The Advocate

There comes a moment when each of us must ask ourselves, am I an observer or am I a witness? An observer watches, passively, consuming events from the sidelines as if they were an isolated island. A witness is active and affirming, participating in the world as it exists to provide information in order to create understanding. I choose to be a witness. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bernard Ashcraft has been a drum major for social and economic justice for over 50 years. First, as a navy corpsman protesting racism in the military, then as a local leader in San Diego during the Civil Rights Movement before moving to the Bay Area in the mid-90s to continue his work building more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations across the socio-political spectrum. He has made extraordinary achievements tackling disparities in public/private employment contracts for BIPOC workers and virule...

The Moorish Zionist Temple, Harlem, NY, 1929 (James Van Der Zee/The Folklore Research Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem via the National Library of Israel Digital Collection) * This is a subject I've been wanting to write about for quite some time and, in honor of Black History Month this year, I'm finally taking the time to do so. It's about the first Black Jew in America and, more than that, the stories of the incredible lives of those who claimed the title. Now, before we get started, it's important to recognize that my research and learning on this subject is almost entirely indebted to the work of Jewish scholars, most of them Black Jews themselves, who came before me. I am  particularly indebted to scholar and rabbi ,[1] Shais Rishon, known by his pseudonym of MaNishtana. Toda raba, mishpocha. *** This story starts in the town of Wenham, Essex County, Massachusetts, circa 1668 .[2] On June 30 of that year, two people were presented to the local grand jury for...