Racial Equity and the Jewish Community

Adopted by the Jewish Community Relations Council – December 15, 2021

Preamble

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle is committed to fighting racism, antisemitism[1], and other forms of bias and hate that deny justice and equity, undermine the core tenets of our democracy, and contradict the foundational Jewish belief in human dignity and equality—that all human beings are created in the image of G-d.

By enhancing our community’s understanding of race and racism locally and nationally, we can build a more inclusive Jewish community that honors our people’s diversity and strengthens our ability to work together to fight persistent racism in the broader society.

We acknowledge that this is just the beginning of our work. While it will not address all issues related to racial equity and equality, we offer it as a guide to our community’s necessary response to the demands of our time.

How Jews Relate to Race in America, Historically and Today

Many of our ancestors first came to the United States, which emerged out of Western European colonial expansion, fleeing anti-Jewish violence, forced conversion, discrimination, or poverty. Later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, waves of Jewish immigrants arrived from communities in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Like many immigrants, Jews who immigrated to the United States sought safety and better lives. But their pursuit of freedom was hindered by institutional discrimination in the form of quotas and exclusion from establishments, jobs, and neighborhoods. To secure survival and success, many Jews achieved mobility through education and employment—systems that discriminated against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in a more profound way than most American Jews have experienced.

How Jews understand our own place in America’s racial hierarchy has shifted over time as popular understandings of race have changed.[2] The Jewish experience doesn’t map neatly onto current understandings of race. We are a multi-ethnic, multi-racial people, not a racial group, nor solely a religion. As a result, the American Jewish community’s relationship with race has grown increasingly complex. While many Jews in the United States are perceived to be White, Jews of Color are often undercounted and overlooked both within the American Jewish community and broader society. Recently, the Jewish community has begun to recognize the diversity of our people. This includes recognition that Jews of Color and non-Ashkenazi Jews, who often do not see their customs, traditions, or practices represented in summer camps, schools, and synagogues, can feel unwelcome or “othered” in Jewish spaces.[3]

Today, Jews continue to be targeted as a marginalized people. We have faced a long history of persecution and hatred and are experiencing a 21st century surge in violent antisemitic attacks,  regardless of our perceived race. While Jews are hated and threatened by some as non-White, many Jews are seen as White and may be able to access systems of power as such.  

Why Racial Justice is Important to the Jewish Community

Jews played an important role in the American Civil Rights Movement—sitting in, marching, registering voters, and more. This engagement was motivated by the Jewish people’s history of persecution and shared experiences of discrimination and bigotry, an awareness in the Jewish community that to obtain full civil rights and true equal opportunity for one group required fighting for such rights for all, and an ongoing desire to help those facing harm and hardship.

Though many in the American Jewish community are justifiably proud of this historical pursuit of racial justice in the United States, critical work remains. The racism that sparked a monumental push for civil rights in the 1960s persists—often in more subtle but still destructive and sometimes deadly forms. Policies and practices across systems of housing, education, healthcare, criminal justice, and more continue to exacerbate widely disparate outcomes for many BIPOC, including Jews of Color. Today, the Jewish community must honor the dedication and work of previous generations to end racism by stepping up our current efforts to address racial inequity.

Our people are well positioned and motivated to work toward racial equity. Jewish tradition and experience teach that we have a communal obligation to build an inclusive, just, and equitable society. Pursuing racial justice is a means of repairing our society so that all are truly recognized as created B’Tselem Elokim, in the image of G-d. But this pursuit is not solely a matter of conscience or values—because of our own people’s racial diversity, we have a personal and communal stake in this work. While our consciousness is building about the diverse identities and experiences of our people, much of the work toward creating a community of genuine belonging lies ahead.

Plan of Action

The JCRC of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle will work toward racial equity within and beyond the Jewish community. We will strive to ensure that all members of the community, no matter their ethnic, racial, religious, and/or cultural backgrounds, feel seen, welcomed, and valued. Therefore, the JCRC will lead efforts to:

• Create welcoming spaces in Jewish communal institutions by investing in professional and lay leadership opportunities for and supporting initiatives led by Jews of Color and by learning, teaching, and highlighting the histories, cultures, and traditions of less-seen Jews;
• Partner with local communities of color to support advocacy and hands-on work that addresses the root causes of racism and its manifestations in American society and in the Puget Sound region, guided by consensus positions adopted by our national partner, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA);[4]
• Recognize, strive to better understand, and provide opportunities to learn about and work through the American Jewish community’s unique relationship to race, and to face our own implicit and explicit biases;
• Engage with other communities from a place of health and wholeness by working to heal our intergenerational trauma and by becoming more aware of our collective wounds and responses to them;
• Learn and teach about the Jewish people’s relationship to American power structures (legal, political, and economic), including our community’s role in supporting and trying to change them for the better, and the impact of these structures on American society, particularly on marginalized communities, especially in the Puget Sound Region and Washington State;
• Commit to internal self-reflection around issues and practices of equity with accountability, including but not limited to equity assessments in our institutions and Board structures, analysis of our hiring practices, and developing goals that have a concrete, systemic impact beyond our own learning;
• Maintain awareness of events and incidents that violate the values that support racial equity, as enumerated above. When a significant such event or incident occurs, the JCRC should take action to support local impacted communities.

[1] For more information, see the Puget Sound Jewish Community Statement on Antisemitism

[2] See resources such as The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity by Eric L. Goldstein

[3] Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color

[4] JCPA Policy Compendium