October Newsletter | Carrying the Legacy Forward, One Bridge at a Time
Join the journey to empower the Black-Jewish alliance today
Carrying the Legacy Forward, One Bridge at a Time
With the school year in full swing, demand for Spill the Honey’s programs is growing. From Atlanta to Boston and Chattanooga to Akron, we continue to support learning and dialogue that strengthen the Black–Jewish alliance.
We opened October by honoring the life of our founding Chair, Dr. Clarence B. Jones, with a promise: to teach this history, carry it forward to the next generation, continue building bridges between Black and Jewish communities, and keep spilling the honey.
In loving Memory of Dr. Clarence B. Jones: Spill the Honey Honors Our Founding Chair
This past Saturday, a moving memorial was held at Riverside Church in Manhattan to honor our founding chairman, beloved leader, and civil rights legend, Dr. Clarence B. Jones.
Spill the Honey President Dr. Shari Rogers, Chair Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., and Co-Founder Lisa Weitzman joined hundreds of mourners in celebration of Dr. Jones’s extraordinary life and enduring legacy.
Dr. Rogers’ Eulogy: In Memory of My Teacher, Mentor, and Collaborator For more than a decade, Clarence Jones was my friend, teacher, and collaborator. From him, I learned that relationships built on respect, trust, and love can inspire meaningful work—and that when we recognize our common humanity, we can build something lasting together.
Clarence understood something else deeply: history only matters if we pass it on.
He didn’t just lend his voice to Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance; he helped us document the witnesses to this history.
…Through Shared Legacies and its classroom curriculum—including music and hip-hop—we are carrying Clarence’s voice and this history to a new generation, not simply so young people can learn what happened, but so they can use it as a template for healing today.
The Black-Jewish alliance teaches us that people who are different can find one another, show up for one another, and understand that another person’s struggle matters to them.
That is what it means to spill the honey.
Make It Real
In Memory of
Dr. Clarence B. Jones
By Antar Davidson
Dr. Clarence B. Jones, Spill the Honey’s founding chairman, spent his life turning words into responsibility. History rightly remembers him as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s lawyer, adviser and draft speechwriter, and as a strategist close to some of the defining moments of the Civil Rights Movement. But Clarence never treated history as finished. In 2012, when Dr. Shari Rogers and I helped bring him to Dilla Day at Detroit’s Fillmore Theatre, he stood before a packed Black-and-white audience brought together through hip-hop and told us, “Use your music, use your poetry, use your creative abilities to tell the story and make it real.” Days later, writing in the Huffington Post, he reflected on the “black and white mosaic” he had encountered at the Fillmore and on rap artists’ ability to communicate the urgent issues facing our communities. That room, he wrote, gave him cause for hope and challenged us “to believe again.” Clarence could look at a hip-hop concert and see more than an audience for history. He saw its next participants.
Following that event, Clarence gave me a personal charge that I have carried ever since. It was part of what inspired me to stand up years later while working with children separated from their parents at the border, and it has continued to guide me through the development of Bars & Bridges and the effort to turn creative expression into voice, agency and opportunity. The older I become, the more I hear that charge alongside another of Clarence’s insights. He described economic opportunity as the “real new frontier” of civil rights and asked what good it was to have the legal right to stay in a hotel if you could not afford the room. That is part of the unfinished work he leaves us. Extraordinary sacrifice should not be required for ordinary justice, and freedom is incomplete when people have rights without real pathways to use them. Clarence made history feel unfinished. He told us to use what we had, tell the story and make it real. Our responsibility is to keep doing exactly that.
Make It Real
In Memory of Dr. Clarence B. Jones by Antar Davidson. A deep look into the chairperson's role as a draft speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his impact on Detroit's cultural history.
Expanding Our Network at the National Convening on the Black-Jewish Alliance in Chicago
This month, Spill the Honey will join 175 Black, Jewish, and Black Jewish leaders in Chicago to strengthen relationships and advance the Black-Jewish Alliance. Our documentary, Shared Legacies: The African American–Jewish Civil Rights Alliance, will serve as advance viewing for all attendees.
Our team will contribute throughout the summit. Chair Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. will join Dr. Susannah Heschel for a mainstage conversation, moderated by Ashley Jackson, exploring the movement’s history and ongoing work. Board Member and Education Advisor Dr. Bruce Haynes will present in “History and How We Teach It,” and Mali will perform her song “No More Silence.” Rabbi Dr. Judy Schindler will support table discussions for the Exodus Over Dinner and Wedge Issues programs.
Our Spill the Honey Strategist Antar Davidson will assist in bringing Black Jewish attendees together to inform our new curriculum being developed by Dr. Bruce Haynes on the topic of “Jews of African Descent.” President Dr. Shari Rogers and Curriculum Director Brian Knowles will build partnerships to expand our National Education Initiative, bringing our film and curriculum to middle schools, high schools, universities, and community organizations nationwide.
Stay tuned for reflections in our November Newsletter.
Shared Legacies Student Action Grants
Watch the film. Lead the conversation. Bring your community together.
As part of our National Education Initiative, Spill the Honey is offering two grant opportunities for high school educators at public, private, and charter schools across the country.
Educators are invited to work with their students to create a meaningful program centered around the award-winning documentary Shared Legacies: The African American–Jewish Civil Rights Alliance (40-minute classroom edition). The goal of the program is to help deepen understanding of Black-Jewish civil rights history, strengthen multicultural relationships, and turn shared commitments into action.
