Academy, 
and later this month we will 
hold our first class of our pilot 
year.

The Academy’s students, 
ages 14-16, are an equal num-
ber of Black and Jewish kids 
who all share a passion for 
social advocacy and develop-
ing leadership skills. They will 
experience a curriculum that 
will be held at rotating venues 
each month, including the 
Zekelman Holocaust Center, 
the Charles H. Wright Museum 
of African American History, 
churches and synagogues. They 
will be exposed to educational, 
historical, spiritual and social 
insights from students with 
whom they may never have 
encountered.
The semester will be capped 
off with a trip to Washington, 
D.C., where they’ll tour educa-
tional sights of the Black and 
Jewish struggle and then meet 
with lawmakers to discuss their 
experience.

Mark Jacobs and Rev. Kenneth 
Flowers, co-founders of the 
Coalition for Black and Jewish 
Unity

Mark Jacobs

