28 April 4 • 2019
jn
community news
JACII Detroit will present an
evening with State Rep. Robert
Wittenberg to discuss gun violence
and the laws in Michigan 7:30 p.m.
on April 10 at the home of Michal
and Jordan Nodel in Bloomfield
Hills.
Gun violence is something our
society faces every day. Whether it
occurs at the movies, a restaurant,
place of worship or a threat at
home, JACII argues that we cannot
feel safe until common sense laws
are in place to help keep guns
out of the hands of people who
shouldn’
t have them.
Legislators in the Michigan State
House and Senate are making
real efforts to introduce bills that
promote common sense gun laws.
Wittenberg, co-founder
and chair of the Gun Violence
Prevention Caucus in the Michigan
House, and other state legislators
will discuss current efforts
around proposed “Red Flag” laws
(keeping guns out of the hands
of people who pose an extreme
risk), implementing universal
background checks and ending
the prohibition on gun violence
research.
No charge, but donations to
JACII are appreciated. For location
address and to register, email
jaciidetroit@gmail.com.
JACII is the Gen-Y and
Millennial arm of JACPAC, the
Chicago-based bipartisan political
action committee.
JACII Detroit Presents: Gun Violence,
Your Rights and the Law
The Holocaust Memorial Center
is hosting a membership event on
Sunday, April 7, featuring Derek
Black. During the program, he will be
interviewed about the white nation-
alist movement and what led him to
renounce it.
The program, “Leaving Hate
Behind,
” featuring an interview of
Black by Michigan Radio’
s “Stateside”
host Cynthia Canty, will take place at
12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., with each
followed by a kosher dessert reception.
Black was long considered heir
apparent to the white nationalist
movement. His world views were
shaped since birth by his godfather
David Duke and his father, Don Black,
a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard
who founded the white
nationalism’
s first web-
site and online commu-
nity, Stormfront.
While attending
New College of Florida,
Black came to ques-
tion the fundamental
beliefs at the core of his thoughts and
actions. In a July 2013 letter published
by the Southern Poverty Law Center,
Black describes his “gradual awaken-
ing process.
” He abandoned the white
supremacy movement and no longer
identifies with it.
Holocaust Memorial Center annual
membership begins at $50 as a general
member. Space is limited and RSVPs
are required at (248) 536-9605.
“Leaving Hate Behind”
Derek Black
A Return to Auschwitz
Sophie Tajch Klisman, 89, a Holocaust
survivor from Detroit, will join
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces
(FIDF) supporters from Michigan and
the U.S. on a mission to Poland and
Israel, May 2-10.
Klisman, born in Lodz, Poland,
in 1929, survived, along with her
sister Felicia, the Auschwitz, Bergen-
Belsen and Salzwedel concentration
camps. Both sisters were liberated
from Salzwedel in April 1945 and
later immigrated to the U.S. in 1949,
settling in the Detroit area. The rest of
their family perished.
“If I look at the rest of the family,
they were already adults and grown-
ups and here was this child; that was
just a miracle that I survived; it was
meant for me to survive,” Klisman
said.
The nine-day “From Holocaust
to Independence” mission will span
Jewish history, from its darkest
moments to its most triumphant.
Israeli soldiers and Holocaust sur-
vivors will accompany the FIDF
supporters on a trip across Poland,
starting in Krakow, once home to
more than 60,000 Jews, and tracing
the community’
s steps from the city’
s
ghetto to the Buczyna forest, where
the Nazis executed more than 800
children, and then to the Auschwitz-
Birkenau concentration and extermi-
nation camps.
The delegation will then fly to
Israel, where they will visit IDF
bases and meet soldiers serving on
Israel’
s front lines, commemorate
Yom HaZikaron — Israel’
s Memorial
Day for fallen soldiers and victims of
terror — and celebrate Israel’
s 71st
Independence Day. ■
COURTESY OF SOPHIE TAJCH KLISMA
Sophie Tajch
Klisman
Higher Hopes! Expands Food Program
The food program of Higher Hopes! will now run year-round thanks to
support and contributions from individuals, organizations, corporations and
foundations. The organization will be able to provide 1,000 meal kits each
month for 11 months of the year and 1,000 food kits that each feed 12-15
people at Thanksgiving.
This year, Higher Hopes! will provide more than 400,000 pounds of food
through the Early Head Start Child Care Partnership Program in Detroit.
“It is incredible to grasp the amount of food we are providing to very poor
families this year,” says Bill Birndorf, founder of Higher Hopes! “In all, we
will distribute 12,000 meal kits to families in the city. Receiving these kits
frees up much needed money for parents to pay other bills, buy clothes and
other needed items.”
For more information about Higher Hopes! visit higherhopesdetroit.org.
The NCJW Michigan Public Affairs Education Committee will hold a
program on gun violence prevention, 7 p.m. Monday, April 15, at the
Farmington Community Library on W. 12 Mile Road in Farmington Hills.
Featured speakers will be Jeff Kasky, Parkland parent and president of
Families vs Assault Rifles, PAC Inc., and Linda Brundage, executive direc-
tor of Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.
NCJW/MI will also be presenting awards to winners of its Youth Media
Contest “What Does Gun Violence Prevention Mean to Me?”
Cost is $10 for NCJW members; $15 for non-members and $5 for stu-
dents. For information or to register, call (248) 355-3300, ext. 0, or pay
online at ncjwmi.org.
Gun Violence Prevention