Saturday, September 19 - 4:30 p.m.
Rosh Hashanah Panel Discussion held on Zoom.
Awareness of the need for systemic reform to ameliorate US racial injustice is growing. But less discussed is the great diversity that exists within racial groups. Join three African American Jewish women with Wisconsin roots -- who identify individually as French-Guinean-American-British, as Black with Creole roots, and as African American and Ashkenazi -- for a candid, intersectional, multi-ethnic Rosh Hashanah panel discussion on on identity, culture, and the role of the synagogue in current calls to end anti-Black racism.
Facilitated by Edot Midwest and Congregation Shaarei Shamayim, with support from Jewish Federation of Madison.
Bios:
KAI GARDNER MISHLOVE has a decades-long history of building bridges between cultures and the promotion of inclusive, diverse communities. She is the founder of Tables Across Borders, a collaborative global pop-up dining experience highlighting the cuisines of refugee communities resettled in the Milwaukee area. Kai currently serves as the Program Coordinator of Refugee Health and Social Services at Advocate Aurora, and as Milwaukee Outreach Director for Edot Midwest. She is active in many communities and has served on the boards of Hillel Milwaukee, the JCRC of Milwaukee, the Friendship Circle of Wisconsin, National Council of Jewish Women - Milwaukee, SEA Literacy Project, Hands and Voices, and various disability rights groups. Kai is a graduate of the Selah Jews of Color Cohort 15 Leadership Program of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice; a member of the Jewish Women of Color Resilience Circle Cohort 2; and as a co-facilitator for Nurturing Diversity Partners. She is also a member of the HIAS Grassroots Leaders network. Kai volunteers and develops projects extensively with refugee, immigrant, homeless, HIV impacted and differently-abled populations. She is the recipient of numerous awards and commendations.
SHAHANNA MCKINNEY-BALDON is the founding Director of Edot Midwest Regional Jewish Diversity Collective and also holds several appointments at the UW-Madison School of Education WCER research center, including that of Special Assistant for Diversity and Inclusion. She is a longtime educator and trainer who has been an active public education advocate and Jewish diversity thought leader for over 20 years. A former public school and Jewish day school classroom teacher, Shahanna's leadership roles have included Chief Diversity Officer and Director of Family and Community Engagement for large public school districts, as well as those of synagogue education director and Federation high school program director. Shahanna is also a leader in equity education and advocacy work, and has led local, regional, and national projects that focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, including in Jewish and other faith community settings and for a consortium of 30 US public school districts. Her current community activities include acting as lay co-chair for the Reconstructionist movement international Tikkun Olam Commission, and sitting on the board of Reconstructing Judaism.
MADELINE R. YOUNG is currently Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University in London, specialising in Social Economics and Business Ethics. She is a Social Scientist with a background in Sociology, Cultural Anthropology, International Relations, and in the final year of a PhD in European Business Ethics in the African mining sector University of Surrey). As a dual French-American national with a Guinean grandparent from West Africa, Madeline grew up between the USA and France. Her mother was a founding member of Congregation Shaarei Shamayim synagogue in Madison, Wisconsin in the 1980s. Madeline moved to France and Spain in the 2000s and has lived in the United Kingdom since 2010, where she's been an active member of the Reform Movement with West London Synagogue, Board Member of the Movement for Reform Judaism, Board Member of the Jewish Volunteer Network, an active Limmud Volunteer for several years, and Founder-Director of Nomads in a Field, the annual summer Jewish camping event that replaced Limmud in the Woods. She is a regular volunteer within her community and beyond it. Madeline identifies as French-Guinean-American-British, an observant Reform Jew of European and African diaspora origins as well as an LGBTQ+ ally-daughter.
