Detroit-Area
Coalition
Seeks to
Curb
Racism,
Anti-Semitism
Clergy
and
Jewish
leaders
in the
Detroit
area are
forming
a
coalition
to
tackle
racism
and
anti-Semitism.
By
COREY
WILLIAMS
Associated
Press
DETROIT
- A
group of
clergy
and
Jewish
leaders
in the
Detroit
area is
forming
a
coalition
to
tackle
racism
and
anti-Semitism.
The
Council
of
Baptist
Pastors
of
Detroit
and
Vicinity
and the
Jewish
Community
Relations
Council/AJC
will
announce
the
formation
of the
Coalition
for
Black
and
Jewish
Unity on
Tuesday.
The
coalition
is
expected
to keep
open
communication
channels
between
black
and
Jewish
leaders
as
tensions
heighten
across
the U.S.
with the
proliferation
of hate
speech
and
pro-nationalism,
according
to
organizers.
"One
singular
event —
a wakeup
call for
the
Jewish
community
— was
the
tragedy
in
Charlottesville,"
said
David
Kurzmann,
Jewish
Community
Relations
Council/AJC
executive
director.
"We woke
up to
major
news
broadcasts
of
neo-Nazis
walking
down the
street.
Some
people
thought
it had
gone
away."
A white
nationalist
protest
in
August
in
Charlottesville,
Virginia,
turned
to
violence
as white
nationalists,
neo-Nazis
and
other
far-right
extremists
clashed
with
counter-protesters.
A man
plowed
his car
into a
crowd of
the
counter-protesters,
killing
Heather
Heyer.
"The
coalition
is being
put
together
to
handle
racism
and
anti-Semitism,
regardless
of where
it is,"
said the
Rev.
Deedee
Coleman,
pastors'
council
president
and
pastor
of
Russell
Street
Missionary
Baptist
Church
in
Detroit.
Kurzmann
said the
coalition
is about
"having
a strong
voice."
"There
is
really a
great
deal of
work
going on
at the
grassroots
level to
bring
people
together,"
he said.
"What we
want to
do is
amplify
this
effort.
We think
that
raising
our
voices
can make
a
difference,
mobilize
people
and so
forth."
The
Jewish
Community
Relations
Council/AJC
is based
north of
Detroit
in
Bloomfield
Hills.
It
represents
the
area's
Jewish
community,
Israel
and Jews
throughout
the
world to
the
general
community
and
establishes
relationships
with
other
ethnic,
racial,
civic
and
religious
groups.
The
pastors'
council
has
about
170
churches
as
members.
Most of
their
congregations
are
black.
At
some
point,
the
coalition
also
could
discuss
Israel's
planned
deportation
of
thousands
of
African
migrants
— mostly
Eritreans
and
Sudanese
— who
have
entered
the
country
in
recent
years.
Many of
the
migrants
say they
fled
danger
in their
home
countries.
Israel
has
given
them
until
April 1
to
accept
an offer
to leave
for an
unnamed
African
country
in
exchange
for
$3,500
and a
plane
ticket.
Those
who
don't
leave
face
indefinite
incarceration.
"To
send
them
back to
these
countries
is
sending
them
back to
their
death
and
demise!"
Coleman
said.
"It is
the
council's
duty to
remind
Israel
that the
Jewish
people
were
once
refugees
who were
forced
to flee
Nazi
Germany
and
other
European
countries
during
the
murderous
reign of
Adolf
Hitler
or be
killed
during
the
Holocaust."
The
pastors'
council
plans to
lobby
Congress
to take
a stand
against
the
deportation
plan,
said
Coleman.
The
issue is
one of
the
difficult
conversations
that
could
come up
among
coalition
members,
Kurzmann
added.
"When
this
issue of
African
asylum
seekers
and
migrants
came to
the
fore, we
had a
chance
to sit
down and
talk and
listen
to each
other,"
he said.
"It was
an
amazing
learning
experience
just to
hear
what our
partners
had to
say
about
it."