Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew Quotes

“Because every single Jewish person is a descendant of someone who was sitting in a kitchen somewhere in the world, looked around at the family, and said, “We have to get the f**k out of here; sh*t’s about to hit the fan.”
― Emmanuel Acho, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

“People are not always their government, and a government is not always its people.”
― Emmanuel Acho, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

“Black people fight for Black people, women fight for women, and Jewish people fight for Jewish people, but why don’t we ever fight together?”
― Emmanuel Acho, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

“Many Jews are both white-passing and our experience can only fully be understood through the prism of ongoing persecution, expulsion, and execution; plus, the collective trauma of what’s been done—plus, the never-disappearing anxiety of what could come next. We have benefited from that perceived whiteness and we continue to be the subject of some of the most vicious violence and hate.”
― Emmanuel Acho, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

“Many Jews are both white-passing and our experience can only fully be understood through the prism of ongoing persecution, expulsion, and execution; plus, the collective trauma of what’s been done—plus, the never-disappearing anxiety of what could come next.”
― Emmanuel Acho, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

“Judaism, in its most observant form, is essentially an obsessive-compulsive version of an awareness and gratitude practice.”
― Emmanuel Acho, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

“I felt oppressed groups too often speak in silos. Black people fight for Black people, women fight for women, and Jewish people fight for Jewish people, but why don’t we ever fight together? Imagine how powerful we would be if Black and Jewish people—two of the most historically oppressed groups—fought together.”
― Emmanuel Acho, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

“Jews are just over 2 percent of the US population, but they are the target of 63 percent of religion-based attacks.”
― Emmanuel Acho, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

“EMMANUEL: We spent about an hour talking through the events of the 7th, with Noa giving me all kinds of context—or at least everything she was able to know at that point. We knew that Hamas had started a war. We knew that hundreds of people had been slaughtered and/or kidnapped. We knew everything was in chaos… Then came my final question: What can I do to help? Which elicited the most raw and authentic answer: Stop what you’re doing and check on your Jewish friends.”
― Emmanuel Acho, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew