No More Silence

I am disgusted.

That is the only adjective I have after hearing what the President said about other human beings based on the color of their skin.  You have heard it all for the past 24 hours.  Over and over again.  Haitians live in a ‘shithole.’  Africa is a ‘shithole.’  My God, even the newspeople on every network are not trying to hide the word.  The excuses that he was frustrated or that he was talking about political status of countries is a lie.  If my children or your children gave you that excuse you would be not just incredulous, but angry.

Now I am angry.

I have respected people to disagree with me about politics.  I still do.  Reasonable people disagree.  But what President Trump said is not about politics.  It is about something utterly ugly – the denunciation of people who are of color.  It is obvious it is as simple as that.  And, from what we are hearing this morning, he is proud of what he said!

I am disgusted.  As Jews we ought to know what happens when we are considered ‘the other.’  It matters not a bit if you are a Democrat or a Republican, you, as a Jew, are the ‘other.’  We were the other at every era is history.  We ought to know what it means to be on the receiving end.  Now every Haitian and every African is on the receiving end.  Utterly despicable.  Utterly shameful.   Utterly unJewish.  We are now inching even closer to the moment when he says the same thing about Jews.

I am not waiting for that.  I am going to raise my voice without fear.  I will not let fear rule what I say.  This is Martin Luther King weekend and I will be participating in all sorts of events.  I will not be participating as a Democrat or a Republican.  I will be participating as a human being and a Jew.

I will speak as a Jew who is not afraid to say that even the President is in the image of God even though he is not going to give that benefit to people of color.

I will speak as a Jew who is not afraid to speak truth to power and demand, indeed demand, a vocal apology for his disgusting remarks.

I will speak as a Jew when I seek to heal divisions between people for the President does not speak for me nor does he speak to me.

I will speak because not speaking makes me complicit and acquiescing in his disgusting rant.

I will be silent no more.