6 | SEPTEMBER 24 • 2020
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walked me over. Then he said to
me, in French of course, “You are
back in America. France gave this
land to your country in gratitude
for saving ours. You are home.
”
We stood in that sacred land,
every which way seeing perfect
lines of stark white grave markers.
Again, this was winter, and it was
bare and cold, as it really should be
for something so monumental.
This day was a high point of my
life, a dividing line. Until then, I
thought it was just dumb old war
stories that everybody’
s dad had.
But at that moment, I understood.
So, you can imagine the depth
of my horror and absolute disgust
(yours, too, I am sure!) to hear
that President Trump disrespected,
actually denigrated, those lost war
heroes who di
ed or were injured in
battle, according to a recent report
in The Atlantic. My dad was hon-
orably discharged for a physical
injury during battle. His eardrums
were blown out from the guns. Per
Trump, he is a “loser.
” Trump dis-
misses my dad’
s sacrifice.
I’
m speechless. I had to take
another look at this Normandy
cemetery, located right at the
beaches where these brave men
lost their lives, to remind myself
of the utter depravity of this man’
s
soul.
May they rest in peace. I hope
my beloved dad is, too.
Donna Klein lives in Birmingham. She is a
member of Temple Emanu-El.
Y
ou watched my
brother die. That
could have been me.”
In June, Philonise Floyd
shared these words with the
United Nations
Human Rights
Council.
Floyd’
s
testimony
before the
council came
as 26 million
Americans
took to the streets to
demand racial, criminal,
carceral, health and
economic justice for Black
Americans in the wake of
the murder of George Floyd
by a Minneapolis police
officer.
Three months later, with
the protests continuing,
winning battles at the
local level and igniting
broader conversations about
inequality in America, one
thing has become clear: this
High Holiday season, the
Black community has blown
the shofar of racial justice
to reawaken, re-engage,
and reinvigorate the Jewish
community’
s commitment
to justice for all.
The connection between
the Jewish and Black
communities has been
strong for decades. In a
1966 article on the evils
of antisemitism, the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr.
wrote, “In the struggle for
human rights, as well as in
the struggle for the upward
march of our civilization,
we have deep need for the
partnership, fellowship
and courage of our Jewish
Brother.”
Five years later, my father,
Sander Levin, traveled to
Mississippi to register voters
with civil rights legend and
recently passed member of
Congress John Lewis, one
of countless examples of
Jewish involvement in the
voting rights struggle.
But the High Holidays
do not merely call for the
celebration of community
and history. The Jewish
New Year is a time to
imagine the world as it
should be: compassionate,
just and enriching.
ARE WE DOING ENOUGH?
This year, facing an
economic, racial justice and
public health crisis, it is a
time for us to ask: Are we
doing enough to stand with
the Black community?
Are we educating
ourselves and organizing
around school funding
in Michigan — a major
contributing factor to
inequality and modern-
day segregation? Have
we reckoned with the
militarization of police
departments? Are we
working intentionally
toward comprehensive
police reform at the
national level by supporting
legislation like the George
Floyd Justice in Policing
Act?
Are we listening to
Philonise Floyd, seeing his
brother as a human being
who did not deserve this
violence and loss?
I believe the Jewish
community can face these
challenges. If we are true
to our faith, I believe we
must. I’
m reminded of
the Talmudic aphorism, o
chavruta o mituta — either
companionship or death.
With hundreds of
thousands of Americans
dying from the coronavirus
— disproportionately
people of color — and
hundreds dying at the hands
of the police, the choice
between coming together
to organize a new, equal
society and continuing with
the status quo could not be
more clear.
The effort to dismantle
our structurally racist
economic, educational
and carceral systems
will not be easy. Black
household wealth —
already mere cents on the
dollar when compared to
white household wealth —
decreased by almost half
during the Great Recession
and has stagnated since.
In fact, the Black-white
wealth gap today is as wide
as it was in 1968.
Sixty-six years after the
passage of Brown vs. Board
of Education, the Supreme
Court case that made illegal
school segregation, 40%
guest column
Blowing the Shofar
of Racial Justice
continued from page 5
Rep. Andy
Levin
continued on page 10
Donna Klein’
s
parents
EN