Hip Hop Hooray!

Wonderful comment from Roger L. Simon's blog. His comment with the link follows: bq. As a former Civil Rights Worker (sixties division), I have always had a sentimental place in my heart for the Black-Jewish Alliance, which has fallen on rocky shoals in recent years. But as the song goes, "everything old is new again." And in this case the song is rap and comes from Hip Hop King Russell Simmons who is urging "African-Americans to join forces with Jews, to fight anti-Semitism in Europe and the U.S." bq. Way to go, Russell, and back to you! (Now if we could only resurrect Zoot Sims to sit in with Miles...) The link is to the following story: bq. Hip-hop star joins anti-Semitism fight bq. In a ground-breaking article to be published soon, hip-hop legend Russell Simmons will urge African-Americans to join forces with Jews, to fight anti-Semitism in Europe and the U.S. bq. Jews and blacks have a long history of collaboration to advance social reform, especially during the civil rights struggle. bq. Simmons article was co-written with Rabbi Marc Schneier to mark this year's observances of Martin Luther King Day in America. The hip hop mogul and the rabbi have in the past worked together to improve Jewish-African American relations. bq. The new article is ground-breaking for being the first time an African American figure of Simmons' stature in popular culture has issued a denunciation of resurgent anti-Semitism. The article will be published this weekend in newspapers which reach Jewish and black readers across the U.S. bq. If Martin Luther King were alive today, the authors write, he would protest against the new wave of anti-Semitism. Nor would Martin Luther King keep quiet about the "moral laryngitis" of political leaders who fail to speak out against hatred of Jews. Excellent stuff!!!