By Bill Allen
On March 7, 2024, the 92NY in Manhattan held a conversation between New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and lawyer and civil rights activist Dr. Clarence Jones, with journalist Gayle King acting as the moderator. Dr. Jones, a noted speechwriter and one of the last surviving activists who worked directly with Martin Luther King, Jr., continues to carry on Dr. King’s legacy today as chairman of the Spill the Honey Foundation.
Spill the Honey is an organization that seeks to bring people, specifically the Black and Jewish communities, together and celebrate humanity. The organization also strives to, in their words, reinforce the shared legacies of Black and Jewish cultures. Spill the Honey has a feature film that reminds us that suffering is tragic and universal, but can be avoided. We need to empower each other to do the right thing and speak up when confronted with hate, to make it unacceptable to be silent when hate is spoken and practiced, and remember education and knowledge are vital.
The conversation delved into the 2024 Super Bowl commercial that both Kraft and Dr. Jones worked together to create. Both men stated that silence was not an option and the commercial aimed to bridge the divide. They noted that they want to let people of all colors, genders and religions look at the positive things in life. The theme is that hate will flourish when good men fail to speak up.
The message of the night was that silence is not an option and that not only is violence not an answer for hate, it isn’t the cure.
(Above, from left to right: Gayle King, Dr. Clarence Jones and Robert Kraft. Photos courtesy of Bill Allen, Perception Media)
Copy Editors: Breanna Robinson & Asia Ewart
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