Word Up!

"I associate myself with a Jewish tradition that remembers that 'we were all slaves in Egypt' and that we must recall this fact as part of our daily existence. We base our relationships on recognizing the godliness in each human being. Actions for social justice begin with this. My parents and grandparents fought for justice and dignity for working people in the early 1930s movement to organize unions in New York City. We marched with Dr. King and died in Mississippi and throughout the South. I am proud of these things.

"I feel ashamed and frustrated to be associated, as a Jew, with the state-sponsored terrorism that Israel is perpetrating in the occupied territories. As Jews, we know better. Recently, the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising occurred. I couldn't help but think that the current circumstances turn this heroic chapter of Jewish history on its head. In Jenin, it is now the agents of Israel that are destroying a ghetto that they created and brutalizing its residents. These actions are not isolated. We also hear about Hebron, Ramallah, and other cities and towns. They draw a pattern and reveal a strategy that looks like the systematic destruction of the Palestinian people. These actions cruelly mock our ancestors. I cannot but believe that they are weeping and that they will make their displeasure felt."

--Arthur Serotoff, WAMM, in an open letter to President Bush and the Minnesota Congressional Delegation