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Blood is not Water

The Yiddish word for ‘black’ is a slur. How to translate Black Lives Matter without it?

The Yiddish word for ‘black’ is, in certain uses, a slur. So Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Arun Viswanath and Jonah Boyarin teamed up to translate Black Lives Matter without it.

Heads-up: we will be talking about that sometimes-slur, plus there is one Category B swear in this episode.

Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell is a vocalist, composer and arranger; find his work at anthonyrussellbass.com.

Jonah Boyarin is an anti-racism organiser, writer, and translator; read his work in places such as Jewish Currents, Everyday Feminism and In Geveb.

Arun Viswanath is a product analyst and translator; find his translation of the first Harry Potter novel at harrypotter.olniansky.com.

The Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. This episode was produced by Helen Zaltzman.

Release date:

Available now

30 minutes