Rap Sessions: Renewing the Historic Black-Jewish Alliance ft. W. Kamau Bell

2001 37th Ave,San Francisco CA 94116

17 January, 2023

Description

On the day following Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Bakari Kitwana will moderate a dynamic panel on renewing the historic Black and Jewish alliance. The program format will consist of a 45-60 minute panel discussion, followed by 45 minute Q&A with the audience. Doors open at 5:30 pm and the event will begin at 6:30 pm.Please have your tickets on your phone for easy check-in when you arrive.Sponsored by the Office of Belonging, Equity, and Excellence and the parent groups of St. Ignatius College Preparatory and Father Sauer Academy. Anti-Semitism is resurgent in America. Timeworn tropes and ancient hatreds are being recycled and mainstreamed in alarming ways – and amplified by some of the most visible people in the culture. And while this resurgence cannot and should not be blamed on Black people, to many, the face of anti-Semitism in 2022 looks like Kanye West. It looks like Kyrie Irving. The history of Blacks and Jews in America is a long one, by turns fraught and beautiful, and it is imperative that the lines of communication and collaboration between these two communities be renewed. So, too, is it important to realize the ways in which they overlap– not just in terms of shared spaces or values, but literally: there are Black Jews, and their voices must be heard. There is history that needs unpacking, from the alliance that helped birth the Civil Rights movement to the way that alliance dissolved in the 1980s, amidst accusations of Jewish abandonment and Black anti-Semitism. As a racist, anti-Semitic former president plots his return to the White House, and white nationalists commit heinous acts of violence in the name of "replacement theory" and "white genocide," it is more important than ever to understand just how central the hatred of Jews is to the broader praxis of hatred – how centuries-old conspiracy theories about Jewish power and fecklessness remain central to the ideologies of groups who pose a constant threat to all our safety. Among the questions this interactive discussion will answer are: • What is anti-Semitism and why is it central to white nationalism? • How do we center our collective humanity rather than cave in to cancel culture? • What issues are at the heart of imagined and legitimate beefs between Blacks and Jews? • How does the Jewish relationship to whiteness factor into Black critiques? • What is at stake when Judaism is conflated with Zionism? • What are inflection points, myths, and alliances that have shaped Black-Jewish relations within the hip-hop generation? • What does a renewed progressive Black-Jewish alliance look like in 2023? ABOUT RAP SESSIONS Founded by Bakari Kitwana in 2005, for the last seventeen years Rap Sessions, the first national tour of its kind, has conducted over 150 town-hall style meetings in scores of cities across the country. In 2022, Rap Sessions continues its commitment to engaging the most difficult dialogues facing the hip-hop and millennial generations. By touring the nation with leading hip-hop activists, scholars and artists, Rap Sessions helps jumpstart crucial local debate. Past participating institutions include Harvard Law School, Princeton University, Brown University, University of California - Berkeley, Stanford, Vanderbilt University, Washington University, the University of California - Los Angeles, the University of Chicago, The City Museum of New York, The Kauffman Foundation, The Walker Art Center, The Experience Music Project Museum, The Open Society Institute, The Kennedy Center, The Institute of Contemporary Art, The Andy Warhol Museum, among others.