Why JWOC are marching
Rachel Faulkner
I am proud and humbled to march alongside my LGBTQ family, my immigrant family, my Jewish family, my Palestinian family, my indigenous family and all the other marginalized communities who are ready to show up and show out because kids are still in cages, my body is my choice, and ultimately, my life and our lives depend on our collective liberation.
Bio:
Rachel has lived all over the country, but now calls Washington, DC home where she thrives on work that makes the world’s opportunities more accessible to youth of color. Living at the intersection of homphobia, anti-semitism, sexism, and racism propels her to live her existence as resistance.
Yaya Rosado-Torres
As a Puerto Rican Jewish Womxn my intersections are always at the forefront. And it is for my people and the generations to come that I’ve chosen to walk the March this year along with other JWOC. This year I rise and say as a Latinx Jewish Womxn of Color, Presente. Together we will be heard and seen. Our issues, our challenges and our lived experience centralized and witnessed. With fierce compassion being present to hold movements account-able and response-able. This is my commitment towards the creating of a present and future that has the capacity to in-body us all.
Yaya Rosado-Torres, Presente!
Tonda Case
This is the work of collective liberation. I can disagree with my Sister and work together to save our lives and the lives of our kin. We can check each other and work together to disempower white supremacy and white nationalism — but doing this work with any level of trust and authenticity requires us to tell the truth and deal with the mess between us. This is the healing work of restoration and renewal that is vital to getting free. This is warrior’s work.
Misogyny, racism and anti-black racism, homophobia, antisemitism, islamophobia, xenophobia…all of the linchpins of white supremacy — keep us fragile, separate, filled with hatred and self loathing, sick and as a result, without agency. I won’t do the work of white supremacy. As an act of resistance, I will love us and call us in, call us home — us and “all our dirty” — to do our work. This is why I’m here. This, and to stay strong, sharpen my blades. Not one of us is free until all of us are free. This is the work of collective liberation toward a multi-racial, multi-cultural democracy. This is the legacy I want to leave for my children. Our children. And so I’m here.
Bio:
Tonda Case, MBA is a cultural alchemist devoted to the liberation of Black and Brown people and to creating a just, multicultural democracy. She uses the transformative power of love to activate leadership in families, communities and organizations. Tonda is an AfroAmerican Jewish social and racial justice activist who lives in Oakland, CA.
Dr. Tarece Johnson
As a Black Jew activist/advocate, I am fervently passionate about the eradication of anti-Semitism, bigotry, fascism, homophobia, systemic injustices, xenophobia, economic oppressions, misogyny and racism.
I believe in living our Jewish values of chesed, tikkun olam and tzedakah to make a difference. I fight together with Jews and non-Jews to win the war against all forms of supremacy, intolerance, ignorance, fear and hate. I am a morally courageous warrior for justice passionately protecting the LIGHT of LOVE for ALL HUMANITY.
Bio:
As an activist, advocate, author and diversity/inclusion expert, I believe justice is intersectional and I fight against all forms of HATE. I believe we need to stand together as ONE community in LOVE to eradicate inhumanity, inequity, injustice and immorality. I am a member of a steering committee planning a local women’s march in Atlanta on January 19th. I am organizing and marching in solidarity with women marches all across the US. I am dedicated to the empowerment, inclusion, liberty and justice for all girls and women.
Shoshana Brown
As a Black mixed race Jew, I know intimately the deep cuts racism, sexism, and anti-semitism makes personally. This year, I am choosing powerfully to march in the Women’s March because it is time for the issues that affect me most be elevated. I will no longer be silenced, I will no longer sit out. The movement for Justice needs the perspective of the intersections I bring in my leadership as a Jewish Womxn of Color. We cannot create the future that we all want without being in dialogue within the movement. I march and speak with my feet because Gender Justice is Racial Justice is Economic Justice. — Shoshana Brown
Bio:
Shoshana Brown, LMSW is a fierce, loving, and energetic organizer and healer practicing restorative justice and organizing to transform the prison system. She is a Black- mixed race Jewish womxn who hails from the Bronx NY.
Oraneet Shikmah Orevi
I am marching in solidarity with the Women’s March, because I believe the Women’s March is a place for me in all of my identities as a Jewish Woman of Color (JWOC), and I will not be separated from any of my sisters, people, or mishpacha (family). My identity never quite neatly fit into any one box. I am a proud Israeli-American, Mizrahi (Arab/Middle Eastern) Jewish, bisexual & queer woman of color, who is deeply committed to ending the Occupation of Palestine and who grew up speaking Hebrew and Spanish.
