Understanding and working against racism is a crucial part of our heritage and values.
We believe that working as an anti-racist organization requires us to be continually learning and to be open to hearing and seeing the ways we benefit from, contribute to, and can work against racism today. This is an urgent task for our society.
American society was founded on a basis of fundamental inequality. Since our nation’s inception, our social systems have denied Black and Brown people fundamental rights: decent education, life-saving health care, jobs at a living wage, housing in neighborhoods of their choosing, true public safety, and the vote.
For many years, these exclusions also targeted new immigrants, including recently-arrived Eastern European Jews. Xenophobic policies established a century ago, like the public charge rule, have been expanded and weaponized against new immigrant communities today.
When we work together to create a society that fundamentally respects all of us—that humanizes all of us— it becomes impossible to target and blame any one of us for social ills.
The Workers Circle is actively prioritizing work for racial equity and work to counter racism and white supremacy as a core part of our activism and educational programs.
WATCH
Cultivating our anti-racist practice with partners within and beyond the Jewish community through activism, conversation, and organizing.
Selma to Montgomery March with Black Voters Matter, March 2022
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE FOR VOTING RIGHTS AT THE WHITE HOUSE:
Five activists are arrested by Secret Service, October 5, 2021
Ann Toback speaks just prior to being arrested, October 17, 202
College students with the Workers Circle enlarge the ranks of civil disobedience, November 3, 2021
Workers Circle CEO, President, Board Members and Activists join 100 people in civil disobedience, November 17, 2021
Noelle Damico, Workers Circle Director of Social Justice, speaking on the arrests at the League of Voters, October 2021
READ
Articulating and renewing our commitment to the fight for racial justice through words and action.
Workers Circle CEO Ann Toback’s Black History Month Statment, February 2024
Workers Circle CEO Ann Toback’s Black History Month Statement, February 2023
Letter from 151 civil and human rights organizations following police killing of Tyre Nichols, February 14, 2023
“Moore vs. Harper" amicus brief, October 2022
Translating Black Lives Matter into Yiddish, Jewish Currents, June 2020
The Workers Circle’s Response to the Verdict the Derek Chauvin Trial, April 2021
Pledge of Solidarity in Dismantling Racism, June 2020
Understanding Racism to Better Fight It, LabourPress.org, March 2018
LEARN
Explore the interplay between Yiddish culture and its developing consciousness about how we stand against anti-Black racism in the US.
Yiddish, Anti-Racist Practice, and the Transformation of Jewish Communities, presented by the Museum for Jewish Heritage, co-sponsored by the Workers Circle, JFREJ, August 2020
Remaking American Democracy: The Ballot and Beyond, November 2022.
Beyond the Almost Promised Land, exploring “In the Almost Promised Land: American Jews and Blacks, 1915-1935” with its author, Professor Hasia Diner, November 2021
In the Midst, on depictions of systemic racism in Yiddish art, literature and media created, produced and moderated by Anthony Russell, Spring 2021
Introduction to “Answering The Call,” November 22, 2021
How race, racism and anti-racism were covered in the pages of “The Call,” November 30, 2021
How labor, immigrant, and civil rights were entwined in coverage by “The Call,” December 6, 2021
Break The System: The Untold Story of Black Fathers and Mothers, presented by Workers Circle and List College, Jewish Theological Seminary, May 2021
Civil Rights Journey to Selma: Stories of Courage and Hope on the Road to Freedom, March 2021
ACT
Postcarding to Black Voters in Georgia
Voters of color have been targeted by state voter suppression laws across the country. Join the Workers Circle in sending postcards to Black voters in Georgia with crucial information they need to cast their ballots for the Georgia primary election.
We work in partnership with the Center for Common Ground, a people of color-led organization that fights voter suppression by connecting voters of color with the information they need to vote. Our postcarding with the Center for Common Ground supports on-the-ground efforts to reach Black voters by the NAACP, Black Voters Matter, and Mi Familia Vota.
How to be an Effective Citizen Advocate
Join the Workers Circle and the Center for Common Ground for our monthly training on how to be an effective citizen advocate.
You’ll be equipped with knowledge about a key federal bill, a letter that you can customize and deliver to your legislators, and best practices for setting up, visiting, and following up with Members of Congress. No experience is necessary!
