Rachel Gilmer
Image by Tumblr
The Jewish Heart of #BlackLivesMatter
The Jewish establishment struggled this year to come to terms with Black Lives Matter. Rachel Gilmer, a 28-year-old African American who was raised Jewish, both embodies the #BLM movement and was responsible for some of the Israel-related intersectionality that gave the establishment pause.
The tensions came to a head with the August release of a sprawling “policy platform” associated with the Movement for Black Lives — which branded Israel an “apartheid state” committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people. The Jewish establishment went into crisis mode; it wanted to be on the side of social justice, but was put off by the characterization of Israel
To the surprise of many, the co-author of the platform’s section on Israel had a Jewish background.
Born to an African-American father and a white Jewish mother, Gilmer was raised as a Jew and participated in Young Judaea, the Zionist youth group, when she was a teen. There, she rose to become a leading member of her local group. But Gilmer later distanced herself from organized religion and Jewish identity.
Gilmer has long been involved in black-Palestinian solidarity work. She is currently associated with the activist group Dream Defenders, which has been on the forefront of recent black-Palestinian solidarity efforts, such as bringing high-profile delegations of African-American activists to Israel and the West Bank.
Gilmer told the Forward that she found her calling outside of the Jewish world. “When I got connected to social justice, I found my spirituality in the heart of organizing.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
