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