Rev. Al Sharpton Calls Black-Jewish Unity Crucial To Fight Racism — And Trump

Image by Getty Images
After the Charlottesville crisis, and as worries about racism and anti-Semitism mount, Rev. Al Sharpton is calling on Jews and African-Americans to fight together what he calls the “clear and present danger of now.”
“We are currently witnessing a rise in both [racism and anti-Semitism] in the U.S. and in many other places around the world, and just like the past, it is going to take a unified coalition to defeat it all,” wrote the civil rights leader in an op-ed for Haaretz.
He acknowledged tensions between the black and Jewish communities, but invoked the civil rights activism of figures like Abraham Joshua Heschel in urging a common fight against the Trump administration.
“Now, there are some who point to moments of tension between our communities, or things which we may have disagreed on – some of which was distorted on both sides,” he wrote. “Those of us really committed must get past our arguments on what did and did not happen in order to deal with the broader mandate of standing up for humanity.”
He also praised an event this week in Washington, D.C., where Jewish leaders from the Reform movement marched with him and other black leaders in “Thousand Minister March.”
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.