April 21, 2025 • 15 mins
Our guest is Ann Toback, CEO of the Workers Circle, a leading Jewish organizing involved in democracy protection. Ann and members of the The Workers Circle have recently returned from Selma, Alabama for the 60th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday. We’ll also talk about the organization’s historic past and ongoing fight for voting rights. For more, visit circle.org.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to get Connected, Thanks for listening. Very pleased to
welcome and Toe back back to the show and is
CEO of the Workers Circle, a leading Jewish organization involved
in democracy protection. Anne and members of the Worker's Circle
have recently returned from Selma, Alabama for the sixtieth anniversary
of Bloody Sunday. We will also talk about the organization's
(00:32):
ongoing fight for voting and civil rights. You can find
out more at Circle dot org. And Toback lovely to
see you. Thanks for coming back to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
It's wonderful to be back, especially in these challenging times.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
The times do feel very challenging, although when you look
back at history, it's like these pockets, how did people
deal with things? Then? Too write? The Worker Circle was
established one hundred and twenty five years ago in the
face of lots of struggles at that time. Can you
talk a little bit about the history for people who
are not familiar with.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It, Yeah, I would love to.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We were founded in nineteen hundred by Eastern European Jewish
immigrants who came from parts of Russia what's now known
as Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, areas where they were facing extreme
violence something called pagrums, which were state sponsored, violent mob
(01:27):
like attacks on Jewish communities that resulted in massive numbers
of people dead and injured. There was also economic prejudice,
economic limitation to their abilities to do business. So it
was economic and physical threats to the Jewish community and
that led them to leave Eastern Europe and come to
(01:49):
the United States. The reason they came to the United
States is something that's talked about in many different ways.
But they made a choice to come to the United
States because of the opportunities it offered. It wasn't like
they came to the United States and the streets were
paved with gold. That's sort of a myth that people
talk about. They came to the United States knowing they
(02:09):
would have to work very hard in punishing jobs. They
lived in apartments where they didn't have running water. They
many people in a small space. Difficult is an understatement.
It was almost impossible by our standards today. They came
to the United States because it offered them opportunities in
(02:29):
their democracy. So our founders very intentionally came to the
United States, understanding there were opportunities here that wouldn't be
offered anywhere else in the world, and they quickly established
a community, the Worker's Circle, then known as the Workmen's Circle,
to help them in this journey to the United States
(02:51):
to safety, to fairness, and to really a better world.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And since that time the organization has been history involved
in civil rights movements, in including in voting rights. Why
has that remained a founding principle over all this time?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Well, democracy is really an overarching theme of our organizations, activism,
and the people who came here were activists. They were
activists in Eastern Europe. They were part of a group
called the Jewish Labor Bund, which was both fighting against pegrums,
the state sponsored violence against Jewish people, and also fighting
(03:29):
for worker rights. They're already trained activists, and they see
the opportunities both of a democracy and they also see
a country where black people are being terribly oppressed. They
immediately make the connection between lynchings which are now happening
in the United States in the early nineteen hundreds in
(03:50):
a significant way, and the violence they had just escaped,
So you asked me about voting rights. But they're kind
of intertwined. What they believe to be the answer to
this question of how do we create a world where
we all want to live and a world where we're
all protected. Democracy is key to it, and voting rights
(04:12):
is a pillar of that democracy. It's intertwined. So as
part of their activism, they immediately embrace voting rights, and
what we see is duality. First, they really approach the
issue of work, and they are part of the growing
union movement in the early nineteen hundreds. By nineteen fifteen,
(04:32):
they start to have significant victories on the ground around
their unionization protections on the job. Of course, there's still
many fights to be had, but they pivot very quickly
into the issue of voting rights and women's suffrage, and
by nineteen fifteen, the Workers Circle starts issuing resolutions and
(04:56):
now they have thousands of members, all Eastern European immigrants
and connections to other immigrant populations, including the Irish, the Italian,
and also the Black American population, and they are joining
together to demand women's right to vote. So that's the beginning,
and then you see them pivot yet again around the
(05:18):
needs of their black brothers and sisters in labor and
then in the right to vote. So it was a
natural journey. They partnered with a Philip Randolph who was
organizing sleeping car workers Black sleeping car workers in the
nineteen twenties, around nineteen twenty five. It was a natural
connection labor to labor, and then they pivot over to
(05:43):
Bard Rusten, who's another activist who winds up being the
leading organizer of the March on Washington and our southern
districts of the Worker Circles now thousands of members across
the country. Irving Gordon was the head of our Southern district.
