Ruminations

Reno was great and I returned to a houseguest (the ever-amusing Josh), a truckload of writing assignments to catch up on and a possible new job. Add to that this week's Passover festivities (including a visit from my sister) and I am one busy chica.

My grandmother was absolutely brilliant in her speaking engagement and it was incredible to witness how the students reacted to her, asking all sorts of questions (some truly great, as I'll explain) and clearly displaying their reverence.

One student in particular, a black girl of about 13, asked a question to the effect of "After everything you went through being persecuted for being Jewish, did you support the black civil rights movement of the 1960s?"

First of all, what an awesome question for a teenager to ask, especially considering that, in her 40-minute speech, Lida made no mention of the 60s except to say that was when she emigrated to the U.S.

Lida responded, in essence, that most Jews, herself included, were behind the civil rights movement and other struggles for equality. This point was driven home for me in a fascinating Vanity Fair piece about the incisive attorney Clarence Jones, adviser and confidante to Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 60s.

Jones helped draft the "I Have a Dream" speech, had his phone tapped by the Feds for helping organize the March on Washington and believes strongly to this day that MLK's assassination was government-backed.

One thing the article noted was MLK's recognition and admiration of Jews, a number of whom (at least in this country) supported his mission. He and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference received generous donations from several prominent Jews, many of whom were still struggling to cope with the shitstorm that rained down on their own lives 20 years earlier. They knew what it was liked to be loathed, bullied, dreaded and persecuted simply because of their ethnicity. Many Jews stood in solidarity with black Americans who were suffering their own type of Holocaust in the 60s.

Anyway, I've always been interested in the parallels between the struggles of Jews and blacks in America and the world, so the girl's question (and the article I just happened to begin reading on the plane) provoked a lot of thought.

Meanwhile, after the conference, students were each given a copy of Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissman Klein's beautiful memoir, All But My Life, a book I've mentioned here before. Some asked my grandmother why she didn't share her own gripping story by writing a book herself. She replied that she'd prefer it written after her death, as a way to ensure her legacy, and then spoke of how she's been collaborating on the story with her granddaughter (she gestured in my direction), "the writer in the family."

So I guess my calling has been established. I am proud to answer it. I only hope I have many more years to ask the important questions before my grandmother (and other survivors) are silenced.

And, because some of you have asked, here's a photo of Grandma (accepting flowers from conference organizers):

Posted by ayelet at April 11, 2006 02:18 PM