Dear Gil:

I am a 16 year old African American and I just wanted you to know that there are a lot of blacks that support the Jews. One of my goals in life is to strengthen a positive relationship between Jews and blacks. I'm currently taking the Holocaust class at my school and I'm looking forward to learning more about Jewish history outside of school. I really want to become involved, so please, tell me anything that would help and if it is possible for me to work for one of the organizations this summer, or at least help out a little bit.

B

B Shalom!

How refreshing and uplifting to read your email! So much so that I wanted to share it and my response in the hope that all my readers will be inspired to act. Your email took on even more significance as I began to research an answer to your question. I came upon this sad statistic: In 1999, approximately 10% of all hate crime incidences occurred in schools or colleges according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL.)

We regularly hear discouraging data like this and of Black/Jewish tension but good news and good people like you are seldom publicized. This week will be an exception.

Before I answer your question, I want to state my unscientific opinion that I believe most Jews view past injustice against African Americans with disgust and think discrimination is just plain wrong. I have written in the past about Jewish activism in the civil rights movement. Examples are ample, but here is one: Jews were amongst the founders of the NAACP!

Far less monumental are examples likes this email that someone sent me: "[10 years ago at a Jewish retreat,] one woman, in her late 40's told the group that she became a Jew because of her involved work in the Civil Rights movement. She said that one day she looked around and realized that she as the only white person there who wasn't Jewish, and she vowed to learn more about such a religion."

Her email and yours lead me to believe that there are many good people out there who are prepared to roll up their sleeves to improve race relations. I am hopeful that many of them will pursue the leads I am now going to offer you.

I found quite a few local programs to bring Black and Jewish teens together to learn, grow and work together. In a number of cities a program called Operation Understanding exists. This programs selects about a dozen African American and a dozen Jewish teens who meet monthly for study and dialogue. The programs vary from city to city, but some of them even include travel to civil rights sites in the US and trips to Israel and Africa.

Here are some contacts for you (both of these people said they'd be happy to take emails or calls from any of my readers.) In Philadelphia contact Murray Freedman at 215-665-2300 or email him at Philadelphia@ajc.org. (He asked me to point out that his program is connected to the American Jewish Committee.) In Washington, DC, you can contact Rachel Feldman at 202-234-6832 -- rjf1800@hotmail.com.

Next are a couple of similar programs named after the late Texas Congressman Mickey Leland, an African American who was a great friend of Israel. He died in 1989 in a plane crash in Ethiopia. In Houston, you can contact Randy Czarlinsky 713-729-7000 -- czarlinsky@houstonjewish.org. In Minneapolis, the program is called Leland/Johnson and is also named for Patrice Johnson, Leland's Chief of Staff who was on the same plane with him. Contact her mother Josee Johnson 612-874-8172 -- johns002@umn.edu. She even offered to have some of the teens in the program get in touch with you.

Next, here are 2 websites you should check. They are not specifically for teens, but on one, I found an internship program for college students.

http://www.partnersagainsthate.org%20%20%20%20/ -- Click on programs & look up your state.

www.rac.org/issues/issuerr.html#bjr -- This address is part of Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, DC. Click on resources to see a number of award winning programs there to bring Jews and Blacks together.

Finally, I suggest in your city you look up the local chapter of the ADL or the Jewish Community Relations Council. Tell them you'd be interested to work with them as a volunteer or maybe even as an intern. If you have any problem locating them, get back to me.

Your email was a day brightener. I hope teens and adults in the many cities where my column is read will be inspired by your lead and follow up on the contacts I have offered to you. Thanks for writing!

Gil