Are you aware that the population of Jews of Color is increasing in the United states of America, despite systematic undercounting in decades of American Jewish population studies?

The REAL Numbers

Based on a recent study:

• researchers estimate that Jews of Color represent at least 12-15% of American Jews, or about 1,000,000 of the United States’ 7,200,000 Jews.
• More younger people identify as nonwhite than older people do. With cohort replacement, this means that the future of American Jewry is racially diverse.

• Even with data that undercounts Jews of Color, as younger, more racially and ethnically diverse cohorts replace older, more homogeneous ones, our understanding of the basic racial and ethnic makeup of the American Jewish community will change.

“Our community is changing and evolving in many ways, including its racial composition. This change should have a deep influence in how we think about resource allocation, programming, outreach efforts and more.” Dr. Ilana Kaufman

At a minimum, more than 20 percent of “Jewish households” include people who identify as nonwhite. If the population trends along the same lines as the U.S. Census, then some decades from now Jews of Color will become the majority of U.S. Jews. Yet, American Jewish Population Surveys have largely neglected to systematically and consistently ask about the racial and ethnic identities of U.S. Jews, resulting in a dearth of information about the composition and size of the population of Jews of Color.

By extension, Jews of Color have been omitted from Jewish communal life, due in part to the socially constructed notion that the vast majority of American Jews identify as “white.”

Now, at Playing Together Initiative, we are committed to doing a creating a film by, about and for African American Jews. This is a digital storytelling project which centers Black Jews. It is vital that it be done BY and FOR Black Jews. We are partnering with Mission Edge as our fiscal sponsor.

Fundraiser for a Black Jewish Film

We would greatly appreciate it if the community contributes so we can purchase the equipment necessary and put in the labor to interview, film and edit the film and all its segments. To the near future we will launch a crowdfunding campaign!