Jews and Juneteenth

A conversion candidate asked me recently what to expect as a Black Jew in New York City. What, he implied, is the current state of the racism and exoticizing of African American Jews in Jewish America?

The first story that came to mind is a hard one. Yehudah Webster, an African American Jewish activist and leader, was returning a Torah scroll he had rented for a Bar Mitzvah that he led. He was attacked in Crown Heights by a…