UNCF’s Dr. Michael Lomax and TheGrio’s Eboni K. Williams honored for fighting antisemitism at Mayor Adams’s Hanukkah reception

Mayor Eric Adams presented Dr. Michael Lomax, United Negro College Fund (UNCF) president and CEO, and media personality-lawyer Eboni K. Williams with the Shine a Light Civic Courage Award for Community Building at Gracie Mansion’s Hanukkah reception last Tuesday, Dec. 12. 

The distinction is for non-Jewish advocates who lead efforts to combat antisemitism. 

For Lomax and Williams, the work stems from bridging Black and Jewish communities through overlapping plights against white supremacy. The awardees told the Amsterdam News that the award validated their long-standing efforts in linking the two communities. 

“It means a tremendous ton to me—my life’s work broadly is a full and complete liberation of Black people,” said Williams. “And I know that that requires a few different things, [including] one of our strategic partnerships and being in relationship with broad humanity—so my work specifically focused on the restoration of a historic, productive, and successful relationship between Black Americans and Jewish Americans. Together, our communities represent an enormous possibility to liberate one another and free ourselves from anti-Black racism as well as antisemitism.”

Williams, whose laundry list of a résumé includes the Warner Music Group-backed podcast “Holding Court with Eboni K. Williams” and eponymous TheGrio network show “TheGrio with Eboni K. Williams,” sees this “mutual liberation” as the root of her collaborations with JewBelong and wanting to feature the first Black shabbat (sabbath) on national television.

“This is both a personal and a professional honor,” said Lomax. “I grew up in Los Angeles [and] I had strong relationships with the Jewish community there through my parents and the kids I went to high school with and junior high, people who have continued to be in my life since then and throughout my career. I’ve always gravitated toward Jewish partners and doing the work of education reform [to fight] racism [and] antisemitism, so it’s wonderful to have that work acknowledged.”

Lomax, who is Christian, pointed to his Californian upbringing as seeds to his advocacy. Those relationships blossomed into his role overseeing Dillard University’s National Center for Black-Jewish Relations while serving as the HBCU’s president. Those predilections were reawakened by the 2017 “United the Right” rally in Charlottesville. The white supremacist attack challenged Lomax’s complacency: He soon saw parallels between antisemitic attacks like the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh and anti-Black attacks like the Tops Friendly Markets shooting in Buffalo.

The reception overlapped with the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict on the Gaza Strip, with the family of hostages in attendance and demanding their release. It also coincided with a 32% uptick in reported antisemitic hate crimes in the city last month compared to November 2022, according to the NYPD. 

“Few people embody the concept of light overcoming darkness like the two people we honor tonight: Dr Michael Lomax and Eboni Williams—both who have done so much to promote the shared bond between African Americans and the Jewish community,” said Mayor Adams. “They remind us that we are a city with people from every corner of the world and, regardless of our differences, our communities will always come together to help and protect our fellow New Yorkers.”

With the “People’s House” full of, well, people, Williams hoped attendees would see past the optics of a Black mayor awarding Black leaders. During her speech, she called upon Jewish Americans to be the friends to Black Americans that they “reasonably expect Black Americans to be to them.”

“That work of mutual friendship…and strategic partnership has to be 365 days a year,” said Williams over the phone. “Nobody wants a friend who only shows up on the worst day of their life. Black Americans don’t want that and I’m certain Jewish Americans don’t want that…I hope they saw a very proud, non-Jewish Black American woman say ‘I am your friend. I have a mezuzah on my door. You can stay with me, you can feel safe in my home.’ 

“And I expect to have that same level of safety and security in your home and we demonstrate that 365 days a year, not just when we are under threat.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

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