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Risking Arrest

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bout four years
ago, I was in my
first week of train-
ing for my summer fellow-
ship in community orga-
nizing. I was still learning
the basics of what I would
be doing that summer and
Rabbi Becca
getting to know my cohort
Walker
when they took us to a
protest at the Los Angeles
airport.
It was one of my first times experiencing
something like this. We demonstrated out-
side the terminal; we chanted about justice
(and wanting it now); and at the end of the
rally, there were a few people who partici-
pated in civil disobedience. I remember
watching as 20 or so people sat down in the
street and stayed there as police told them
to move and eventually arrested them. I
remember wondering to myself, “Is this
something worth getting arrested for?”
From then on that has been a recurring
question for me, “Would I get arrested for
this cause?” This question was always in the
hypothetical until Rabbi Alana Alpert called
me and asked if I’d be interested in partici-
pating in a civil disobedience with the Poor
People’s Campaign. Here’s why I said yes.
I said yes because I believe in the cause;
I’ve heard too many stories and seen too
many policies being passed that seem to
criminalize being poor. Let’s talk about
the cash bail system that keeps innocent
people in jail because they don’t have the
money to bail out. Or let’s talk about the
water shutoffs in Detroit and the fact that
Flint still doesn’t have clean water.
I said yes because as a Jew, I believe our
tradition calls us to fight for economic
justice, our Torah tells us not to withhold
wages from our workers (Deuteronomy

24:14-15), it tells us not to take the clothes
off someone’s back as a pledge if they have
nothing else (Deuteronomy 24:12-13). I
could go on.
I said yes because as a rabbi I want to set
an example for others (and especially Jews)
who are thinking of getting involved. I know
the title rabbi comes with a large amount
of responsibility, and I want to use that title
and the recognition that comes with it to
further draw attention to the cause.
There are many other reasons I said yes
and risked arrest with the Poor People’s
Campaign. So, after undergoing a training
in civil disobedience and arriving early to
undergo some last-minute training for our
action, we were ready to go. We had a rally
at the steps of the Capitol, heard from a few
different speakers, sang some inspiring (and
catchy) songs, and those of us risking arrest
were blessed before we went off to block
the street. This was the same action people
were taking in more than 30 other capitals
around the United States.
No one at the Michigan action got arrest-
ed that day. (There is a whole conversation
to be had here about the role of privilege
and what we were able to get away with, as
most of the people doing the civil disobedi-
ence were white, while people of color get
arrested while sitting in a Starbucks, walk-
ing around their neighborhood and doing
other totally legal activities … but I’ll save
that for another op-ed.)
We did declare the day a success, and
after three hours of chanting and singing
and praying in the streets, we all went home
and got ready to return another Monday. •

Rabbi Becca Walker, known to her students as Rabbi B,
is the senior Jewish educator for MSU Hillel and the
Hillel Campus Alliance of Michigan.

Contributing Writers:
Ruthan Brodsky, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne
Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen, Shari
S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Adam
Finkel, Stacy Gittleman, Stacy Goldberg, Judy
Greenwald, Ronelle Grier, Esther Allweiss
Ingber, Allison Jacobs, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer
Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz,
David Sachs, Karen Schwartz, Robin Schwartz,
Steve Stein, Joyce Wiswell

Arthur M. Horwitz
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Dr. Sid Vineburg
Oak Park

Where Is Outrage?

In the treatment of children at
the border of our country, has our
government reached a new low in
mendacity and cruelty?
As Jews, we should ask, “Where
is the outrage?” I am the son of an
illegal immigrant who entered the

country surreptitiously. My father’s
attempts to bring his younger
siblings to this country before the
war were futile, and the family was
murdered by the Nazis.
I now see a repeat of the same
type of xenophobia and hatred that
was directed to Jews in the 1930s.
The ideological descendants of
our oppressors have found a new
object for their hatred. Let’s not
forget who we are, where we came
from, and the ethical and humani-
tarian ideals of our people.

Mel Annis
Beverly Hills

Chilling Words

“We simply follow orders from
above,” explained employees of a
detention center where children
from families seeking asylum at
the U.S. southern border are held
after being separated from their
parents.
These words, along with this
entire act of “separation,” should
send more than one chill up the
spine of every Jew alive today.
Not so long ago, we lost 6 mil-
lion by the hands of those who
were “following orders.” The Allied
democracies, led by the U.S., van-
quished those who “separated”
people deemed unworthy of life.
Did our parents and grandparents
escape Europe’s horrors so that
their progeny could watch an
American president cavort with
dictators and thugs?
Today, the world beholds

continued on page 8

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their children. Even parents who
make it to the asylum court, as
is their right, and are released
pending a hearing, can’t find their
children.
It is no wonder; children are
either in tent camps or being fos-
tered all over the country. Here
in Michigan, the Department of
Health and Human Services is
seeking foster parents for infants
as young as 3 months old. Because
they are nonverbal and unable to
identify their families, it is uncer-
tain if their parents will ever see
them again.
No matter what one’s view is
on immigration issues, there can
be no valid excuse for this bar-
baric behavior. Religious groups,
civil rights organizations and
politicians of every party have
denounced this policy. Child psy-
chologists and other medical pro-
fessionals speculate on the damage
this policy will do to thousands of
immigrant children.
I, however, do not need to specu-
late. You see, I knew a man named
Jack.

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June 28 • 2018

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