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Racial Justice
Our Wise Guys book group recently read the book When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America by Theordore Roosevelt Johnson. In addition to serving in the U.S. Navy as a ship commander and a professor at the U.S Naval War College, Johnson is a scholar who explores the role that race plays in our society. In a few months, Johnson will be visiting us to speak about his work and the book.
Among the most compelling points that Johnson makes is that racism is an existential threat to America. He points to the patriotism of Black Americans who fought in our world wars, serve in our police forces, work in government at all levels, attend both HBCUs and other colleges, and are truly invested in the same American story that has drawn our own Jewish community to these shores. Johnson loves this country and makes the case again and again in his book. He asserts that the constitutional promise “that all men and women are inherently equal, that each of us will respect and defend the rights and liberty of others, and that the state will not deny or unjustly hamper our equality or our exercise of liberty” remains tenuous for many because of their race.
He writes powerfully of national solidarity and an alignment behind the values that are at the core of the American Dream. He maintains that racism, for most Americans, is not about what is in people’s hearts, but about how so many of the hardships many Americans face—rising health care costs, the lack of affordable housing, the increasing cost of college, access to mortgages, and uneven quality of education across neighborhoods—afflict people of color more profoundly.
Johnson’s ideas are provocative, and, given his status as both a patriotic American and a person of color who is acutely aware of the challenges, worthy of our attention. As a Jewish community that frequently encounters racialized hostility, our ability to recognize that same experience for others and become allies demonstrates our own capacity for empathy. As a child, I noticed the white uniforms hanging in my grandmother’s Charlotte, NC “maid’s” bathroom. It was only later that I learned that in the South, children could not be taken in public by a nanny unless they were in uniform lest they be accused of kidnapping by police. That separate bathroom was also part of southern custom – Blacks could not use the same toilets as their white employers. Through my adulthood, and after reading books like Johnson’s I came to understand that there was much I didn’t understand about the African American experience. I find Johnson’s work compelling because he believes in this nation and its promises yet is willing to point out continuing inequities.
Deuteronomy says: “Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live …” This sacred exhortation from our ancestors and its interpretation through the centuries reveal a vision for a world that is yet to be. For sure, we have experienced so many successes; there is much cause for pride in the justice achieved in our society. At the same time, every society—every nation—has its own challenges. To address these issues with courage, conviction, and commitment reveals what we have learned from our history, and so we embrace one of the most important phrases in our sacred text.
—Rabbi Ron Stern