As a result of feeling connected to many often-separated communities, the borders drawn across them by racism, sexism, and other systems of oppression, also cut into my sense of self; these divisions have often left me angry without the language to confront their symbolic violence. But, I have found a place in the Women’s March, because it promotes our growth in finding new language together, pushing back against these destructive divisions. The Women’s March, as a movement, is growing in its understanding of itself while in relationship to the larger whole and I am too — deepening relationships with my fellow Jews of Color (JOC), white Jewish siblings, and non-Jewish family. The Women’s March has become a powerful platform where we have the opportunity to engage in dialogue — to listen, learn, and educate ourselves about all of our intersections. It is a movement in which I will not be divided from myself or my community, and it has the capacity to hold all of the complex parts of us, as an intersectional movement for our joint liberation.
- Oraneet Shikmah Orevi
Bio:
Oraneet Shikmah Orevi is an Israeli-American, Mizrahi (Arab/Middle Eastern) Jewish, bisexual & queer woman of color, feminist, and civil right’s attorney who grew up speaking Hebrew and Spanish. Due to her various identities, Oraneet is deeply committed to intersectional movements and to exploring how the differences between identities overlap to reveal united communities and commonalities. Therefore, Oraneet’s activism is based in creating and contributing to spaces where everyone belongs.
Samiah Fulcher
Varying intersections of class, race, religion, and sexuality meet at my feet and shape the very core of who I am as a woman-identified woman. I am marching for the multitudes I contain, for all of the ancestors known and unknown bending reality to mother more mothers into existence, for the brown boy joy of my brothers’ smiles, and for a future where love leads. I am marching because I believe that the change we need to see in the world is not possible without our willingness as people to connect, and connect deeply, across our difference. These differences that shouldn’t make us “other,” that shouldn’t marginalize, stereotype, or shame but should allow us to be fully present in social justice space as multi-faceted HUMAN beings. — Samiah Fulcher
Kai Gardner Mishlove
As a woman who sits at the intersection of many different and diverse communities, I have chosen to participate in the Women’s March for the sake and future of my beloved community and family. As a proponent of social justice with a long history of advocating for and living amongst marginalized and vulnerable communities, I do not have the luxury to disengage during moments of discomfort due to ideological disagreements, anti-semitism , misogyny , racism or other forms of bigotry. I firmly believe in Tikkun Olam and in building global bridges between communities . Sometimes this means having the courage to engage in difficult, uncomfortable and sometimes messy conversations and actions re identity: race, ethnicity, nationality, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, faith and ability . Historical and present . Reconciliation and change cannot happen if we are not at the table. I have hope that as Jewish Women of Color and with allies, we can collectively build a future together where all of our diverse experiences are equally respected and honored. No more fear. Hineni
Bio:
Kai Gardner Mishlove has a BA in Political Science from Boston University and graduate studies in Public Health. She has acted as a legal , medical and social service advocate for a diversity of communities. She is active in many communities and has served on the boards of various community interest groups. Kai works extensively with refugee and immigrant populations as well as with differently abled communities. Kai is a member of Selah Cohort 15 of Bend the Arc
Erica Walker
Erica Walker is a creative, compassionate person with more than a decade of experience in education and social service, dedicated to the empowerment of youth, families and vulnerable communities. A native of Chicago’s South Side, Erica attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire as a Daniel Murphy Scholar. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University with honors in African American Studies. She also holds a master’s degree in clinical social work from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and is a licensed social worker in the state of Illinois. Erica is currently the Program Manager at Chicago HOPES for Kids, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and empowering children and families experiencing homelessness. She is an avid bibliophile, urban gardener, jewelry designer and cyclist, and is active in several community service capacities in Chicago, including the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and Chicago Public Schools.
Briefly, what I have learned through both studying and participating in social movements is that all actions taken to bridge, connect and intersect contribute in some manner to the strength and momentum of the shared movement, and conversely, all actions taken to separate, divide and narrow channels of connection and communication dissipate energy and power of shared movement. It’s easy to do nothing and allow the efforts of others to bear one’s own inertia, but to move and claim a stake in the forward motion of a social movement requires commitment to others and an understanding of our fundamental interconnectedness. This does not exclude space for critique but it prioritizes trust, love, forgiveness and the shared goal, which is liberation.
Krissy Roth
I’m a Black Jewish woman who has dedicated my career to fighting for civil and human rights for all. I’m thrilled to stand in my power with my fellow Jewish Women of Color and allies proclaiming our unity with the Women’s March. This movement stands on the shoulders of so many great women before us and honors our collective humanity. I am marching because our culture and the laws of our nation fall short of guaranteeing we all live in a country free of racism, anti-semitism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. I hope others will join me on this day in Washington and many more days to come to take action and advocate for an America where we all are truly free.