He becomes enmeshed in the civil rights work, voting rights activism,
(06:06):
and ultimately we see him at the bridge in nineteen
sixty five and marching with John Lewis and doctor Martin
Luther King Junior.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
We are speaking with and Tobak. She is the leader
of the Workers Circle. They're celebrating their one hundred and
twenty fifth anniversary and is the first female CEO in
the organization's history. She spent more than fifteen years building
a fusion of Eastern European Jewish heritage with contemporary social
justice activism that now reaches millions. You can find out
more about them at the memorable website Circle dot org.
(06:41):
How awesome is it that you have that website?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
We love it.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, you're listening to get connected on one I was
six point seven Light FM. I'm Nina del Rio. So
you went down to Selma, Alabama participated in the sixtieth
anniversary of Bloody Sunday. What was that like? What did
it mean for the organization to be there?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I actually am still getting chills from thinking about it.
It was such an incredible moment to be in Selma
with thousands and thousands of activists, including hundreds of people
who were or were the children of the original foot
soldiers in Selma who marched across the bridge. It really
(07:20):
represented a moment for all of us in the activist
world of solidarity, and that, I would say is the
number one leading principle being together, Understanding the history that
brought us here, the incredible bravery and fearce activism that
ultimately resulted in the Voting Rights Act in nineteen sixty five,
(07:41):
and also feeling the weight of today's times on our
shoulders sixty years later, where those that same Voting Rights
Act has been weakened and voting rights are now under
direct attack again.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Also protest is under direct attack. There is that we're
in a moment where the right of protest and free
speech is being challenged. What are your thoughts about that
current pressure on protests to be only about some things
and not about other things.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
We have always been and continue to be very strong
fear supporters of the First Amendment rights to protest, and
the attacks on protesters, we categorically say are unacceptable. You
don't have to agree with people or even consider the
topic of a protest to support the rights of everyone
(08:38):
to speak out and be protected. And these as we're
calling them Stasi tactics to silence voices is absolutely unacceptable
and absolutely illegal under our constitutional law.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I wonder at the same time, because we have so
many people who are energized, which is fantastic. Also, is
there a way to protest or use your power or
activism in a way that is more useful than other ways.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Well, We've been having a lot of conversation internally at
the Workers Circle because we're like everyone, we're hyper aware
of the threats to protesters and the need to protect
people's rights and to achieve impact in a country. We'll
just look at the United States, where our democracy is
under attack and in great, great danger. One of the
(09:32):
times we look at is Selma and the bridge crossing
in nineteen sixty five. And I'm trying to answer the
question and I if this veer is too far off,
we can go right back when you go to Selma
and you think back to March of nineteen sixty five
when the original protesters, led by John Lewis and Amelia Boyton,
(09:56):
crossed that bridge. On the other side of the bridge,
they were met by incredible force police in riot gear
with all kinds of weapons. I mean they talk about bludgeons,
covered with barbed wire, tear gas. The eye was met
by an army of people who were intended to harm them.
(10:20):
And I just want to bring you to Have you
been to the bridge in Selma. It's a fascinating experience
walking because what you can't really tell from looking at
the videos is the bridge, while it's not long and
it's not a hard thing to walk over, which is
interesting because you know it's so representative. It really is
(10:41):
almost like an inverted V. And you don't understand it
until you're there. You're really walking up, and you can't
see the other side until you reached the summit, which
only takes moments. So those people walking up that bridge
didn't know what was waiting for them on the other
side until they got to the top. And the people
(11:02):
in the front, John Lewis, Amelia Boyton would have seen
this array of armed men, but the people at the
back wouldn't have been able to see it. So it's
just a very jarring idea of what those protesters experienced,
and yet they marched forward. Well, that's actually a little
bit of an over They paused, they were told they
(11:23):
had two minutes to turn around, and before anyone could
do anything, they were standing there. But they stood their
ground and they were standing there peacefully when this military
group of Alabama police charged them. But the people were
there to peacefully protest. That is the kind of oppression
(11:45):
our civil rights movement encountered, and they overcame that their solidarity,
their commitment that they were back on that bridge and
marching to Montgomery days later. That's the kind of activism
in nineteen sixty five that we look to today as
we're facing incredible attacks and challenges on protesters.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
We only have about a minute left, so I kind
of want to see if we can get to something
that leads us forward. You know, everybody's sort of in
this moment. If I don't know what to do, I
don't know how to think. And that event going down
there to Selma just recently, I know, was a hugely
energizing thing for you. Did that give you some new
perspective on that question?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
It gave me hope and inspiration when you're standing with
thousands of people, and that's what the Worker Circle is
doing today. I want to give people hope. We have
just added one hundred and twenty five thousand people to
our activist roles, people who are taking action, making a difference.
