Louis Keene is a reporter for the Forward. His work has also been published in The New York Times, New York Magazine and VICE. He is based in Los Angeles and can be followed on Twitter @thislouis.
Louis Keene
By Louis Keene
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Culture Why a defining moment of HBO’s ‘I May Destroy You’ was scored by a synagogue choir
At the end of the eighth episode of HBO’s breakthrough series, “I May Destroy You,” the protagonist, a Ghanaian British writer named Arabella Essiedu awakes on the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea, an emotional wreck stranded thousands of miles from home. A string of catastrophe and failure has led Arabella here — her rape in…
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News Some of L.A.’s Orthodox day schools set to reopen—as ‘camps’
With Los Angeles County banning even private schools from opening because of the coronavirus pandemic biting into the fall semester, at least four Orthodox day schools in the area have found a way to legally bring students to campus. They are calling it camp. The schools have opened or plan to open soon for optional…
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News Meet Mark Shepard, the Jewish college student who talked Stephen Jackson off the ledge of anti-Semitism
Nobody else was calling out former NBA star Stephen Jackson for publicly spewing anti-Semitic comments, so Mark Shepard, a 19-year-old college student, stepped up. “I said, ‘Dude you’re an anti-Semite’ to get his attention,” Shepard recalled Thursday in a phone interview. Jackson made his comments on Instagram Live after his friend DeSean Jackson, a star…
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News ‘I understand the hurt’ Stephen Jackson tells Rabbi David Wolpe
In a live-streamed conversation with prominent Conservative leader Rabbi David Wolpe, activist and basketball player Stephen Jackson walked back some of his inflammatory comments and asserted his love for Jewish people. He vowed to speak out against antisemitic rhetoric when he encounters it in the future. The conversation, which was viewed live on Instagram by…
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Fast Forward Tensions flare at L.A. anti-annexation rally
With the Covid-19 pandemic surging in Southern California and the state teetering on the verge of another lockdown, scores of protestors formed a car caravan around the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles to protest Israel’s annexation of the West Bank planned for that day. The protest started on the ground early Wednesday morning, July 1,…
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News Fake news and social media exaggerate L.A. protest anti-semitism, say local leaders
The Jews of Los Angeles are not under siege– though some media outlets would have you believe otherwise. Local synagogues, day schools, and Jewish-owned businesses are facing thousands of dollars worth of repairs after vandalism that occurred during the protests over the killing George Floyd. But, officials from the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles and…
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News Black Lives Matter protests in Los Angeles tear through Jewish neighborhood
After protests that stemmed from the death of George Floyd descended into violence, vandalism and looting tore through Los Angeles on Saturday, sweeping a number of Jewish businesses and synagogues into the wake of destruction. L.A. this morning. #laprotest https://t.co/qC39IYK2QS pic.twitter.com/6se6M5Wyv3 — Johnny Kunza (@johnkunza) May 31, 2020 The day started peacefully, with thousands of…
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News Despite governor’s green light, California synagogues will mostly stay closed
Despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s green light for houses of worship to reopen, the vast majority of California synagogues decided not to have in-person services on Friday for the Shavuot holiday, according to rabbis from around the state and across denominations. A handful of smaller Orthodox synagogues either have opened or will do so this weekend….
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