Walter R. Isaac, PhD is a rabbi and scholar who researches the African influences on Atlantic world Jewish history and culture. For three decades he has worked as an advocate for marginalized communities, including Hebrew/Israelites, LGBTQ persons and victims of urban violence.

Dr. Isaac’s writings can be found in scholarly publications such as Contending Modernities, Violence in American Society, the Journal of the Middle East and Africa, Black Existentialism, and a seminal article on Afro-Jewish Studies in the Blackwell Companion to African-American Studies. He is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Remy Ilona, PhD is a Researcher in Residence at the Olaudah Equiano Institute. He leads its initiative to combat hate and discrimination. The descendant of several obi with Levitic roots, he also serves as Secretary-General of Omenana Defenders, a movement to revive traditional Igbo culture.

Dr. Ilona holds a PhD from the University of California, Riverside, and an MA from the Florida International University, Miami. He is a specialist in the study of religion, modern antisemitism, the Holocaust, and African history and culture. For many years he worked as an attorney and law lecturer in Nigeria.

Dr. Ilona is a prolific essayist and writer, having authored Igbophobia and Antisemitism: Interlocking Hatreds, his signature work, The Igbos and Israel: An Inter-cultural Study of the Largest Jewish Diaspora, and 20 other books. Presently, he is working to publish his doctoral dissertation, titled The Holocaust of Biafra: Antisemitism and Genocide In Sub-Saharan Africa.

Ms. Sabrina Samedi, B.A. Religious Studies, is the founder and executive director of Avanse Ayiti, Inc., an NGO whose mission is to preserve Haitian culture and improve its economy through leadership and business development. As the owner of Get It Write!, LLC she has worked for almost a decade as a small-business and non-profit consultant.

A Haitian-American Jew of Igbo and Sephardic descent, Ms. Samedi is an active member of Congregation Beit Da’at Chokmah Binah, Omenana Defenders and a religious educator who serves various Israelite congregations. She is currently pursuing an M.A. in the Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies program at the City University of New York Graduate Center.

Obiora Uzochukwu Chira, MD is the Provost of the Olaudah Equiano Academic Research Institute (the Nigeria-based parent organization of OEI, Inc.). As a widely respected public official and scholar, he has published several articles in the fields of medicine, sociology and communal health. Dr. Chira is the founder of the Chira Heritage Foundation, an NGO promoting healthcare equity for remote and underserved communities. For the past five years, he has served as the official mohel for the Igbo Jewish community in Abuja.

Dr. Chira is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Orient Tabloid, a monthly Nigeria-based newspaper. He is currently sponsoring a research project to collect witness interviews and document survivor testimonies of the Igbo (Ibiri) Genocide in Biafra and Nigeria.

Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Philosophy & Global Affairs University of Connecticut

Founder of M.A.S.K. Mothers & Men Against Senseless Killing

Maimonides Chair Professor of Jewish Studies University of California-Riverside

Spiritual Leader Kehillat Sankofa