Growing up in an Orthodox household in Brooklyn and attending religious schools, Yavilah McCoy, the daughter of two Jewish converts, identified strongly with Judaism. But because she is black, her religious authenticity was sometimes called into question. McCoy recalls that when people became comfortable enough with her, they would use a derogatory term for black people while in her presence — qualifying it with statements like, “Don’t worry, we don’t mean you.”
Recent years have brought about an increased awareness of Judaism’s racial diversity. But McCoy says that invisibility remains the biggest challenge for America’s growing population of some 20,000 self-identified Jews of Color. McCoy’s estimate is extrapolated from intermarriage and transnational adoption statistics, among other data. The National Jewish Population Survey doesn’t ask Jews whether they are what McCoy refers to as “Jews of color.”
McCoy, 36, has made it her mission to reframe the Jewish communal conversation in a more inclusive way. In 2000, she founded The Ayecha Resource Organization, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating the rabbis, Jewish educators and others about the racial diversity within Judaism. The organization is now dormant, as a result of McCoy’s family and work obligations, but McCoy remains one of the most prominent advocates of Jewish multiculturalism. She is currently the regional director of The Curriculum Initiative. There she helps foster a sense of Jewish identity, largely among unaffiliated young Jews at independent schools.
During the week that America saw the inauguration of its first African-American president, McCoy spoke with Jeremy Gillick, a fellow at Moment magazine, about racial diversity among American Jews and the Jewish communal lessons of the Obama presidency.
Jeremy Gillick: Who is a Jew of color?
Yavilah McCoy: In my work, I leave space for people to self-identify as a Jew of color. In the world of multiculturalism, being “of color” includes all people who, whether visually or by nature of their geographic origin, are classified as nonwhite. When I try to superimpose that terminology onto the Jewish community, it gets complex. Until there is a consciousness that whiteness has been superimposed on Jewish identity, Jews won’t really understand what it means to be a Jew of color.
How do you think the increasing diversity of the American Jewish community, and awareness of it, will affect the community’s image and its values and the way in which Jews understand what being Jewish means?
I think about how Obama found a way to translate what’s core about the American philosophy into something that resonates with all Americans. That’s a lens he developed from having what I call “an interloper experience,” where you’re not quite in and not quite out. Something about that makes you constantly reach for this quest of core. Our way of speaking, just by virtue of it being grounded in one particular experience, becomes exclusive. If there are enough of us who have synergy around a particular identity, we don’t ever have to question it. But when you look at the power of millions of people who came together when Barack Obama spoke about what was core about American society, it makes me hopeful that there’s going to be a day when we can speak core about the Jewish religion so that it allows us to stand with each other across our differences.
It seems like there’s a strong parallel between your invisibility in the Jewish community and Obama’s invisibility, for example, as a white person. Has that crossed your mind?
Of course. When he first started speaking about what it means to be American, what it means to have hope, what it means to go into the world and believe in something that you cannot see, that spoke deeply to what I see as being core to my Jewish identity. I think that in some ways, the Jewish people have gotten stuck on the things that we can see and we’ve forgotten about the things that we cannot see, the places where we still have to envision a future for ourselves. Obama’s way of being in the world is spiritually defining for me because he looks for the things that he cannot see, he names them and then he inspires us to hope for them, and that’s what I want for [Jewish Americans].
It’s been said that Obama is the first Jewish president?
I believe that African-American people and Jewish people do share a very strong spiritual parallel as people who have been exiled and oppressed. But… we can’t just claim him as a Jew.
Do his election and message have special meaning for the African-American Jewish community?
For me, what’s most resonant is that Obama was a biracial candidate. I do think he is an inspiration for African-American Jews, who have a lot of work ahead of them to make space for their identities to be fluid in the Jewish community. But the work that has to be done among Jews has to be done by Jews.
How did it feel to be an intermediary of sorts between the Jewish and African-American communities when all those false rumors were going around that Obama was a closet Muslim and hostile toward Israel?
The kind of information that was out there and being spoken at Shabbos tables really left me wondering why people didn’t feel the need to question. I felt like, this is a man who wants to be a friend of our community, who historically has been a friend of the community. What’s the barrier? Why don’t you see him as your fellow American? Is it because he’s black? Is the black thing such an easy trigger for you as a Jew that it just removes your ability to be logical and questioning? … That really bothered me.
How do you feel in this role as representative for Jews of color?
I’ve stepped back from being “the one,” because in a way I had become an icon of this work. The idea of associating diversity with a person as opposed to it being a movement within the Jewish community was starting to bother me. So, I made the decision about a year ago to spend more of my time supporting fellow Jewish leaders of color so that when the conversation re-emerged, it would be a conversation along the lines of, maybe, 10 different stories instead of one.
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Jews of color is a meaningless term. Those that profess and practice Judaism are JEWS period. Skin color is meaningless withing the practice and priciples of the Jewish soul.
I am so grateful to see this article in the Forward. It feels like you're telling MY story. Props to Ms. McCoy from on Jewminicana to another Jew of color! http://www.alizahausman.net
So eloquently stated. Thank you again, Yavilah, for all the work you have done and all that you have inspired in us.
