L. a. (AP) — Nate Looney is a Black man who grew up in Los Angeles, a descendant of enslaved people from generations in the past. He’s additionally an observant, kippah-sporting Jew.
However he doesn’t On A daily basis exactly feel welcome in Jewish areas — his pores and skin colour typically elicits questioning glances, suspicions and hurtful assumptions. As quickly as, he walked Proper into a synin the pastgue dressed for Shabbat providers in slacks and a buttoned-dpersonal shirt and was informed to go to the kitchen.
“The Final merchandise You should happen Everytime you go to a synin the pastgue to attend a service,” Looney said, “is to be dealt with Similar to you don’t belong.”
Now Looney Is in a place to do one factor about that, after being named to The mannequin new position of director of group, protectedty and belonging for the Jewish Equity Variety and Inclusion group On the Jewish Federations of North America, or JFNA, in April. He believes he can channel his painful particular personal expertises into therapeutic divisions and altering perceptions, and assist make A go to to the synin the pastgue a spiritual pretty than a scarring encounter for Jews of colour.
On this new position, Looney has been tackling The fragile process Of producing ideas on The biggest Method to be extra welcoming of Jews of colour, Whilst synin the pastgues and group facilities strengthen safety Inside the wake of current assaults collectively with mass capturings in Pittsburgh and Pomethod, California. The precedence is that such boosted safety will enhance the probability of racial profiling incidents affecting congregants of colour.
It’s A comparatively small but rising demographic. A Pew Center survey in 2021 confirmed ssuggest 8% of U.S. Jews decide as Hispanic, Black or Asian, but That almost doubled To fifteen% amongst respondents aged 18 to 29. The ballot additionally found that 17% reported dwelling in a nonwhite or multiracial household.
Looney, 37, has led a life that has taken a quantity of turns. He served Inside the army police as An factor of the Louisiana Nationwide Guard and spent 9 months overseas teaching Iraqi police forces. He has labored in exact property and has even carried out metropolis farming, promoting microgreens in native markets.
His spiritual journey started at 13 when a good friend requested Looney, whose father was Baptist and mcompletely different was Episcopalian, about his personal religion. Regardless of his household’s Christian religion, Looney said he by no means felt related to it.
“I used to be obstinate that (Christianity) wasn’t for me,” he said. “As quickly as I Take into consideration African enslavement in America And the method religion was one factor that was pressured, I believed thOn The religion I used to be training was not true to who my ancestors have been.”
Looney embraced Judaism whereas nonetheless a teen as a Outcome of he seen it as a religion That provides believers permission to ask troublesome, uncomfortable questions, although he didn’t formally convert till age 26.
It was after the police killing of George Floyd and the racial reckoning of summer time 2020 that Looney started working with organizations To Increase consciousness about Jews of colour. It was additionally all by way of That time that JFNA launched its diversity, equity and inclusion initiative.
Looney said Jews of colour Are typically subjected to Questions on their Jewish origins. Even when properly intentioned, these queries Might be painful as a Outcome of they forged doubt on their id Immediately and suggest they don’t belong, he said.
Add to thOn the enhanced safety at synin the pastgues, and there’s even greater potential for people to exactly feel completely differented or unwelcome.
“How do you strike a stability? You don’t Want to exclude anyone, and but You’d like to be discerning of Who’s coming Inside the door,” Looney said. “Cultural competency Is important. Just The fact That somebody Who’s Black is strolling in shouldn’t enhance alarms.”
He is Aware of from particular personal expertise. The morning of the Tree of Life synin the pastgue mass capturing in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018, Looney was unconscious it had taken place as a Outcome of he was not using his telephone in observance of Shabbat. When he entered a synin the pastgue, he acquired extra questions and “expertised deeper scrutiny” from safety guards, and it was painful.
“If that have been my first time Getting into that group,” he said, “I might’ve by no means Get back.”
The guidelines He is Engaged on Shall be shared with Jewish federations throughout North America and, Looney hopes, carried out On the native diploma by synin the pastgues and group facilities. Just two months into his job, he says They Appear to be A bit in progress but will proceed to evolve over time.
One objective is to inculcate in safety guards a deeper understanding of The differ of the Jewish group, he said: “We’re Starting to have These Sort of conversations and that’s An excellent beginning.”
Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein, who based The differ, equity and inclusion initiative and serves as JFNA’s public affairs advisor, said Looney’s expert expertise as a army policeman and his lived expertise as a Jewish particular person of colour make him uniquely licensed to boost inclusivity whereas being cognizant of the delicate relationship between regulation enforcement And completely different people of colour.
“Security and belonging don’t have to be mutually unique,” said Rothstein, Who’s the son of a white father and a Black mcompletely different and has seen his darker-pores and skinned relations being dealt with in A particular method in synin the pastgues. “Nate Helps us convey an equity lens To Guarantee all our institutions are protected and safe whereas Making a tradition of belonging for all Jews and our Relations.”
Sabrina Sojourner, an African American Jewish chaplain at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington who met Looney at a management seminar 5 years in the past, said people of colour are “profiled consciously and unconsciously by white people” and Looney’s position On the JFNA is essential To assist rework assumptions about “Who’s the menace and who Isn’t.”
“Do you have to Take A look at assaults in the direction of Jewish people and synin the pastgues, They do not Appear to be perpetrated by people of colour,” Sojourner said. “Nate’s work is so important as a Outcome of it tells me JFNA will get that if In all probability the most weak people in our communities Aren’t protected, our communities Aren’t protected.”
Looney said ancompletely different problem is that antisemitism and racism Are typically compartmentalized.
“It’s A troublesome job to make people understand that Many people have a quantity of identities and match into each packages and that We’re all preventing in the direction of white supremacy,” he said.
Placing Jews of colour in choice-making positions in Jewish areas Might assist forge solidarity And convey The Idea that “marginalized communities are stronger As quickly as They arrive collectively,” he added.
Rothstein believes Looney will make An monumental distinction as a Outcome of “He is additionally a healer.” For event, he cited a digital JFNA event commemorating Martin Luther King Day in 2021 when Looney recited a prayer and sang “Raise Every Voice and Sing,” a hymn written by NAACP chief James Weldon Johnson in 1900 And in addition referred to as the “Black national anthem.”
“Those three minutes felt like three hours They typically felt like three seconds,” Rothstein said. “It’s how Nate holds himself. He is so accessible to people Because of his coronary heart. That comes by way of the life he has lived.”
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Source: https://religionnews.com/2022/07/05/black-jewish-leader-works-to-boost-community-inclusiveness/