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Racial Justice: Rising to the Challenges of the Year

05/18/2021 08:28:05 PM

May18

by Betsy Abramson, co-chair, Racial Justice Action Team

This first year of Temple’s Racial Justice Action Team has been both extraordinary and urgent, as local and national events have called on Reform Jews for a strong response and full engagement.

In 2017 Temple signed on to the Urgency of Now Campaign of URJ’s Religious Action Center (the RAC), with a plan to focus on racial justice in the criminal justice system. The combined events of the past year—the murder of George Floyd by police, the rise in white supremacy and voter suppression efforts, increased racial disparities in economics, COVID deaths, mental health, and other areas—have broadened the RAC’s focus and ours.

TBE members have had many opportunities to participate in racial justice work despite the pandemic:

  • After George Floyd’s murder, Temple joined other Jewish organizations in Madison by participating in a peaceful march and rally downtown.
  • Temple staff and members of the Social Action Committee organized two well-attended listening sessions in July to discuss the Jewish imperative to address the racial aspects of policing.
  • We organized a series of events beginning on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. weekend instead of the usual Temple retreat. This included a Shabbat service honoring the legacy of Dr. King, a family music program on music of the civil rights movement, and discussion of a sermon on rethinking race within the Jewish community.
  • In February we organized an all-Temple read and discussion of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.
  • Social Action Committee members Erica Serlin and Lynn Silverman led two cohorts of “Seven Guided Conversations About Race,” with organizational help from action team co-chair Lindsay Mindlin.
  • With the Civic Engagement Action Team, we registered people to vote and took action against voter suppression. More than 50 TBE members participated in the RAC’s postcard writing campaign encouraging traditionally marginalized communities to register and vote.
  • We deepened our involvement with the Nehemiah Center for Urban leadership Development by recruiting individuals to serve as court observers in the Dane County courts and helping supply food for young students. Several members, including Rabbi Biatch, have participated in the Nehemiah “Justified Anger” Black History course.
  • Every week we provide a Racial Justice Action of the Week in TBE’s Weekly Happenings email to help us educate, affiliate, donate, and advocate.
  • Finally, this summer, we were awarded a generous grant from Jewish Federation of Madison, enabling us to partner with the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County to provide seven summer internships for students with TBE members’ places of employment.

Many TBE members recently participated in the April 28 online kickoff of the RAC’s bold Racial Justice Campaign. This campaign will mobilize Reform congregations across North America to campaign for federal bills such as the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4), as well as statewide efforts to fight voter suppression bills pending in the Wisconsin legislature, address police reform, and make our own congregations more welcoming to Jews of color.

It’s been an important year, and there’s more to come. Stay tuned. Get involved. Contact betsyabramson@gmail.comfor more information.

April 25, 2024 17 Nisan 5784