Rusty Holzer On How One Advertisement is Hoping to Help with Bridge Building

Certainly, there were many important moments during Super Bowl LVIII, and much ink has been spilled discussing the players, the commercials, the half-time show and, of course, Taylor Swift. One particularly poignant moment that, perhaps, hasn’t been written about as much was the ad placed by the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.

Robert Kraft’s foundation has worked tirelessly to combat antisemitism with its #StandUptoJewishHate campaign. The most recent ad addresses another vitally important issue that many have noticed and discussed in the United States in the last number of years – the rising tension in Black-Jewish relations today.

It takes people like Robert Kraft and Clarence B. Jones, the former lawyer and adviser to Martin Luther King, Jr., to truly show what leadership looks like; and what standing up for unity feels like. The advertisement, highlighting the continued communication between Kraft and Jones, is used in the ad to show the collective need for Black and Jewish communities to stand up to racism and antisemitism. The ad has the goal of emphasizing the unity that these two groups need to have in the face of hate. In addition, it serves as a reminder of the unity and solidarity shown with Black-Jewish alliances during the Civil Rights Movement and the hope that we can return to those collective roles.

There were other significant and important ads that aired during the Superbowl as well, including spotlights on antisemitism and on the hostage crisis. This particular angle has been far-less discussed and serves to remind these two communities of their collective struggles, their unity in the past, and the need for unity now into the future.

For those who want to be involved and aren’t sure where to start, both the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and Spill the Honey are essential places to begin. Kraft formed the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in 2019, starting the organization with a $20 million investment and a vision to stand up to racism and violent speech targeted at the Jewish people on social media. Spill the Honey, with Chairman Clarence B. Jones, was inspired by the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Holocaust survivor Eliezer Ayalon. The organization is dedicated to educating the future generation on both dialogue and action to unify African Americans and Jews using the arts.

These two organizations and their visions offer hope for a better tomorrow and a place to begin building more bridges in the fight against antisemitism and racism for both groups.