Annual Barbeque Promoting Back and Jewish Unity
The Coalition of Black and Jewish Unity in Michigan recently hosted its annual barbeque, bringing together Black and Jewish students and alumni from the Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy is the Coalition’s program for Black and Jewish high school students and it features classes and a trip to the African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Several students shared personal stories of how the Academy has impacted them. “I am forever grateful for this organization, so much so that I’m now actually taking a class on the history of Judaism. That trip was amazing, and I have now seen the similarities of Blacks and Jews and how much we have in common,” said Aniyah Hinds, now a freshman at the University of Michigan. Similarly, Spencer Cherrin, a senior at Frankel Jewish Academy, spoke about the new relationships he formed through the Academy, which have made him a strong ally to the Black community.
Prominent leaders from both communities attended and agreed that the Academy’s educational initiatives are groundbreaking and impactful. The Coalition, which includes the Jewish Federation of Detroit, the Urban League of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity, and the Michigan Conference of the NAACP, continues to be a powerful force in fostering unity and understanding between the Black and Jewish communities.
Harvard Chabad Act of Solidarity
A mezuzah was torn from a Harvard student’s doorway on September 3. Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi issued a statement declaring, “we must recognize this incident for what it truly is: a hate crime.” Chabad initially disclosed the event in a post on X Tuesday morning, calling for a full investigation by Harvard police.
In response, several Harvard students, along with Chabad, installed dozens of new mezuzahs across dormitories as a show of solidarity and defiance against antisemitism.
The Comedy Brigade
A group of 13 American comedy writers are devoting their time to combating antisemitism online. The Comedy Brigade, whose bio on X reads, “Defeating the world’s oldest prejudice one joke at a time,” are monitoring X for hateful posts gaining traction and responding with humor. When these posts gain enough virality, the group jumps into action, brainstorming witty responses in a private online chat room they call “the comedy war room.”
Recently on X, an antisemite posted an image of a scene from an Indiana Jones movie, in which Indiana Jones, labeled “Jews,” is replacing a golden statue labeled “White People” with a sack labeled “Third World.” The image was captioned, “Stay strong Ohio.” The Comedy Brigade account replied, ”Nazis. Putting idiotic words over other people’s art since 1939.”
One of the writers said that the Comedy Brigade account, which was created in July, is necessary because “the antisemitic propaganda machine is very effective…[An] effective technique for [dealing with] that is comedy, which can work better than an argument on the Internet. You can get around the arguments to disarm people.”
The team includes writers from The Daily Show, Conan, Frasier, The Tonight Show, and Roseanne, and even includes a few Emmy winners. Although opposing antisemitism is not controversial, the writers all work anonymously on the account because taking any stance on current events or politics could cause trouble for Hollywood writers. One of the writers said, “as Jews, we do comedy better than other people. It’s how Jews have always dealt with a terrifying world.”
You can support their work by following The Comedy Brigade on X by clicking here.
