Civil rights leader Eric K. Ward will bring a hard but hopeful message to Milwaukee on Wednesday, March 11, urging Jews and non-Jews alike to “stay at the table” even when conversations about antisemitism and race feel painful, fraught and exhausting.
Ward will speak at “What Multicultural & Interfaith Democracy Looks Like,” part of the 2026 Robert & Jennie Chortek Annual Seminar, hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. The program will be held at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, 2020 W. Brown Deer Road, River Hills, with a 6 p.m. reception and 7 p.m. program. The event is free, but RSVP is required.
A longtime civil rights organizer who cut his teeth confronting white supremacist violence in the Pacific Northwest, Ward says today’s climate of polarization and bigotry echoes what he saw there decades ago. Anti-Black racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia, he argues, are not isolated prejudices but “work together to undermine democracy.”
In an interview ahead of his visit, Ward said he understands why many Jews who have long aligned with civil rights and progressive causes now feel abandoned or pushed aside.
“When a segment of folks who align with those values feel that they are being shunned, feel that they’re not being welcomed, we have to treat that as a crisis,” he said.
Ward says the Jewish community’s perception that antisemitism is not taken seriously enough in progressive spaces is not something to be brushed off, whether it is rooted in data or in lived experience. At the same time, he believes walking away from coalitions is not an option.
“The idea that we can simply walk away from these tables because we don’t like how we’re being treated is really a nonstarter,” Ward said. “I predict it will cause detrimental harm to the Jewish community inside the United States.”
Instead, he calls this moment “a reckoning” — not only for Jews, but especially for non-Jewish leaders in racial justice and progressive movements. He argues they must openly acknowledge that antisemitism exists in American society and therefore inevitably shows up in organizations and individual attitudes.
“That doesn’t make us a David Duke,” Ward said. “It simply makes us individuals who function in a society that has long held animosity toward Jews. By just admitting it, it opens up the space to have the conversation.”
Ward also plans to place today’s debates in historical context, pointing to civil rights victories like the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act and Immigration and Nationality Act as examples of how universal struggles for justice have directly affected Jews, including dismantling immigration laws that once kept Jewish refugees out of the United States.
He stresses that his goal in Milwaukee is not to get everyone to agree on every point, but to deepen civic engagement and rebuild trust across communities.
“The questions we’re facing aren’t just about the issues that fall into the headlines,” Ward said. “It’s also about how we talk to each other and how we listen to each other, and how we act together when things get uncomfortable.”
The evening will include light kosher appetizers and refreshments at the reception. The reception is sponsored by MJF’s Corporate Partnership Program, the Nathan & Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center, Jewish Museum Milwaukee and the Jewish Community Foundation.
The Chortek Seminar was created through a more than $1 million, 10-year commitment from the Irving L. Chortek Charitable Fund in Memory of Robert and Jennie Chortek. Its mission is to bring together people of many faiths, cultures and backgrounds to learn, build bridges and strengthen shared efforts to ensure all people are treated with dignity and respect.
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How to go:
Speaker: Eric Ward, civil rights leader
“What Multicultural & Interfaith Democracy Looks Like”
Wednesday, March 11, 6 p.m. reception and 7 p.m. program
Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, 2020 W. Brown Deer Road
Free/RSVP required: MilwaukeeJewish.org/JCRCevents
More info: ChristinaL@MilwaukeeJewish.org.
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