Image by Theo Wargo/Getty Images

By Talya Zax January 24, 2017

Let it be known that today has not been fun: there are swastikas in Canada, anti-Semitic invectives against a playwright in D.C., and, oh yeah, apparently the public is not allowed to interact with the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, or Department of Agriculture anymore.

But! It is Daveed Diggs’ birthday, so take a break and celebrate the 2016 Forward 50 Top 5 member’s 35 glorious years on earth.

I’m bad at time zones. Is it @DaveedDiggs’s birthday in Oakland yet? Happy birthday! Happy earth, bae! pic.twitter.com/fBex2IbwA7

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) January 24, 2017

Here he is bringing joy to a crowd of people who know they probably won’t win the ‘Hamilton’ lottery:

Here he is decrying voter suppression on ABC’s “black-ish:”

And here he is blowing our minds with one of the first tracks on “Splendor and Misery,” the most recent album by clipping., his noise-rap collective:

Happy birthday!

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount