LaNesha DeBardelaben of Northwest African American Museum on African American/Jewish Peoples Relations

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Go. Let me. I'm sorryabout that. I was looking all over
for the office number and there's thisweird phone system we have where I don't
know how to dial an extension.I'm like, well, it wouldn't have
worked anyway. All right here inw Okay, very excited to talk to

(00:20):
you about all the stuff going onbecause it's heavy. Let me see,
where'd it go? Where's the stuffabout? No, where's the stuff?
Oh? Here it is shared legacies. You want to talk about that?

(00:43):
Yeah, okay, great, Hey, good morning everyone, and welcome to
the Public Affair show of your favoritelocal iHeart radio station right here in Seattle.
I am so excited to talk aboutwhat is happening at the Northwest African
American Museum because it is such agreat reflection of what is happening in the
greater Seattle area and actually spreading outto the nation into the globe. On

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the phone with me is the executivedirector of the Northwest African American Museum,
Leniesia de bar de Laban. Goodmorning, Lanesia. It's so great to
have you back again. Good morning, Lee. We are excited to be
here. Yes, now I gotI started looking around and you've got an
event coming up this week. NWait, wait, wait, got an

(01:30):
event coming up next Thursday the eleventhcalled Shared Legacies, the African American Jewish
Civil Rights Alliance Event. There's alot to unpack right there. There's an
alliance event, But let's talk aboutthe event first and then let's delve into
some history. Absolutely well, Mayis Jewish American Heritage Month for the entire

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month, and he designated a dayto explore the historical relationship between Jewish Americans
and African Americans and has a verylong history. And the event will take
place on Thursday, May eleventh atthe Northwest African American Museum at five thirty
pm. It will be a lovelyevening of breaking bread together, so there

(02:22):
will be refreshments, There will bemusic from both the Jewish Synagogue as well
as the African American Museum Choir.We will view a wonderful documentary film called
Shared Legacies, and it looks atthe historical relationship between these two ethnic groups.
And then following the film screening willbe a panel discussion of local leaders

(02:49):
discussing this historical relationship in a localcontext. So it's a must attend event
and we encourage everybody to come tothe museum that evening Chaire tickets and be
a part of this important conversation.Yeah, it is very important and I
wish I knew more, But that'swhy I have you on the phone.
Let us talk about the relationship historicallybetween African Americans and Jewish Americans and what

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that's been like. Yes, well, you know, the struggle for civil
rights began for African Americans the momentthat our ancestors were taken from their homeland
in Africa, and the struggle hascontinued and has been persistent in this country
for over four hundred years. Andwhen we look particularly at the modern civil

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rights era in the nineteen fifties,in the nineteen sixties, several Jewish rabbi
were instrumental in helping African Americans topursue freedom and to protest for freedom.
Many of them were walking and marchingright alongside Reverend doctor Martin Dusther King Jr.

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And all of those civil rights activists. And so the presence of Jewish
Americans has been consistent in the AfricanAmerican struggle for equity and freedom and civil
rights and social justice. And sowe will be exploring that history. The

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film does a phenomenal job at lookinghistorically at the shared struggle, the shared
pursuit of overcoming oppression and obstacles onboth the Jewish American side and the African
American side, and so it's anAmerican story that we will be looking at

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through this film and through this paneldiscussion. We're thrilled that the moderator of
this discussion will be Executive director ofACLU of Washington, Michelle Storms. She's
a phenomenal equity leader in our regionand she'll be posing some really thought provoking
questions to our panelists. Okay,can you tell me about your panelists?

(05:18):
Absolutely. There has locally been along time movement for Jewish Americans and African
Americans to work together here in theSeattle region, and two of those leaders
will be in conversation with one another, doctor Mark Jones, who is an
African American leader, and a Rabbij Rosenbaum, who is a rebbi emmerative

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at a local synagogue. They havebeen working together to bring reconciliation and collective
struggle together among the African American inthe Jewish American community, and so they
will be in conversation with the producerand director of the film called Shared Legacies.

(06:09):
Shared Legacies is an award winning documentarythat explores the historical and modern day
alliance between these two ethnic groups.It's a beautiful documentary. It's very inspiring.
You'll see some familiar faces in thedocumentary, including the recently belated Harry
Belafonte, and so many others,the children of Rabbi leaders who were a

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part of the civil rights movement,the children of African American civil rights leaders.
They're all sharing of reflections and insightsabout this relationship, and so it's
something for our community to learn fromand to reignite our shared legacy. Well,

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as you said, there is alot in common, and unfortunately that
is about you know, racism andanti Semitism, of being both very much
targeted groups by extremists who have justbeen you know, awful to both groups.

