Remembrance Day

Truth Will Out

I am determined to remain a perennial idealist, even in the face of the worst of human behavior. I generally show a sunny face to the world and have spent a good part of my life trying to leave the world a better place. I’m not feeling sunny today. I feel sober, solemn, and sad. But, I also feel determined.

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. I cannot escape the parallels. I have been feeling overwhelmed by grief, assaulted by the images of Jews and “others”, artists, gypsies, gays, heading to slaughter, exposed by their neighbors, indiscriminately murdered, shot, gassed, tortured. Millions of lives erased because of who they were. When I visited Yad Vashem as a Congressman, I saw graphic photographs of the Nazi killing pits in the city my Grandfather left in the Ukraine in the early part of the last century. There, but for the twist of history, I saw myself.

I was born soon after the end of WWII. I never knew its privations or personally felt its real impact. I am named after a cousin I never knew. My cousin, Paul, was a pilot who died in WWII. My Ukrainian born Grandpa Sam, who never lost his accent, was an avuncular character who plied me with dried figs and humor in the Brooklyn brownstone where seltzer was delivered weekly in blue glass bottles and the TV set was 8” wide, in black and white. It is the genius of America that as the grandson of immigrants, I could be elected to the United States Congress, to have the honor and opportunity to serve my country and to do my best to serve the higher ground of the common good.

I have been gifted a life of privilege in a Country of high ideals and values but which often has only offered lip service to those ideals and values. White supremacy, slavery, Jim Crow, hypocrisy, Government lies and corruption, anti-semitism, anti-immigrant, fascism, murder and violence are not just historical anecdotes. They are the dark underbelly of the story of America. The corruption of our ideals has been with us since the beginning. We are living the fears of the Founders.

We are living with the blatant expression and consequences of our dark underbelly, under a Federal Government which is the antithesis of every ideal and value we hold dear. The Mad King Trump and his henchmen have had their way with us. These are days when people are being murdered in the street, with seeming impunity, by masked, armed, gangs of thugs who sneer, smirk, and dance when the killing is done. These are days when the Government lies and covers up its crimes. No wonder that a corrupt and criminal President presides over such conduct.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, remember that only steadfast resistance against evil will suffice. There are parallels between then and now and, fortunately, there are significant differences. We are not going quietly into the dark night. We are not buying into the deranged fantasy peddled by the merchants of darkness. We are standing up and speaking out. We are taking to the streets. We are documenting the crimes being committed against us. We are shaming the spineless elected officials who are turning a blind eye to misdeeds and are complicit by their silence. Here, today, people are standing up and speaking out against the evil that has infected us.

We are, essentially, engaged in a civil war. One side uses violence, the other, the power of peaceful protest. Trump wants us to react violently He wants to have colorable reasons to invoke the Insurrection Act, declare martial law, and cancel the midterms. So far, we’re proving smarter than that.

I hold onto hope. It’s a four letter word that was in considerable fashion not so long ago when we enjoyed a leader of integrity and compassion. I imagine a world where the thirst for domination through power and violence is subdued, if not conquered. I know humans are capable of truth and beauty. I know technology can be harnessed for good. I know progress is possible. I know that inequality and division can be countered. I know decency can bloom if we water the garden of possibility. I know these terrible times will pass.

Still, the painful truth is that we brought this misery on ourselves and it is only we, who see with clear eyes, that can put an end to it. I joke sometimes that the little town where I now live isn’t really part of America. It’s a safe enclave I have been telling myself. But, ICE is here now. They’re transferring their “catch of the day” in the Town Hall parking lot. They’re brutalizing Sheriff’s trainees up the road. I realize, there is no safe enclave from hate.

I summon all the hope I can muster to carry on. And on this day of remembrance, I mourn all my unknown fellow travelers who shared this earthly journey. Sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters…I honor all those who lost their lives in the Holocaust. I honor those who fought and now fight fascism, intolerance and hate. I will not give in to hate. I will shine a light as powerfully as I can to speak truth. I will stand up and speak out, whatever the cost. I will resist with every fibre of my being. Truth will out.

Keep the Faith.