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Award-winning Latino-Jewish Poet Jonathan Mendoza Featured in “Waking Us From Our Complacency”: An (online) event on immigration justice and racial justice
First in a three-event series, presented by Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western MA and Never Again Action Boston
Performance poet and social justice activist Jonathan Mendoza, who is Latino-Jewish, headlines the first event in a three-part series commemorating three Jewish holidays: Elul (in August), a month of reflection heading into the Jewish New Year; Sukkot (October), with an event focused on the traditional housing and food security connections of this eight-day harvest and spiritual holiday; and Chanukah (December), an eight-day festival celebrating liberation from an oppressive occupier and the power of faith.
In addition to Mendoza’s performance, the kick-off event will include the Elul tradition of blowing the shofar, an instrument made from a ram’s horn whose powerful sound wakes us from our complacency as we engage in spiritual preparation for the High Holidays in the fall.
There is no admission charge and the public is welcome. Voluntary donations for the first event will go to Pioneer Valley Workers Center, working to protect immigrant rights in Western Massachusetts, and Resource Center Matamoros, assisting asylum seekers trapped in a refugee camp that members of JAIJ visited earlier this year. Register to receive the Zoom link at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mr9GuUhLQsqaa1oUcuAMwQ
Future programs in the series will celebrate the Sukkot harvest festival with a program on food and housing justice in October, and the liberation festival of Chanukah in December. Dates and program specifics will be announced closer to those events. Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice and Never Again Action Boston gratefully thank the Harold Grinspoon Foundation for financially supporting the Immigration Justice is Racial Justice series.
This three-part speaker series explores the intersections between immigrant justice and racial justice, and centers the voices of people of color who are leaders on these issues. JAIJ especially aims to feature Jews of color whenever possible, to address the stereotype that all Jews are white. Each event will be held in conjunction with a Jewish holiday, and the themes of the holiday will be woven into the presentation.
About JAIJ:
Formed as families were being torn apart at the US-Mexico border and imprisoned in deplorable conditions, Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice is a small affinity group (all current members happen to be in their 60s and 70s). JAIJ sent two delegations, first to the prison for migrant teens in Homestead, Florida (since closed due to public pressure) in June, 2019, and then to the US/Mexico border between Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico. The group has done numerous public programs and media interviews to share what we learned on these trips (including a rally that drew hundreds of people last September) and have met several times with area legislators. JAIJ works in coalition with many other immigration justice, racial justice, and progressive Jewish groups in Massachusetts, in Brownsville/Matamoros, and around the country. JAIJ’s website is http://jewishactivistsforimmigrationjustice.blog/ and the Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/JAIJWM .
About Never Again Action Boston:
A group of Jews and allies in the Boston area taking direct action for immigrant justice. “We are responding to fascism now as we would have if it was 1940s Germany: because we believe Never Again means Never Again for Anybody.” NAAB’s website is http://neveragainaction.com/boston and Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/NeverAgainBOS .
Featured Performer Bio:
Jonathan Mendoza is an award-winning, Boston-bred, Chicago-based Jewish and Mexican-American activist, spoken word poet, social justice educator, and musician. He is a National Poetry Slam Champion, a three-time award winner at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational, and winner of the 2018 Sonia Sanchez – Langston Hughes Poetry Prize.
His art focuses on multiracial and Jewish POC identity, Latinidad, migrant justice, mental health and masculinity. He aims less to make political art, but to make politics artful—fusing arts and education with organizing to empower social justice movements locally and abroad.
Jonathan has organized across the U.S. with local and national movements for migrant rights, economic justice, democratization, and police accountability. He’s a community organizer for housing and youth power with Pilsen Alliance in Chicago’s lower west side.
Jonathan ties the artistic to the political, the academic to the emotional, galvanizing diverse audiences and making him a rising star.
Reach Jonathan Mendoza and see his books at MendozaPoetry.com or @Jmendoza010 (Twitter/Instagram).
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