We encourage all educators to apply.
For more information, contact Rabbi Dr. Judy Schindler, Drschindler@spillthehoney.com.
Partnering with Jewish Federations to Strengthen Community Connections & Expand Educational Offerings
In mid-October, Spill the Honey Curriculum Director Brian Knowles and Rabbi Dr. Judy Schindler will lead a webinar for professionals at Jewish Federations of North America, highlighting our National Education Initiative. They will introduce the 40-minute version of Shared Legacies, its adaptable five-session curriculum, Shared Legacies Student Action Grants, and Bars & Bridges, our hip-hop education program.
Jewish Federations of North America supports Jewish professionals nationwide in building meaningful relationships, strengthening community relations, combating antisemitism, and advancing the values, interests, and security of the North American Jewish community. Spill the Honey is honored to partner in this work, offering resources that bring Black and Jewish communities together through history, dialogue, and creative expression.
Dr. Chavis’ Reflection: “Choose Life: A Black Christian Reflection on Nitzavim and Our Covenant of Solidarity”
Prior to the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Dr. Benjamin Chavis’ shared his reflection with National clergy who attended the Atlanta Summit of Black Pastors and Rabbis, illuminating the Torah portion Nitzavim chanted in Reform synagogues across the country on the holiest of days.
“Covenant asks still more of us. It asks each community to examine prejudice within its own house. Black-Jewish solidarity becomes strongest when Black Americans confront antisemitism wherever it appears, including within Black communities, and when Jewish Americans confront anti-Black racism wherever it appears, including within Jewish communities. Covenant is not sentimental agreement. It is disciplined love expressed through truth, accountability, courage, and action.
Nitzavim provides a most enduring declaration: “I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life.”
Choosing life is not passive. We choose life when we refuse to dehumanize. We choose life when we defend a synagogue, church, mosque, or other sacred space from hatred. We choose life when we teach our children the truth about slavery and the Holocaust. We choose life when we reject antisemitism and racism without qualification. We choose life when we protect the stranger. We choose life when we disagree without denying another person’s humanity. We choose life when we repair relationships before crisis requires us to rediscover one another.
Nitzavim reminds us that our choices have consequences for people we may never meet. That truth belongs not only to Judaism or Christianity. It is a moral summons to humanity.
During this sacred season, I therefore extend my solidarity to the Jewish community.
May the shofar awaken all of us. May teshuvah lead toward repair. May covenant overcome indifference. May solidarity overcome hatred.”
Discover the opening words from Nitzavim and what they mean for the collective spirit of solidarity today.
By Reverend Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. – A Torah portion call to action that speaks with extraordinary moral clarity and spiritual urgency for all who stand together.
The Official Anthem of Spill the Honey Enters Grammy® Consideration
We are incredibly proud to announce that "No More Silence," the official anthem of Spill the Honey and the Shared Legacies film, has been officially submitted for Grammy® Consideration for the Best Song for Social Change award.
Written by Mali Wilson, Dr. Shari Rogers, and Eric D. Wilson, and produced by Craig J. Snider and Mali Wilson, this anthem is more than just a song—it is a call to conscience. It serves as the living score to our ongoing mission to strengthen the African American and Jewish Civil Rights Alliance.
As Van Jones beautifully noted, "It’s a call to stand together and fight hatred in all its forms. That’s the courage this moment requires."
The message is resonating across the nation, drawing powerful endorsements from industry legends like Anthony Hamilton, Charlie Feldman, and the late Angie Stone, who recognized the song's ability to heal and unite.
Now, as the music industry begins its voting process, we are calling on our community to help us amplify this message.
"The world changes every time love becomes louder than silence." - Mali Wilson
WHERE WE ARE GOING. . .
Black and Jewish Leaders of Tomorrow
Unity Dinner for Atlanta Area University Students
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Breman Museum
Shared Legacies will be shown as part of a Unity Dinner with University students from across Atlanta (Agnes Scott College, Clark Atlanta University, Emory University, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Kennesaw University, Morehouse College, and Morris Brown)
Invite an Educator You Know to Attend a Shared Legacies Professional Development Workshop in Your Community
Newton Massachsetts
“Teaching in Complex Times: Training and Tools for Addressing Antisemitism, Racism and Shared Histories”
Friday, November 13, 2026
Atlanta Georgia
“Teaching in Complex Times: Training and Tools for Addressing Antisemitism, Racism and Shared Histories”
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
Shared Legacies Online
Shared Legacies National Training
Tuesday, December 1, 2026
7:00 to 8:00 pm
Online Training (on Zoom)
WEAR THE MESSAGE; SHARE THE LEGACY
Join us in spreading the message of Shared Legacies wherever you go. Visit the Spill the Honey Shop and explore our collection of T-shirts, hoodies, hats, totes, and other merchandise celebrating the powerful history of Black-Jewish collaboration and the ongoing work of building bridges across communities.
Every item tells a story. Every purchase helps us continue sharing the legacy. Show your support, start a conversation, and wear the message of unity, justice, and shared history with pride.
Join Us on the Journey
Your partnership makes all the difference. To learn more about how you and your community can connect with our work and bring the joy of arts and education into your community multicultural alliance building,
New to Our Work?
Visit our social accounts
Comments