What are current issues that blacks and Jews could rally around?
I don’t want to generalize, but in terms of my interests and views, I think issues of social justice, access to jobs and economic well-being are really essential for both communities — but in different ways. For Jews, a society in which there is massive economic injustice, where there are centers of power that have no limits and no real responsibilities, where there is no longer a social safety net, where there are extremely wealthy people and extremely poor people, where you have an education system that is more and more segregated — all of those things are a threat to a society in which Jews can exist well because very often it spawns anti-Semitism. It is the perfect atmosphere for scapegoating. There is a rich tradition of Jewish radicalism and activism, but Jews are sometimes in a Catch-22 — they may want to work for social justice movements — like humane welfare reform — but Jews, for the most part, aren’t on welfare. People should have a sense of entitlement. “I am a Jewish
