What are African Americans’ and Jews’ responsibilities to one another in the country’s current racial reckoning? How might these two communities come together in pursuit of equality? How do race and ethnicity influence opportunities for collaboration? Should they? On April 12, UC Berkeley will host a conversation to address these questions: Race and Responsibility: A Conversation on Black-Jewish Relations and the Fight for Equal Justice
Berkeley News spoke with several of the experts involved in this event – Ethan Katz, UC Berkeley associate professor of history and Jewish studies, who co-organized the event with Karen Barkey, the Haas Distinguished Chair of Religious Diversity and a professor of sociology at UC Berkeley; the two featured speakers, Michael Rothberg, UCLA professor of English and comparative literature and the 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies; and Eric K. Ward, executive director of the Western States Center. Tina Sacks, an assistant professor in UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare, will serve as moderator.