Great interview! Many thanks to Yavilah McCoy for her pioneering work, and to the Forward for running this piece. For more on Jews of Color, check out a review of Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz's book "The Colors of Jews: Racial Politics and Radical Diasporism" (in which Yavilah McCoy is featured) on the Jewish Women's Archive blog "Jewesses With Attitude" -- http://jwablog.jwa.org/strangeness-and-home
As an American who made aliya to Israel and has been exposed to her diversity for the past 25 years, I think that Jews have got to stop seeing themselves as white people. Most of us simply are not - we are olive, brown, black, and mixtures, but we are very rarely white. Whenever Europeans visit and I see them on the bus I am always struck by how un-Jewish they look. Somehow, Ethiopian and American Jews of color do not that way - maybe because they dress more modestly. I don't know exactly why, but it is so.
I'm glad to see more people embrace Judaism. We don't promote proselytism which is why Judaism is in the minority and Christianity and Islam, both of which have used force/murder/intimidation to convert people, are in the majority. I do believe Judaism will become more and more popular to the world citizens as they embrace the love of knowledge and the rich culture that is Judaism. Jews are people of every color. I'm happy to see Yavilah espouse Jewish traditions. Happy to have you as one of us.
To David Weiss: To say you can practice the rituals after conversion and still not be considered a Jew because you were not born a Jew is just not true. All who convert and practice as a Jew is considered to be a Jew by me and everyone I know and their non-Jewish birth has no meaning after they convert. In fact most of those that I know are more practiced Jews than many that are born Jewish.
It is good to see more people of color involved with Judaism. It is a beautiful way of life and a beautiful religion.
To Martin Friedman.There is a difference between practicing judaism and being a jew.Judaism is a religion while being jew is a race.You cannot become a jew just by converting to judaism.
Great article! It really makes one think about why religion almost always has to have a color
David Weiss: Being a Jew does not designate a race. Some of us are no more than a remnant of a national group two millenia removed from the ancient homeland. That has certainly given the Jews a lot of opportunity to mix it up. And indeed we really have. The streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are a perfect example of the ethnic panorama. How ironic a flaxen haired, blue eyed Ashkenazi rabbi in Jerusalem can call into question whether a person of color is a Jew or not. It is time to get over our religion's obsession with race.
Greetings Ms McCoy,
First let me commend you on the work that you have done and have taken precedence so far. How glorious are you before the face of the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth. In saying this, there is a time appointed for the Lord's annointed.
I have been advocating for a cause such as this for a very long time. In my advocation for such cause I did not know that there was such a broad network of Jews that suffered the same fate.
It is my suupreme wish to be of some assistance of those who are already out in the field unbeknown to me.
On my part I have researched the Jews of Color in "Antiqiucy" for many years, but for me it is more than that. For me it is an heritage, a legacy, that has been left by the founding forefathers.
Could you imagine having children and left them a legacy that years later they cannot identify with. Well just imagine that your name is McCoy and your children name are McCoyians and years later after many generations people tell them that they are not McCoyians.
This is what this whole thing means to me why I speak in terms of heritage and legacy. But first for your child to make a claim on that will, first that child has to prove without the shadow of a doubt in a court of law that he is the inheritor.
It means a lo because of the vow:(ps.137) If I forget thee O Jerusalem may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. So you see why this matter is so serious to me.
In this my job as a descendant is to gather the evidence of my legacy so that the world will not have to look at me so uncommon as a Jew.
In this I would like to work with your office in brinning this before the sight of God and man.
I would like to make arrangement with your office to review and discuss how we jointly can go about this. In the meantime you can look up on "mainstream Jews" to see the articles that I have submitted, especially on education.
Had the world had the proper education on Jewery, then it would not have looked on us the way that it currently do. I would like to discuss on ways of which we could make such knowledge available to the public.
For all those who out there have a particular interest in this subject and would like to discuss how our aspirations could be achieved in the ourlook in Jewery please feel free to contact me: Ogarth A.Drummond inrip@live.com
And as respected and said, that one person cannot manage this task by self alone. Judging by what work that you have already done, you know how much more is required as well as that of our counterparts.Dont get me wrong, I welcome and embrace all colors of Jewery, and when we understand our history we understand how all these beautiful colors came into being.
Some of the topics that I wrtite about is: Did the UN make a blunder in 1948, by being ignorant to the Jews of Color, or was it biased ? There is so much that I have written on this subject and these things I would like to discuss with you concerning publications, for the world to see and voice their opinions.
There is a lot that people of color still do not know about their history or culture. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 26, section (2) it states, "Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality" For these reason I write.
Respectfully submitted, Ogarth A.Drummond
Peace be unto thee, peace be unto the house of Israel !
most probsbly, earliest jews would have been blacks as africa the birth place of judaism and middle east have been traditional areas of black peoples. even whites understand that now, so they preached aryan theory to show their are superior than middle east by stealing indian philosophies and cultures