And what we're offering people and it's all people, it's
(12:49):
our values. We're a values driven organization, so Jewish, Christian,
different cultures, everyone's welcome to be a part of us.
We have something called Democracy Circles where we train people
to be activists from where they are with other activists
in community, and we have hundreds of people coming to us.
(13:09):
We will train you, we will give you activities that
you can do to help make real world change in
the world. But in a supportive, impactful community. So I
encourage people to come to us. We have people from
other organizations. We're very much about coalition building, so understand
we're not standing alone, we're standing together. We believe in
(13:30):
the power of all of us together. So we have people,
for example, from Indivisible, which is an incredible organization, coming
to the Worker Circle to help start democracy circles, and
we resource them and they're part of our community, and
they're part of other communities. We stand in partnership with
Black Voters Matter, and with the Center for Common Ground
and Vote Writers. We're all in this together. That's the
(13:53):
biggest lesson from Selman, the biggest lesson I can share
with people listening today. Come to us as a starting
point or as a middle point. Allow us to help
you be part of this incredible community of activists. We
may change sixty years ago, and we will make change today,
and we'll do it together. That's one hundred and twenty
five years. We can promise you we've been through ups
(14:14):
and downs, and we've made impact, and we've gotten through
challenges together, and we celebrate together, and we give you
opportunities to really channel your energies into something great.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
You can find out where to start at circle dot
org and Toback is the CEO of the Worker's Circle.
A pleasure to speak with you and thank you for
being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Wonderful to speak with you too, and I hope to
see you on the front lines.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website. We're
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for u listening.
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to get Connected, Thanks for listening. Very pleased to
welcome and Toe back back to the show and is
CEO of the Workers Circle, a leading Jewish organization involved
in democracy protection. Anne and members of the Worker's Circle
have recently returned from Selma, Alabama for the sixtieth anniversary
of Bloody Sunday. We will also talk about the organization's
(00:32):
ongoing fight for voting and civil rights. You can find
out more at Circle dot org. And Toback lovely to
see you. Thanks for coming back to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
It's wonderful to be back, especially in these challenging times.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
The times do feel very challenging, although when you look
back at history, it's like these pockets, how did people
deal with things? Then? Too write? The Worker Circle was
established one hundred and twenty five years ago in the
face of lots of struggles at that time. Can you
talk a little bit about the history for people who
are not familiar with.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It, Yeah, I would love to.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We were founded in nineteen hundred by Eastern European Jewish
immigrants who came from parts of Russia what's now known
as Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, areas where they were facing extreme
violence something called pagrums, which were state sponsored, violent mob
(01:27):
like attacks on Jewish communities that resulted in massive numbers
of people dead and injured. There was also economic prejudice,
economic limitation to their abilities to do business. So it
was economic and physical threats to the Jewish community and
that led them to leave Eastern Europe and come to
(01:49):
the United States. The reason they came to the United
States is something that's talked about in many different ways.
But they made a choice to come to the United
States because of the opportunities it offered. It wasn't like
they came to the United States and the streets were
paved with gold. That's sort of a myth that people
talk about. They came to the United States knowing they
(02:09):
would have to work very hard in punishing jobs. They
lived in apartments where they didn't have running water. They
many people in a small space. Difficult is an understatement.
