Henry Louis Gates Jr. Explores the Connection and Conflict Between Black and Jewish Americans: ‘A Formidable Force – Yahoo News Canada

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A new docuseries hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. explores the long and deeply intertwined relationship between Black and Jewish Americans
"When these two communities get together, and they synergize creatively or politically, they’re a juggernaut, and they can’t be stopped," one man notes in the trailer.
Black & Jewish America: An Interwoven History premieres Feb. 3 on PBS
A new documentary hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. revisits the longstanding relationship between Black and Jewish Americans.
“When I was growing up, I only thought of race in terms of Black and White,” the Finding Your Roots host, 75, says in the trailer for PBS and Weta’s upcoming four-part docuseries Black & Jewish America: An Interwoven History, premiering on Feb 3. “It wasn’t until much later, when I learned about antisemitism, that I realized Blacks and Jews face common enemies. But when we stand together, we are a formidable force.”
Others featured in the trailer acknowledge the complexity of that history. “The relationship between African Americans and Jews in the United States — it’s not a simple story, and it cannot be a simple story,” one woman says. A man adds, “When these two communities get together, and they synergize creatively or politically, they’re a juggernaut, and they can’t be stopped.”
Music has emerged as one of the most powerful agents of that synergy. “Jewish people have always been some of the first outside of the culture itself to embrace Black music,” one interviewee notes. Billy Crystal, interviewed by Gates, adds, “A white Jewish producer and the greatest Black jazz singer of all time. Why can’t the world be like this?”
The foundation of the rich, complicated relationship, the trailer suggests, lies in shared struggle. “Rabbi Heschel was told he might not live because they’re killing folk in Selma,” Princeton University professor Cornel West says. Another woman reflects, “I think the Civil Rights Movement healed our souls after Nazi Germany.” A man continues, “There was a very visible Black–Jewish alliance during the Civil Rights Movement.”
Yet, as Gates notes, “It wasn’t an untroubled relationship.” A man adds, “There is a profound sense of the Jews are the ‘haves,’ the Blacks are the ‘have-nots.’ ” An archival interview shown in the trailer observes that “nothing has separated the Jewish and the Black community more than this issue of affirmative action.” A woman cautions, “It’s dangerous to make it all the same. We’re not the same. We come from different histories.”
PBS
The trailer also includes footage from pivotal moments of conflict between Black and Jewish communities, including a clash in Crown Heights that led to the death of a young boy. A clip of former President Barack Obama underscores the need for ongoing dialogue: “We must not allow the relationship between Jews and African Americans to suffer,” he says.
More recently, the 2017 Charlottesville attack — which injured dozens and killed one — has served as a stark reminder of the dangers both groups face. “In Charlottesville, violent protests broke out at what was supposed to be a White nationalist rally,” a news report in the trailer explains, accompanied by scenes of swastikas and Confederate flags. Rev. Al Sharpton, also interviewed for the documentary, adds, “When you see Charlottesville, you see that most people who are anti-Semites are also racist.”
The trailer also touches on how the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict has created new tensions between some Black and Jewish Americans. As the docuseries suggests, the path forward requires honest engagement. “We have to find a way to listen to all the rancor even when it makes us uncomfortable,” one man says. Another adds, “It’s dangerous because it’s a really hard time to talk about either Black people or Jewish people. It’s just become fraught in so many ways. But anything that’s dangerous is worthwhile.”

Black & Jewish America: An Interwoven History premieres Feb. 3 on PBS.
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