‘You People’ and Black-Jewish Relations

The new Netflix film ‘You People,’ starring Eddie Murphy and Jonah Hill, is a romantic comedy in the mold of ‘Meet the Parents.’ The twist, however, is that this time, the parents are African American members of the Nation of Islam, and the prospective son-in-law is a white Jew from West LA. While the movie itself may have been uneven, it raises provocative questions about Black-Jewish relations, the intersection of racism and antisemitism, and the role of racial and religious identity in today’s society. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Michael Paul Williams joins Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky for this important and timely conversation.

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture.

How do you listen to PopTorah? You have a lot of options you know? iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, RSS, it’s your choice!