“Dada, what does that sign say?” We were at the park on a recent Tuesday morning, and my 5-year-old asked my husband that question. Her dark arm pointed to a黑人的命也是命poster in a nearby yard.
“That’s the one that celebrates Hanukkah, right?” she asked. My husband and I looked quizzically at each other, trying to make sense of her question, when her sweet voice added, “What’s the difference?”
起初，我们嘲笑她的纯真 - 但我们意识到她的言论的复杂性。这不是她在她的脑海里糊涂的事情;相反，她读入符号的消息比她最初让签名更复杂。在她年轻的时候，向她，支持黑人生命和庆祝光明节是同一ios下载beplay件事的一部分和包裹;一个没有另一个没有发生。她没有辨别她的身份黑色andJewish。她只是识别自己 - 并且，通过扩展，标志 - 因为她看到它：一个黑色的犹太人。
是的，我们的幼儿，2,5和8岁，都是黑色和犹太人。我的丈夫是黑人，我是犹太人，我们在一起，我们正在提高家庭第一代黑人犹太人。我们的大家庭 - 双方迫害的历史 - 长期以来一直在预测与我们的孩子们对民权的讨论，racism和反犹太主义。我们觉得我们为任何可能出现的任何问题或努力谈话做好了充分的准备。
However, what we didn’t expect to learn from our children was that they don’t separate their identities — and, similarly their values — of being Black and being Jewish. To them, being一个黑色的犹太人正如许多外人看到它，这不是一个独特的身份。虽然我认为它是他们价值观的一个组成部分，但现实是我的孩子们没有与他们拥有的其他品质和兴趣不同的不同，就像滑板和绘画岩石一样。
真实的，我的丈夫，我不希望在早晨的空荡荡的地方深入讨论文化身份，特别是在忙碌的中间school and work在全球大流行病的第十个月期间的一天。我们只是认为郊游是我们的新闻饲料的逃避。相反，我们被自己的孩子学校教育，他提醒我们，即使是一个5岁的孩子，也应该考虑世界上的一个观点。毕竟，我们的个人旅程和独特的体验是个人的形状是我们对世界的看法。
我们的孩子们尖锐地了解许多成年人遇到困难的人：他们在培养Jewish homeis based on the shared values of their parents. “Did your husband convert?” people often ask. “He didn’t need to,” I reply. Ingrained in my children is a lesson many adults have yet to learn, which is that Jews and Blacks have ashared historyof oppression as well as one of championing justice, civic engagement, coalition-making, and allyship.
Being Black Jews, our kids are benefitting from unique modeling from their grandparents. Their Black Baptist paternal grandparents are in the front row for every performance at Sunday school; they clap along as the children sing the classic Hebrew song “Hinei MA Tov，“这恰当地转化为”坐在一起有多好。“在母亲方面，他们的犹太祖母是一所黑人学校的老师Atlanta在20世纪60年代。她目前正在将她的生命的工作倒在纸上，所以她的孙子孙女将理解她的社区行动作为她的遗产的一部分。犹太人和黑人长期以来分享了信仰that education并且教导我们的历史，特别是免受压迫。
在周日学校，孩子们学习Tzedakah.- 他们每年都能做到 - 他们了解帮助他人的重要性。正义是Tzedakah的推导。从年轻的时候，犹太人被教导那种很好的是不够的 - 我们必须做出不公正的权利。我们被教导到我们的犹太人责任和传统createtikkun olam, to do our part in repairing the world. Remarkably, young children constantly find opportunities to be civically conscious: on the playground, modeling inclusion, saying sorry when they hurt someone, and speaking up in defense of others. In the simplicity of their actions, adults can learn from children who are brave enough to find strength within their tender voices.
Each year, our family observes马丁·路德金编日不是休息一天，但作为“一天”。为了庆祝，我们在圣地亚哥的寺庙占据了一天的服务，而马丁路德·詹吉斯的着名报价，“任何地方的不公正是威胁到处都是威胁”，形成他们星期日学校课的骨干。然而，本课程不仅限于1月份的一天，而且通过共同假期，与两套祖父母一起庆祝，展示它不是家庭的一侧。一起允许孩子们看到他们的文化荣幸。他们知道黑人社区是他们的只有倡导者。Likewise, it is not enough for Jews to champion only Jewish causes. We are raising our Black Jewish children to know it is not enough to just speak up for themselves; my kids understand that it takesallies of communitiescoming together to help make change.
在这里,h of the pandemic, without a daily commute, in-person school, and events to attend, we’ve found enjoyment many evenings by cheeringon Kamala Harris。Through our children’s eyes, we see them watch a Black woman who’s married to a Jewish man, and how their重组家庭embraces the totality of the cultures and religions they bring to the table. We watch them hear her say, calmly yet forcefully, “I’m speaking.” The relative quiet of the pandemic has allowed us to observe them more closely as they hear the voices of women who look like them, who speak up, and who know their voices should be used to amplify those who haven’t been heard.
This week, just prior to the violent riots at theCapitol Building，世界的眼睛是格鲁吉亚的超级近亲选举。这个国家观看了一个年轻的白色犹太人，乔恩奥塞夫，合作伙伴非洲裔美国人，Ref.Rafael Warnock，竞标将参议院翻转到民主控制。几周后，美国人滚动了他们无尽的社交媒体饲料，看着这个Duo是可以做的黑色andJewish history。与此同时，我的孩子与他们的乐高，了解美国正在观看的是黑人犹太历史 - 没有“和”必要。
通过yulia sutyagina / enginkorkmaz /盖蒂图像的标题图像
