The Nahmias Cipher Report

Famed Lena Horne died yesterday at age 92. An iconic figure in Hollywood and on stage, Lena Horne was a pioneer who forced the film industry to evaluate casting African-American women in roles other than stereotypically safe and culturally preferred maids and ‘mammies’. Blazing the trail in presegregration America, Ms. Horne used her intellect, talent and ambition to forge a career that spanned six-decades. Ms. Horne was an extremely talented and accomplished vocalist, and one of the first African-American actresses to sign a significant contract with a major studio. She continued to break barriers through her marriage to a Jewish conductor and bandleader Lennie Hayton in 1947. This was a bold move at a time when miscegenation laws were on the books in 30 states.

“In the United States, the various state laws prohibited the marriage of whites and blacks, and in many states also the intermarriage of whites with Native Americans or Asians. In the U.S., such laws were known as anti-miscegenation laws. From 1913 until 1948, 30 out of the then 48 states enforced such laws. Miscegenation was finally ruled unconstitutional 12 June 1967 through the case Loving vs. the State of Virginia effectively ending legal enforcement of this practice nationwide.

“A fresh start is nearly impossible wherever there’s a history of violence.” Radio Netherlands Worldwide began the new year with a “program that shows people around the world can make new beginnings with old enemies. Stories include: a Palestinian and an Israeli teenager who overcame their fears to become best friends; a Muslim and a Hindu filmmaker whose relationship was tested and strengthened while working in conflict-torn Kashmir; a man in Zimbabwe who now preaches against the intertribal violence he once took part in. We also feature an essay from Sri Lanka about overcoming caste divisions, and another from a survivor of Sarajevo with her reflections on the war crimes trial of Radovan Karadzic.” Source: The State We’re In, 2 January 2010

Cattle for wives. The plight of a daughter when an expat goes rogue.

An insidious killer spread by man’s basic nature, where upon in a process of creation, victims assassinate themselves.

ZRUBAVEL is the first feature film created by a team of Ethiopian-Israeli filmmakers. In this poignant story of one Ethiopian family’s struggle to become Israeli, a chain of events ignites a clash of generations and reveals a universal story of family conflicts, assimilation and personal identity. First Prize, Drama, Haifa International Film Festival 2008. Israel, 2008, 72 minutes, Hebrew and Amharic with English subtitles.

He sits alone, lost and unloved, ramshackled eaves choked with dust, a scrawny hen pecks in baked earth, just beyond a porch, parched by African thirst.

Meeting Miles Davis at one of his last performances in Philadelphia before his death a few weeks later.

Not all Jews Convert for Marriage. African Jewish Converts and my take on what it means to be a JOC (Jew of Color) in America.