Institute History
Description
The relationship between blacks and Jews in contemporary society is often thought to be defined solely by conflict. Blacks and Jews strikingly examines this misconception. Richly documented and using multiple perspectives, the film reveals that although the media focuses on conflict between the two races, there is also a strong and inspiring history of collaboration. Through several specific stories, Blacks and Jews examines this history, and the dialogue and understanding occurring in racially mixed communities today.
While the 1960s Freedom Summer voters-registration movement is the most celebrated incident of collaboration, Blacks and Jews focuses on less-known stories In Chicago, during the Martin Luther King era, Jewish community activists fought to protect black home buyers who were prevented by real estate speculators from buying property in Lawndale, once a Jewish neighborhood. In present-day Oakland, students from a black and Latino high school were asked to leave Schindler’s List because they were too noisy. While the media attempted to turn this episode into a larger story, the reality is that many of these students knew nothing about the Holocaust and couldn’t understand the film. Through these and other stories, this profoundly moving film makes a powerful argument for coalitions between blacks and Jews.