(JEWISH GROUP) 'Rabbi to watch' Sandra Lawson turns DEI focus to North Carolina
When Rabbi Sandra Lawson became Reconstructing Judaism’s first director of racial diversity, equity and inclusion in January 2021, her hiring was hailed as the denomination making good on commitments it pledged toward racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder the year before.
Since then, Lawson — a mainstay on many lists of persons, if not rabbis, to watch — has been sought after countless times for Jewish advice on race relations, both within the Reconstructionist movement and beyond.
Now, her national platform turns regional after leaving the job last month to lead Carolina Jews for Justice in North Carolina where she makes her home.
Given the nationwide backlash against DEI promulgated by the second Trump administration, is it a step up or down?
“This is an executive director-slash-CEO role, so it is a step up for me professionally,” said Lawson, 55. A North Carolina resident since her 2018 graduation from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College as one of the first African American, queer, female rabbis, the St. Louis native moved to the state to become a chaplain and Hillel educator at Elon University after being passed over for pulpit rabbi positions.
Rabbi Sandra Lawson will lead Carolina Jews for Justice. Courtesy of Sandra Lawson
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