It was almost impossible by our standards today. They came
to the United States because it offered them opportunities in
(02:29):
their democracy. So our founders very intentionally came to the
United States, understanding there were opportunities here that wouldn't be
offered anywhere else in the world, and they quickly established
a community, the Worker's Circle, then known as the Workmen's Circle,
to help them in this journey to the United States
(02:51):
to safety, to fairness, and to really a better world.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And since that time the organization has been history involved
in civil rights movements, in including in voting rights. Why
has that remained a founding principle over all this time?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Well, democracy is really an overarching theme of our organizations, activism,
and the people who came here were activists. They were
activists in Eastern Europe. They were part of a group
called the Jewish Labor Bund, which was both fighting against pegrums,
the state sponsored violence against Jewish people, and also fighting
(03:29):
for worker rights. They're already trained activists, and they see
the opportunities both of a democracy and they also see
a country where black people are being terribly oppressed. They
immediately make the connection between lynchings which are now happening
in the United States in the early nineteen hundreds in
(03:50):
a significant way, and the violence they had just escaped,
So you asked me about voting rights. But they're kind
of intertwined. What they believe to be the answer to
this question of how do we create a world where
we all want to live and a world where we're
all protected. Democracy is key to it, and voting rights
(04:12):
is a pillar of that democracy. It's intertwined. So as
part of their activism, they immediately embrace voting rights, and
what we see is duality. First, they really approach the
issue of work, and they are part of the growing
union movement in the early nineteen hundreds. By nineteen fifteen,
(04:32):
they start to have significant victories on the ground around
their unionization protections on the job. Of course, there's still
many fights to be had, but they pivot very quickly
into the issue of voting rights and women's suffrage, and
by nineteen fifteen, the Workers Circle starts issuing resolutions and
(04:56):
now they have thousands of members, all Eastern European immigrants
and connections to other immigrant populations, including the Irish, the Italian,
and also the Black American population, and they are joining
together to demand women's right to vote. So that's the beginning,
and then you see them pivot yet again around the
(05:18):
needs of their black brothers and sisters in labor and
then in the right to vote. So it was a
natural journey. They partnered with a Philip Randolph who was
organizing sleeping car workers Black sleeping car workers in the
nineteen twenties, around nineteen twenty five. It was a natural
connection labor to labor, and then they pivot over to
(05:43):
Bard Rusten, who's another activist who winds up being the
leading organizer of the March on Washington and our southern
districts of the Worker Circles now thousands of members across
the country. Irving Gordon was the head of our Southern district.
He becomes enmeshed in the civil rights work, voting rights activism,
(06:06):
and ultimately we see him at the bridge in nineteen
sixty five and marching with John Lewis and doctor Martin
Luther King Junior.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
We are speaking with and Tobak. She is the leader
of the Workers Circle. They're celebrating their one hundred and
twenty fifth anniversary and is the first female CEO in
the organization's history. She spent more than fifteen years building
a fusion of Eastern European Jewish heritage with contemporary social
justice activism that now reaches millions. You can find out
more about them at the memorable website Circle dot org.
(06:41):
How awesome is it that you have that website?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
We love it.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, you're listening to get connected on one I was
six point seven Light FM. I'm Nina del Rio. So
you went down to Selma, Alabama participated in the sixtieth
anniversary of Bloody Sunday. What was that like? What did
it mean for the organization to be there?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I actually am still getting chills from thinking about it.
It was such an incredible moment to be in Selma
with thousands and thousands of activists, including hundreds of people
who were or were the children of the original foot
soldiers in Selma who marched across the bridge. It really
(07:20):
represented a moment for all of us in the activist
world of solidarity, and that, I would say is the
number one leading principle being together, Understanding the history that
brought us here, the incredible bravery and fearce activism that
ultimately resulted in the Voting Rights Act in nineteen sixty five,
(07:41):
and also feeling the weight of today's times on our
shoulders sixty years later, where those that same Voting Rights
Act has been weakened and voting rights are now under
direct attack again.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Also protest is under direct attack. There is that we're
in a moment where the right of protest and free
speech is being challenged. What are your thoughts about that
current pressure on protests to be only about some things
and not about other things.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
We have always been and continue to be very strong
fear supporters of the First Amendment rights to protest, and
the attacks on protesters, we categorically say are unacceptable. You
don't have to agree with people or even consider the
topic of a protest to support the rights of everyone
(08:38):
to speak out and be protected. And these as we're
calling them Stasi tactics to silence voices is absolutely unacceptable
and absolutely illegal under our constitutional law.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I wonder at the same time, because we have so
many people who are energized, which is fantastic. Also, is
there a way to protest or use your power or
activism in a way that is more useful than other ways.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Well, We've been having a lot of conversation internally at
the Workers Circle because we're like everyone, we're hyper aware
of the threats to protesters and the need to protect
people's rights and to achieve impact in a country. We'll
just look at the United States, where our democracy is
under attack and in great, great danger. One of the
(09:32):
times we look at is Selma and the bridge crossing
in nineteen sixty five. And I'm trying to answer the
question and I if this veer is too far off,
we can go right back when you go to Selma
and you think back to March of nineteen sixty five
when the original protesters, led by John Lewis and Amelia Boyton,
(09:56):
crossed that bridge. On the other side of the bridge,
they were met by incredible force police in riot gear
with all kinds of weapons. I mean they talk about bludgeons,
covered with barbed wire, tear gas. The eye was met
by an army of people who were intended to harm them.