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So let's talk about the present andthe future working together too. I
don't know, I don't know whatthe battle I don't know if you want
to call it a battle plan,But what what can be done to,
you know, stop all of thisterrible stuff going on online and in person

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against these two groups? Coming togetheris has always been a step forward in
our fight for equity and for ourshared humanity. And so that's why it's
so powerful that the Northwest African AmericanMuseum is coming together to co present this

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event with Seattle's Holocaust Center for Humanityand our regional Anti Defamation League ADL.
These three organizations have all been onthe front lines of fighting for justice and
for acceptance and for our humanity.And so we are organizations that have seen

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and experienced racial and ethnic hatreds,and we represent communities that have struggled for
equity and for representation. And sofor these three organizations to come together to
surface the need for this conversation toto move forward to sources, the need

(09:03):
for our alliance to continue to bestrong, the Jewish American and African American
Alliance to continue to be strong,there is no better time than now.
We've been seeing increased incidents of antiSemitism and it's not acceptable. We see
just continued racial injustice and racial terroragainst African Americans and it is unacceptable.

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And so these three organizations, theNorthwest African American Museum, the Holocaust Center
for Humanity, in the Anti DefamationLeague, are taking a stand together during
Jewish American Heritage Month, and weinvite the entire community to come out and
take a stand with us, tolearn these historical lessons and to equip ourselves

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with the tools to dismantle systemic racismand anti Semitism. Everybody on the phone
was me as La Nisha de BartaLaban. She is the executive director of
the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle. Now, I this is a bit
tricky, but sometimes these two groupshistorically have not gotten along, or people

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from each group have not gotten along. Is that correct? That is correct.
It has not always been an easyrole. There has been just a
legacy of tension between these two ethnicgroups as well. Okay, do you

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think that's going to be addressed atthis forum? It will. This piano
discussion will really be an honest andtransparent critique, Yeah, of the historical
relationship and where things stand now andwhere do we go from here. This

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conversation will be about how do webuild together from this point on and how
how do we deal with that tension, that hurt that has historically been experienced.
And so yes, it will bea looking back, a looking around
and am looking forward and am lookingwithin, because when we think about the

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Civil rights movement, it was aspiritual movement as much as it was a
political and social equity movement. Andwhen we look at the Jewish experience,
it's a spiritual experience, it's ait's a it's a faith based experience in
many ways. And so there willbe the conversation will go deep at this

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event, and we are hoping thatit will lead toward a stronger alliance and
a stronger future for our community.Absolutely, do you historically know I mean,
we talked about what happened during MartinLuther King Junior's time, his time

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walking, you know, next toshoulders shoulder with Jewish leaders in a fight
for civil rights. Do you havesomething maybe more recent where the two groups
have done some work together. Absolutely. In the film brings the story up
to the very present with recent AfricanAmerican leaders Jewish American leaders literally working together

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in our times and trying to mediatethe tensions, the recent tensions between the
two ethnic groups, especially in urbancommunities like New York and chip I go
in those large urban communities where bothethnic groups have not been on the same

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page. And so this film bringsthe story literally up to the very present
and explores ways that these shared experienceshave diverged. And so we just invite
folks to come out and learn fromthis film. It is truly award winning

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and the filmmaker, doctor Sherry Rogers, it's going to be with us.
She's flaring in to be a partof this conversation and to share even more
contemporary context. That's great to hearit. I mean, like, just
because you're both oppressed groups doesn't meanyou're immune to feelings about the other groups,

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which is, you know, ashame. I don't really know how
else to talk about that, butit goes on amongst everyone, this feelings
of racism and anti semitism between allall groups. Absolutely, yes, we
have seen in recent headlines criticism ofone ethnic group to the other, and

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even those um even those more recentcriticisms that have appeared in pop culture,
those will also be addressed. We'llall figure out ways how how do we
deal with this and how do wehow do we use our shared legacies to

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really build just a more equitable futurefor all because at the end of the
day, when it comes to whenit comes to our future, we're all
in this together. Doctor said thatwhat affects one indirectly affects us all.
What affects one directly affects us allindirectly. And so we are, at

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the end of the day in thistogether. So how can we overcome our
differences to build a stronger future together? Yeah? Absolutely with events like this
and education, communication, raising awareness. Yeah, so I want to thank
you so much. The event isThursday, the eleventh of May. Go

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to naamnw dot org. Lenicia deBard Laban, Was there anything else you
wanted to say? We invite individualsto look at our entire calendar of programs
in May because May is also MalcolmX's birthday, so we will have a
huge event on May nineteen. Weare showcasing a variety of black artists at

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the Northwest African American Museum and severalof them will be having artist talks in
May. So there's lots to experienceat the museum in May, and we
invite them. We invite the listeningaudience to come and enjoy the Northwest African
American Museum. I'm so glad youguys are open again. We are to
thank you, lee Bet, thankyou for your time. Thank you,

(16:19):
Hey, I know this stuff isdifficult. It's really difficult for me.
But I really appreciate you and howyou talk about this, and you know,
without we don't need to bring upspecifics because it's also vile, you
know, oh it yet it canget offensive, and so I just try
to keep it at the general levelfolks who kind of no and are familiar

(16:44):
with just the hate comments and soforth. Rough stuff. Okay, thank
you so much for all of this, and I'll be in touch with you
again. I appreciate you, Weappreciate you. Thank you for this coverage.
Le talk see you later. Okay, bye bye, bye bye now