Members of a youth theater that was criticized by Jewish groups for a 2004 dramatization of the Crown Heights riots were to tour the Museum of Jewish Heritage-Living Memorial to the Holocaust on Wednesday.
One of the founders of the All Stars Project is Lenora Fulani, a political activist and frequent candidate who, last August, publicly apologized for writing in a 1988 article that Jews “sold their souls to acquire Israel” and were “mass murderers of people of color.” She also launched an ad campaign in 2004 to insist she is not an anti-Semite.
On March 31, the All Stars Project, which provides a dramatic outlet for disadvantaged kids, honored a lawyer with string ties to local Jewish organizations, Howard Teich, at its annual fundraising dinner at Lincoln Center.
“They have launched an initiative to create greater understanding” between blacks and Jews, said Teich.
During the run of the 2004 Crown Heights play the Anti-Defamation League protested that the production “distorts history and reignites hatred” by presenting canards about the relationship between blacks and Jews in the racially mixed neighborhood. An ADL spokesman, Oren Segal, on Tuesday said the visit by All Stars members to the Holocaust museum was “a positive initiative that could potentially build bridges.”
The All Stars Project has also announced programs to open dialogues with kids from Manhattan’s Congregation Rodeph Shalom and New Jersey’s MetroWest Jewish Community Center. Gabrielle Kurlander, president of All Stars, said Fulani was not involved in the project’s activities.
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