There’s a new sign on Lincoln Drive honoring Jews that are making a difference in the world we live in. Throughout the month GJC will highlight the people whose images you see; their stories are fascinating. We encourage you to continue to dive deeper into who they are and what they are doing to make a difference.
Professor Lewis R. Gordon, Philosopher
photo courtesy of Simeon Gamesu Mark Cofie III
Lewis R. Gordon is an Afro-Jewish philosopher, political thinker, educator, and musician who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University. He is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy, with affiliations in Judaic Studies, Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Caribbean, Latinx, and Latin American Studies, and the Institute for Brain and Cognitive Science at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. Read more here.
Rebecca Walker, Writer
photo courtesy of David Fenton
Rebecca Walker (born November 17, 1969, as Rebecca Leventhal) is an American writer, feminist, and activist who has contributed to the global conversation about race, gender, power, and the evolution of the human family for three decades. Since graduating from Yale, she has authored and edited seven bestselling books on subjects ranging from intergenerational feminism and multiracial identity to Black Cool and ambivalent motherhood, and written dozens of articles on topics as varied as Barack Obama’s masculinity, the work of visual artist Ana Mendieta, and the changing configuration of the American family. Read more here.
MaNishtana, Rabbi & Writer
photo courtesy of Corey Fischer
MaNishtana, pseudonym of Shais Rishon, is an author, writer, educator, playwright, rabbi, and public speaker, whose work on racial and religious identity and culture–and how their intersections manifest in America–takes prejudice, bias, and ignorance head-on, asking the questions about humanity, race, religion, and social injustice that we all have with gut-punching insight and gut-busting sarcasm. MaNishtana’s work explores the fact that Jews of color are often subject to skepticism about their legitimacy as Jews, and experience racism even within their own Jewish communities. Read more here.
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Theoretical Physicist
photo courtesy of Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Dr. Prescod-Weinstein proudly hails from the east Los Angeles neighborhood of El Sereno (and yes, she is a Dodgers fan). The 54th Black American woman to earn a Ph.D. from a department of physics (when astronomy and materials science are included, she is number 63), Chanda is a citizen of both the United States and Barbados and is a descendant of Afro-Caribbean and Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants. After deciding to become a theoretical physicist at the age of 10, at 17, she left East L.A. to attend Harvard College where she earned a Bachelors in Physics and Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2003. Read more here.
Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell
photo courtesy of Adam Wiseman
“Jews and African Americans making music together is the bedrock of American music…” Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, an award-winning American singer and musician specializing in Yiddish song, has created remarkable music influenced by very diverse traditions—Yiddish art songs, African American Spirituals, Hasidic melodies, folk songs from the African American South, and more. Read more here.