(10:20):
And I just want to bring you to Have you
been to the bridge in Selma. It's a fascinating experience
walking because what you can't really tell from looking at
the videos is the bridge, while it's not long and
it's not a hard thing to walk over, which is
interesting because you know it's so representative. It really is
(10:41):
almost like an inverted V. And you don't understand it
until you're there. You're really walking up, and you can't
see the other side until you reached the summit, which
only takes moments. So those people walking up that bridge
didn't know what was waiting for them on the other
side until they got to the top. And the people
(11:02):
in the front, John Lewis, Amelia Boyton would have seen
this array of armed men, but the people at the
back wouldn't have been able to see it. So it's
just a very jarring idea of what those protesters experienced,
and yet they marched forward. Well, that's actually a little
bit of an over They paused, they were told they
(11:23):
had two minutes to turn around, and before anyone could
do anything, they were standing there. But they stood their
ground and they were standing there peacefully when this military
group of Alabama police charged them. But the people were
there to peacefully protest. That is the kind of oppression
(11:45):
our civil rights movement encountered, and they overcame that their solidarity,
their commitment that they were back on that bridge and
marching to Montgomery days later. That's the kind of activism
in nineteen sixty five that we look to today as
we're facing incredible attacks and challenges on protesters.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
We only have about a minute left, so I kind
of want to see if we can get to something
that leads us forward. You know, everybody's sort of in
this moment. If I don't know what to do, I
don't know how to think. And that event going down
there to Selma just recently, I know, was a hugely
energizing thing for you. Did that give you some new
perspective on that question?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
It gave me hope and inspiration when you're standing with
thousands of people, and that's what the Worker Circle is
doing today. I want to give people hope. We have
just added one hundred and twenty five thousand people to
our activist roles, people who are taking action, making a difference.
And what we're offering people and it's all people, it's
(12:49):
our values. We're a values driven organization, so Jewish, Christian,
different cultures, everyone's welcome to be a part of us.
We have something called Democracy Circles where we train people
to be activists from where they are with other activists
in community, and we have hundreds of people coming to us.
(13:09):
We will train you, we will give you activities that
you can do to help make real world change in
the world. But in a supportive, impactful community. So I
encourage people to come to us. We have people from
other organizations. We're very much about coalition building, so understand
we're not standing alone, we're standing together. We believe in
(13:30):
the power of all of us together. So we have people,
for example, from Indivisible, which is an incredible organization, coming
to the Worker Circle to help start democracy circles, and
we resource them and they're part of our community, and
they're part of other communities. We stand in partnership with
Black Voters Matter, and with the Center for Common Ground
and Vote Writers. We're all in this together. That's the
(13:53):
biggest lesson from Selman, the biggest lesson I can share
with people listening today. Come to us as a starting
point or as a middle point. Allow us to help
you be part of this incredible community of activists. We
may change sixty years ago, and we will make change today,
and we'll do it together. That's one hundred and twenty
five years. We can promise you we've been through ups
(14:14):
and downs, and we've made impact, and we've gotten through
challenges together, and we celebrate together, and we give you
opportunities to really channel your energies into something great.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
You can find out where to start at circle dot
org and Toback is the CEO of the Worker's Circle.
A pleasure to speak with you and thank you for
being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Wonderful to speak with you too, and I hope to
see you on the front lines.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website. We're
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for u listening.
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