Jews of color to speak at event organized by local Jews | Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

Jews of color to speak at event organized by local Jews 

Jews of color will speak at a “Milwaukee Jews for Black Lives Matter Action” event on Milwaukee’s east side on Friday afternoon. The event is the creation of several local Jews, spurred to action by their fellowship with a national Jewish organization. 

Anna Goldstein, Ariel Kohll, Nicole Gorelik, Sahar Steiner and Joey Allis are among the local fellowship participants behind the event. Jews of color Kai Gardner-Mishlove and Brandon Roberts are to speak.  

Bend the Arc is a national and Jewish advocacy organization that asks its fellowship participants to organize for change. The organizers created this event as they are engaging with remote lessons on social justice and organizing. 

“Anna and I both knew that we were applying, and I didn’t know about anybody else,” said Kohll, one of the organizers. Then, through the fellowship’s remote learning, the six participants learned they were all connected with one another in different ways. 

“Originally we were supposed to go through this very long process of selecting a campaign to work with,” Kohll said. But activism has erupted around the nation – after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota – and they decided to organize more quickly. 

The event will invite participants to take their activism further, with future action steps. 

“As Jewish people we understand oppression and hatred, what it does to the world and what it does to a community and what it does to an individual person,” Kohll said. This is our duty, she said.  

The event starts Friday, July 3, at 4:30 p.m., at Locust Street and Downer Avenue, in league with the weekly Congregation Shir Hadash rally there. At 5:45 p.m., the event will be at Lake Park, near Locust and Lake Drive. People are asked to bring blankets and chairs. They are asked to wear masks and maintain social distancing. For more information, contact BendTheArcMilwaukee@Gmail.org.