Jews of Color

Deitra Reiser: ‘Building Racial Stamina’ in Jewish communities

As a Black Jew, Deitra Reiser has experienced how systems of oppression and history connect for both groups. While consulting in Jewish spaces on diversity, equity and inclusion, she founded Transform for Equity in 2021 – “an antiracist repair group” to raise awareness and create personal and professional transformation toward institutional and systemic antiracism.

Reiser then used her background as a school psychologist and educator to develop the “Building Racial Stamina” curriculum, which she used in her synagogue, and then with Jewish organizations across the nation

She noted that “racism and antisemitism fit together” with as many as 8% of Jews describing themselves as having nonwhite heritage according to a Pew Research Center study from 2021. “I find that the deep learning and facilitated discussions in Building Racial Stamina provide people an antiracist lens to participate more fully in equity assessments, institutional policy change and a solid base for executives and leaders for coaching.”

Reiser and her partner, who live outside of Washington, D.C., are committed to raising their children to feel positive about both their Black and Jewish identities. Learning that “the racism in our Jewish community was a factor out of my control, and hearing the experiences of Jews of color, especially young folks, made me want to be more active in the larger community to ensure that my children would have spaces where they felt a sense of belonging,” she said.

Reiser saw the fellowship’s potential to examine solutions to the oppression of Jews, Blacks and other groups. “We need to dig deeper to understand how to talk together. Because if we are really going to make our Jewish spaces and our world more equitable, that is where our power lies — in connecting,” she said.

Her project will expand the Building Racial Stamina curriculum into three sessions for Jewish and non-Jewish groups to reflect on and learn about the connection between racism and antisemitism. “There is resistance in both spaces, but we are making gains,” she said. “I think everyone working in this space is optimistic, or we wouldn’t be able to keep doing this work in the Jewish spaces, and in the larger society.”

Smith said Reiser’s experience makes her “the perfect person to engage in these conversations, which have sometimes become fraught as we reflect on the Jewish experience of oppression more broadly. Deitra’s focus on developing a space for reflection and building the emotional tools to stay in the conversation about how race and racism can show up in Jewish spaces is so important.”

Reiser said “that our Jewish values call us to do this work. Our Jewish community will not thrive if we’re not creating spaces of belonging. For us to really make gains towards an equitable society, we must work together to eliminate both antisemitism and racism. We cannot let this divide us.”