Every other month or so, Susan and I make a two-day drive to South Carolina, with our giant dog Elsie in the back seat, to visit our daughter, who has lived there for fifteen years, and our grandson Max, who is a touchingly empathetic six-year-old.
Thank you, Larry, for this thoughtful, beautifully written piece. I was born just outside Birmingham, Alabama 79 years ago and witnessed the horrors of Jim Crow first hand. As a people, we cannot erase the horrors of the past, but the issue I most grapple with is the reluctance of so many Americans to insist on making things better now. I have often found race difficult to even discuss in our community. If all white people would say, "ENOUGH!" our country could move forward. As it is, we are stuck with the actions of our history in a racial environment that is poisoning us and our children.
Reading from England, with our own shameful history of reliance on slave wealth, and with a corrupt and frighteningly right wing government, I, and English Jew, was very moved by your writing. I was wondering if you have ever written in this way about the current treatment of Palestinians - both as second class citizens in Israel, and as people with no civil or human rights at all in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Isnt it possible to say today that Israel has never confronted the cruel underpinnings of its own establishment, "has never contemplated or educated its children about its evil past, never paid reparations (to those driven out, whose land was seized, who have been bombed to smithereens in Gaza etc), never repented, never renounced its racism - and is now doubling down on it?
I don't write about Israel/Palestine for several reasons. One, I've only been there once in my life, and there are many writers better qualified. Two, I consider Israel to be the great corrupter of the Jewish conscience, and I'd rather spend my energies cultivating a progressive diasporism. Three, I consider it a lost cause — the Palestinians are the Native Americans of our time, and they have no allies to speak of, and until history moves dramatically (e.g., a civil war in Israel), they are doomed to reservation life.
Thank you Lawrence. I am so pleased that you are not one of those Jews who can see inequity everywhere except in Israel! I shall remember your expression - Israel as the great corrupter of the Jewish conscience. I have been to Israel-Palestine many times, but I get most of my information from reading, especially +972 Magazine, and for opinions left, centre, right and eccentric, Haaretz. I know from visiting, and also because I am Secretary of a tiny British charity that supports projects across Israel-Palestine, how much Palestinian activists and dissident Israeli Jews want, need and hugely value the solidarity of diaspora Jews, so that is why I write and talk about it. Also, I haven't given up on my fellow pro-Israel Jews. I do think their minds can be changed, though it's very hard work! And I do think that changing their minds is part of making sure the Palestinians are not a lost cause. Best wishes.
This is such a powerful essay. We privileged will always carry a layer of guilt even as we try over and over again to create a better future....it's never ending but has to be done. Thank you for your necessary writings.
Thank you, Larry, for this thoughtful, beautifully written piece. I was born just outside Birmingham, Alabama 79 years ago and witnessed the horrors of Jim Crow first hand. As a people, we cannot erase the horrors of the past, but the issue I most grapple with is the reluctance of so many Americans to insist on making things better now. I have often found race difficult to even discuss in our community. If all white people would say, "ENOUGH!" our country could move forward. As it is, we are stuck with the actions of our history in a racial environment that is poisoning us and our children.
Reading from England, with our own shameful history of reliance on slave wealth, and with a corrupt and frighteningly right wing government, I, and English Jew, was very moved by your writing. I was wondering if you have ever written in this way about the current treatment of Palestinians - both as second class citizens in Israel, and as people with no civil or human rights at all in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Isnt it possible to say today that Israel has never confronted the cruel underpinnings of its own establishment, "has never contemplated or educated its children about its evil past, never paid reparations (to those driven out, whose land was seized, who have been bombed to smithereens in Gaza etc), never repented, never renounced its racism - and is now doubling down on it?
I don't write about Israel/Palestine for several reasons. One, I've only been there once in my life, and there are many writers better qualified. Two, I consider Israel to be the great corrupter of the Jewish conscience, and I'd rather spend my energies cultivating a progressive diasporism. Three, I consider it a lost cause — the Palestinians are the Native Americans of our time, and they have no allies to speak of, and until history moves dramatically (e.g., a civil war in Israel), they are doomed to reservation life.
Thank you Lawrence. I am so pleased that you are not one of those Jews who can see inequity everywhere except in Israel! I shall remember your expression - Israel as the great corrupter of the Jewish conscience. I have been to Israel-Palestine many times, but I get most of my information from reading, especially +972 Magazine, and for opinions left, centre, right and eccentric, Haaretz. I know from visiting, and also because I am Secretary of a tiny British charity that supports projects across Israel-Palestine, how much Palestinian activists and dissident Israeli Jews want, need and hugely value the solidarity of diaspora Jews, so that is why I write and talk about it. Also, I haven't given up on my fellow pro-Israel Jews. I do think their minds can be changed, though it's very hard work! And I do think that changing their minds is part of making sure the Palestinians are not a lost cause. Best wishes.
Compelling and moving Larry, good job! Let’s keep on learning and saying ‘what is.’
This is such a powerful essay. We privileged will always carry a layer of guilt even as we try over and over again to create a better future....it's never ending but has to be done. Thank you for your necessary writings.