While African Americans constitute about 12% of

who is most different. The commandment most often

the U.S. population and 13% of drug users, they

repeated in the Torah is not the commandment to keep

make up 38% of persons arrested for drug offenses,

the Sabbath, or any ritual law. The commandment

59% of those convicted of drug offenses, and 63%

repeated thirty six times (and according to some, forty six

of those convicted of drug trafficking...The disparity

times) is the commandment to love the stranger and to

in the treatment of users of crack and powder

treat him or her properly. The Torah is replete with

cocaine contributes to the disproportionate

references to this effect. 

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incarceration of minorities.

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The Rabbinical Council of America also points out

that  the emphasis in the Torah against mistreating the

In addition to denouncing racism, the UAHC called on

stranger, that is, discriminating against him because he is

the federal and state governments to take actions to

different, cannot be explained on the assumption that

eliminate racial disparities, to speak out against police

non Jews were very prevalent in ancient Jewish society,

brutality, and to support legislation that prohibits

when, in fact, we know just the opposite to be true. In

discriminatory profiling and sentencing disparity. Until

ancient Israel relatively few `strangers' lived among the

these matters were addressed, the UAHC called for a

Jewish population. Therefore, the purpose of these

moratorium on the death penalty. 

commandments is to teach that it is pure evil to oppress

the helpless or defenseless. Since the stranger is the most

defenseless, how he is treated becomes a moral barometer

JUDAISM (CONSERVATIVE)

of society in general. In addition, the Torah repeatedly

From its very beginning, Judaism affirmed the equality of

links the commandment not to oppress the stranger with

all humanity. In the creation story, one human is the

the comment that you, the Jews, were strangers in Egypt.

ancestor of all races. The Talmud, in commenting,

Consequently, since you know how it feels to be

observes, How can one claim my blood redder than yours,

discriminated against because you were different (in

when all have the same parentage? In the story of Noah,

language, dress, and customs), how it feels to be oppressed

this is reaffirmed. Noah has three sons, Shem, Ham and

by the majority and made into slaves, you, in turn, may

Japhet, representing all racial strains of humanity. Among

not discriminate or oppress anyone who is different. You

Jewish leadership through the ages, race was a matter of

must never be prejudiced against the stranger. 

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no consequence. It has always been a matter of how you

lived and what you did, rather than your origin, that

counted. The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

MOHAWK NATION

144

affirms this ancient approach and seeks to implement it in

all of its programs and affiliates and advocates its full

Native American communities are small in size, but large

appreciation in American society.

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in the reach of their extended families. Those connections

transcend political, territorial and temporal barriers. We

are connected not only to our immediate relatives, but to

JUDAISM (ORTHODOX) 

all those generations before us. We also have a special

The Rabbinical Council of America's answer to prejudice

responsibility to the future generations to come. In the

arising from a minority group having a different skin

way of the Haudenosaunee the people of the

color is based on Jewish sources. The Rabbinical Council

longhouse we believe that we are also connected to all of

of America notes that  in Judaism there exists no concept

the Native Americans through clan and common

of discrimination by race. Jewish sources indicate that

experiences. It is difficult to generalize Native American

Jews whose skin color is black have been part of the

beliefs and experiences. Each community has its unique

Jewish community since time immemorial, and not, as

identity, way of being and history. However, we do have

some might think, a recent phenomenon arising from the

shared memories that connect us.

immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. It is clear that

For the Haudenosaunee, both past and present, these

prejudice is contrary to Judaism and one may never

shared memories link us to our ancestors. In one sense, we

discriminate against any individual, Jewish or non 

can still see their footprints on this earth. They laid out a

Jewish. 

141

path for us to follow. It is not an actual trail, but is the

According to the Rabbinical Council of America,

shared memory of why we are walking on the same path

 within Jewish society, the non Jew is the stranger, the one

of life that they did. We call this path the Original

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DENOUNCING RACISM