Acknowledgements
Gratitudes and Recognition
Much of the conceptualization and languaging included in this map came from decades of collaboration between Cherie Brown and hundreds of Jews, in the U.S. and abroad, supported by non-Jewish allies, working together to heal from internalized oppression. My work and my world have been profoundly shaped by these efforts. To Cherie, and to the co-counselors, Jews and allies, of Western Massachusetts, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, PA, Oakland, CA, and beyond, I am so grateful for the opportunity to walk these healing paths with you.
To the Jewish leaders and non-Jewish allies who are articulating a current, evolving understanding of the positionality of antisemitism within white nationalism and white supremacy: Thank you for your bravery, for your commitment to solidarity between Jews and all Peoples impacted, and for your clarity that together is how we move forward.
Thank you to the many healers, educators, and movement leaders who have worked to recognize and to honor the significant role that personal, collective and ancestral healing holds within our movements. I am grateful to be amongst you.
And thank you to my sister, Dove Kent and Helen Bennett as well as Penny Rosenwasser, Ilana Lerman, April Rosenblum, Rae Abileah, Dori Midnight, Mónica Gomery, Yocheved Angelique Arroyo, Orev Katz, my brother Elliot Kent, and my sweetheart, Kathy Couch for loving, supporting, coaching, editing, and midwifing me through months of manifesting this project.
My exploration and teaching around this material has been deeply informed by years of treasured chevrutah (study partnership) with Dove, Penny, and Ilana as well as Elaine Brigham, Ronni Tartlet, Dalya Perez, Jules Skloot, and beloved allies including Safire DeJong, Chris Hughbanks, Terna Tilley-Gyado, Tanya Williams, Marielle Amrhein, Diane Fedorchak, Chris Bolden-Newsome and Kathy Couch.
To Pella Shafer for first introducing me to the term internalized anti-Semitism back in 2003. To Becka Tilsen for offering me the initial foundation of this analysis circa 2006. And to April Rosenblum whose zine gave me the courage to teach about my own People’s oppression.
Over the last decade, I’ve had the honor, challenge, and delight of teaching and learning this material with many cohorts of brilliant, tender, and powerful young adults. Thank you to the Urban Adamah Fellows of Berkeley, to Miriam Grant and the Jeremiah Fellows of San Francisco and to Allegra Heath-Stout and the JOIN Fellows of Boston for being my comrades and my teachers in this exploration.
I offer additional acknowledgment to Allegra Heath-Stout for insisting that Jews and allies with disabilities be included in the initial launching of this project and to both Allegra and Rabbi Lauren Tuchman for creating an accessible version of this tool.
Immense gratitude to so many Elders — in years and in liberation work — including Barbara J. Love, who encouraged me towards this exploration through both academics and healing practices, Cherie Brown, Penny Rosenwasser, Leticia Neito, Aurora Levins Morales, Yavilah McCoy, and Dr. Joy DeGruy. And to Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, z’’l, who inspired me to make sure that none of the story got erased.
And to our beloved ancestors: May our work towards liberation always be in service of yours.
About the Author
photo by Jess Benjamin
Jo Kent Katz is a white, queer, Ashkenazi Jew with ancestors from New York and Toronto and before that from Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Belarus. Her grandparents were all Ashkenazi Jews. As young men aspiring to support their families in the 1940’s, in Toronto, Canada and Washington D.C., both of her grandfathers changed their last names from Ashkenazi names to white Christian names —Katz to Kent and Litovitz to Lang — more formally entering into the project of assimilation. Jo grew up in the suburbs of Northern Virginia with blue eyes, light skin, and the name Joanna Michelle Kent. In 2007, she legally reclaimed the name Katz and, inspired by Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, z”l, decided to hold onto Kent as evidence of the role that whiteness played and continues to play in her family’s trajectory.
Jo is a Kohenet, Priestess of Jewish lineage, currently living in Western Massachusetts and working as an intuitive healer, ritualist, and social justice educator.
To be in touch with Jo about consultation/coaching for yourself or your organization- please visit https://www.jokentkatz.com/consultation.
Website design by Elsa Asher. Photographs by Kathy Couch.