Editing Robin Washington

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{{short description|American journalist and filmmaker (born 1956)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
'''Robin Washington''' is an American journalist and filmmaker, born in [[Chicago]] in 1956. As a journalist and editor, he was worked for newspapers in [[Boston]] and [[Duluth, Minnesota]], as well as for [[NPR]]. He has made documentaries about the civil rights movement and the lives of [[African Americans]] in the [[United States]].

In 1995 he was one of three founders of the National Conference of Black Jews, later called the [[Alliance of Black Jews]]. It was conceived to build bridges among all African-American Jews, who are affiliated with many different groups.

==Early life==
Robin Washington is of [[mixed-race]], the son of an African-American father, Atlee Washington, and Jean Birkenstein Washington, who was Jewish and of European-American descent.

==Career==
Washington's major work is the 1995 [[PBS]] documentary ''You Don't Have to Ride [[Jim Crow]]!'' It is a [[chronicle]] of the Journey of Reconciliation, the first [[Freedom Riders|Freedom Ride]] of whites and blacks traveling through the Upper South in 1947 to challenge [[Racial segregation|segregation]] in the wake of the [[United States Supreme Court]]'s 1946 ruling in [[Morgan v. Virginia]]. It ruled that segregation of interstate transportation was unconstitutional under the [[Commerce Clause]] of the [[U.S. Constitution]].

Washington previously produced the documentary ''[[Vermont]]: The Whitest State in the Union'', about African Americans in that state.

From 1993 to 1996, he was managing editor of the African-American weekly ''Bay State Banner'' in Boston. From 1996 to 2004 he worked at the ''[[Boston Herald]],'' where he wrote a consumer and transportation column. He also covered the [[Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal]] unfolding in that region and elsewhere. He frequently spoke as a guest on this topic on national television news shows.

In 2004, Washington became editorial page editor of [[Minnesota]]'s ''[[Duluth News Tribune]]''. He was promoted to editor in January 2010. He left the paper in February 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/291550/group/news/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140215181146/http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/291550/group/news/ |archive-date=February 15, 2014 |url-status=dead |access-date=February 15, 2014 |title=News Tribune editor leaves newspaper &#124; Duluth News Tribune &#124; Duluth, Minnesota }}</ref>

In April 2021, Robin Washington became the Forward’s new Editor-at-Large, a flagship position aimed at elevating and expanding diverse voices.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Robin Washington joins the Forward as Editor-at-Large|url=https://forward.com/news/467584/robin-washington-joins-the-forward-as-editor-at-large/|access-date=2021-10-28|website=The Forward|date=April 13, 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref>

He is also a radio commentator for [[National Public Radio]], and has been a writer, editor, and publisher for several publications.

==Miscellaneous==
Washington is a co-founder, with Michelle Stein-Evers and [[Rabbi]] [[Capers Funnye|Capers C. Funnye Jr.]], of the [[Alliance of Black Jews|National Conference of Black Jews]], which formed in 1995.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ortamerica.org/site/DocServer/Summer_1995.pdf?docID=921 |title=Black Jews: Changing the Face of American Jewry |accessdate=March 16, 2008 |author=Miriam Rinn |date=Summer 1995 |format=PDF |work=The Reporter |publisher=[[World ORT|Women's American ORT]] |pages=11–13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725131217/http://www.ortamerica.org/site/DocServer/Summer_1995.pdf?docID=921 |archivedate=July 25, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
*Robin Washington, “Black and [[Jewish]] Like Jesus and Me", in [[Ishmael Reed]] (ed.), ''MultiAmerica,'' Viking Press, 1997
*[[Katya Gibel Azoulay]], ''Black, [[Jewish]] and [[Multiracial|Interracial]]: It's Not the Color of Your Skin but the Race of Your Kin, and Other Myths of Identity,'' Duke University Press, 1997
*Yvonne Chireau, [[Nathaniel Deutsch]] (eds), [https://books.google.com/books/about/Black_Zion_African_American_Religious_En.html?id=wEU4_su7tNgC ''Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism''], [[Oxford University]] Press, 2000
*Robin Washington, "The Soul of [[Judaism]]", ''[[Emerge (magazine)|Emerge]]'' magazine, September 1995
*Stephen J. Simurda, "Blasting the Boss in Boston", ''Columbia Journalism Review'', September 2000

==External links==
*{{official|http://www.robinwashington.com}}
*[http://greaterboston.tv/features/btp_20040528_washington.html WGBH-TV profile and discussion], May 2004

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Robin}}
[[Category:African-American Jews]]
[[Category:American film producers]]
[[Category:Jewish American journalists]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]