Engaging in Racial Justice with Community Partners

BY RACHEL BEERMAN

Members of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Executive Committee and Racial Justice Subcommittee had the honor of being in attendance at the Buffalo Branch NAACP 2022 Medgar Evers Awards Dinner on October 22. It was a powerful evening which included a meaningful acknowledgement of the families of those lost in the Tops shooting on May 14 and a thought-provoking keynote speaker presentation by acclaimed national journalist Roland S. Martin.

Martin encouraged those in attendance to be reflective of their actions and look for ways to act to help move our society to be more equitable for all. This certainly resonated, as the recent 2022 JCRC survey identified racial justice as a major priority for our Buffalo community. Corey Auerbach, chair of the Racial Justice Subcommittee and member of the Executive Committee of the JCRC captured the spirit of the evening when he said, “Being here together in support of the NAACP reinforces the JCRC’s dedication to helping create a more civil and just society for all.”

Pulling the Race Card event

During the program, multiple members of the Jewish community were acknowledged for their dedication to helping create a more civil society. Nina Lukin, former Chair of the JCRC and member of the Buffalo Jewish Federation Board was publicly acknowledged for her support of the NAACP. In addition, Samantha White, a co-chair of the Minority Bar Association of Western New York Criminal Justice Task Force and board member at Temple Beth Zion,

NAACP dinner picture: top row l-r: Corey Auerbach, Deborah Goldman, Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein, Rachel Beerman, Grant Golden and Daniel Brink-Washington. Bottom row l-r: Meg Auerbach, Molly Lennon, Adam Fogel, Nina Lukin and Elliot Gabelnick

accepted the Daniel Acker Community Service Award on behalf of the WNY Minority Bar Association Task Force. (Read more about Sam on page 14.) The Buffalo Jewish Federation was also acknowledged as a 2022 Honorary Dinner Chairperson for their support.

In addition to showing support and participating in the NAACP dinner, the JCRC was also honored to be a cosponsor of the League of Women’s Voters “Pulling the Race Card” event, on October, 26 at the SANYS (Self Advocacy Association of New York) Western New York headquarters on Broadway. The two sisters who created the “Pulling the Race Card,” Kezia Pearson and Sarah PearsonCollins, moderated the program. With nearly 70 people in attendance both virtually and in person, it was a powerful evening where participants sat at tables engaged in meaningful, and at times uncomfortable, conversations around questions related to race and identity here in the United States. As one participant said “I feel that if you’re not willing to have uncomfortable conversations, that you’re not willing to change.”

In her own experience at a previous “Pulling the Race Card” event, Nina Lukin, who helped organize the event, talked about her group’s response to the prompt “Do most people prefer to be white and poor or Black and middle class?” She said that it was an uncomfortable but necessary conversation as it gave space, as Nina said, to talk about how “racism is not just hard to talk about. It also goes unnoticed or unrecognized by white people.”

Nina Lukin further reflected: “I worked with the Jewish Federation to establish the JCRC to promote civil and just conversations and to build bridges across our communities by offering awareness, education, advocacy. Programs like “Pulling the Race Card” are important tools for the JCRC to endorse, participate in, and plan along with our religious, municipal, educational, and non-profit partners. Where else would you see a High School Principal, Baptist Pastor, NAACP Civic Engagement committee member, Self-Advocacy President, Ahmadiyya Muslim, JCC Director, and a college Provost gather to talk about race?”

Rachel Beerman is JCRC Manager at Buffalo Jewish Federation.