
Rochelle Wilner President	Frank Dimant Chief Executive Officer	Prof. Stephen Scheinberg National Chair

Blacks & Jews in Dialogue

BLACK/JEWISH PROGRAM STRESSES ACTION STRATEGY

By Dr. Lorne Foster

There is a new age author who has made headlines recently with a hackneyed warning to equality-seekers to avoid utopian thinking.

So, according to the new age philosophy: “It’s a mistake to try and create heaven on earth. We should try instead to reduce the hell on earth. Otherwise you end up being terribly frustrated and give up.”

It is interesting that in the new age you can apparently be acknowledged as profound simply for asking others not to be too profound.

But what is even more interesting is to consider that the charm of this espoused pragmatic society that aims to "reduce the hell on earth", if you will - is lost on anyone who is truly committed to pursuing a good society that aims to imbue uniform civil liberties. For anyone who is truly committed to social equality in life would almost always prefer to be impassioned and "terribly frustrated", rather than, welcoming the phlegmatic advise to abandon their life-vision.

Now consider that the people who would equate a pragmatic life with an exemplary one are also the same people who would focus on the deficiencies and short-comings of current equality-seeking practices in our mixed society as a rationale for deriding the vision of multiculturalism. Yet, for anyone who is truly committed to embracing social equality, the issue is not simply about feasibility and diplomacy and pragmatism - it is about organizing social life in the most effective way possible to embody the promise of multicultural equilibrium.

In short, anyone who is truly committed to social equality knows that equilibrium is not a once-and-for-all proposition or "thing", it is an on-going organizational dynamic.

With the increased magnitude and awareness of cultural diversity around the world, we now live in an historical period characterized by an "ethno-racial revival", where cultural conflicts not only continue to persist, but they are expanding globally. More than a few recent examples pervade our consciousness with this reality - from the ethnic cleansing in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia; to the genocidal confrontations between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda, Burundi, and Zaire; to the Kurdish massacre in Iraq; to race riots in Los Angeles; and so on and so forth… Accordingly, it has been noted that racial and ethnic identity is emerging as a "transnational actor" in everyday social life, exporting cultural conflicts across national borders, and fostering a "global state of emergence." In the context of our unfolding global village, then, accommodating differences and managing diversity is not merely an option, if the world is to survive - and so, the dispirited admonitions of new-age-sceptics are irrelevant.

This is the entire premise of Blacks and Jews in Dialogue.

As a result of a parallel and enduring historical struggle against subjugation and slavery, Blacks and Jews have an almost visceral understanding that their fight for equality is not a fight for some "thing"; instead, the only route to it is through a "commitment" to a cultural pluralism that incorporates a decisive strategy to eliminate all forms of social oppression and racial disadvantage.

Although the Black/Jewish dialogue program is relatively new on the scene (launched February 2000), the modern experiment harkens back to the post-war period when Blacks and Jews in Canada once stood their ground together to pry open the doors to opportunities, and eventually helped achieve significant advantages for all citizens - such as, ushering in legislation preventing discrimination in housing and public places through "The Fair Accommodations Act"; and law preventing discrimination in hiring through "The Fair Employment Practices Act"; and measures leading to the establishment of a tribunal to deal with the issues of racism and anti-Semitism in the form of "The Ontario Human Rights Commission".

Today, as Dr. Karen Mock, the National Director of the League for Human Rights of the B’nai Brith Canada, put it - “Coordinated community action not only raises awareness and increases vigilance, but it also reduces fear and promotes security and solidarity in the fight against racism and anti-Semitism.” The fight for equality is an action-oriented process.

Under this auspice, the central mission of the new Black/Jewish dialogue program is now to expand the membership base and participation of the two communities in the current issues of racism and anti-Semitism and to develop practical strategies and initiatives to work together.

To this end, the actual organizational innovation and structural dynamic that distinguishes the program incorporates what might be called "self-reflective multi-tasking."

The three tiered approach of THE MULTI-TASKING MODEL entails - (1) The Study and Dialogue Group, which is the education and consciousness-raising wing of the Black/Jewish project, and has the central responsibility for initiating reflection and dialogue, out of which flows enlightened plans and strategies for action; (2) The Business Networking Group (the Black and Jewish Businessman’s Networking Committee - the "BJBNC"), is responsible for developing joint marketing projects, capital acquisition and venture capital projects; and has the immediate assignment of bring together the two very different forms of business culture into a mutual economic association; and finally (3) The Youth Forum Group, is a major outreach initiative dedicated to liaison-advocacy with other youth organizations, as well as anti-racism research and organization of public youth conferences and seminars on such pressing issues of concern as Black/Jewish relations, minority/police relations, and the educational and economic marginalization of minorities. The charge is to maintain the youthfulness of youth, here, in an un-jaded and un-distracted thesis that life has to be assessed and addressed in the context of power relations and institutional practices.

But, perhaps the major commission of Blacks and Jews, young and old, in the new bilateral pilot project, is to show the world that fairness and equality is not a utopian pipe-dream.

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To contact the Blacks & Jews in Dialogue, League for Human Rights,
consult the B'nai Brith Staff Directory or
email us at bjd@bnaibrith.ca