Celebrating Black History Month at Mizpah congregation brought together members of Chattanooga’s Black and Jewish communities with the synagogue’s “Intriguing conversation”. These conversations are facilitated by Jed Mescon, a well-known media figure here in Chattanooga. Jed’s February interview was with John Edwards III, founder of The Chattanooga News Chronicle, our prominent African American newspaper. The flier announcing the event described Edwards as a civil rights hero who uses the typewriter to ensure that people of all colors enjoy the rights and freedoms that we often take for granted.
It was a true pleasure to hear Edwards talk about the Civil Rights Movement. Many Mizpah’s members have been involved in the Civil Rights movement, especially Ruth Holmberg, former Editor of The Chattanooga Times. Read more about her long-time passion for civil rights in my article: The Art and Civics of Publisher Ruth Holmberg: Making History
I share that passion for civil rights. In the sixties, I protested along with my fellow Jewish high school students, joining civil rights marches and SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In the seventies, I created partnerships between Harlem and Wall Street to address race-based economic inequities by mentoring young people. In the nineties when serving as Community Relations Director for the Tulsa Jewish Federation, I helped arrange the 75th anniversary of the Tulsa Black Wall Street Massacre.
When I came to Chattanooga to be the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation, the connection between Jewish and Black organizations had many high points. Unfortunately, I had to resign my position when I got deathly ill on a mission to Uzbekistan and I’m very grateful for all the folks who encouraged me to write while I was recovering. John Edwards was one of those people and I’ll always be grateful that he published several of my articles in The Chronicle.
When I created the American Diversity Report almost 19 years ago, I made sure that writers of all colors and ethnicities were included. It was a pleasure to publish Terry Howard’s article, Jewish Allies in African-American History, in the American Diversity Report. But formal bonds have faded in recent years. This was pointed out by several people in the audience, members of The World Church of the Living God (WCLG). Segregation has a long history in Chattanooga and they clear that the effects of isolation were ongoing. One of the effects mentioned is that there has never been a Black college in our city. Add that absence to an education system that has produced a color caste system and the upcoming generations in the Black community will continue to struggle, especially economically.
The generational element of civil rights was illustrated profoundly when Edwards spoke about his father’s work as a pastor in the Black community and as an activist for civil rights. A pastor in a Baptist church in Nashville before moving to Chattanooga, his father mentored icons of the Black community. Sharing earlier generations’ history of “Tikkun olam” (Hebrew for “repair of the world”) is a great incentive to make a difference and the absence of that history impacts not only youth, but families and entire communities.
I hope young people will be inspired by Edwards’ stories of his father, and his own stories of his military service during the Vietnam War and his journey into journalism. I know that much of inspiration for all the diversity and antisemitism work that I do is hugely influenced by my father’s Holocaust experiences: Untold, Stories of a World War II Liberator.
Coming together to share stories is a vital way to build community together, and create hope for a better future. I learned about the power of stories more than a century ago hen I studied the science of storytelling at Harvard University. That’s why I created a Black-Jewish Dialogue project several years ago. The recordings of those shared stories are still available on the American Diversity Report.
I encourage our readers to check out the ADR Black-Jewish Dialogue. Share them and consider revitalizing the project which unfortunately faded as world events, like the Israel-Hamas War, changed our perspectives. As someone in the audience advised given the probable pain of the next 4 years, “What people need can’t be legislated. We need compassion and a united effort to be the best we can be.”
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