History can Repeat Itself

David Posnett — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 12:46:23 +0000

Letter published in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette October 30, 2018, by Steve Ludsin (East Hampton, NY):

History can repeat itself

“Dispatch From Squirrel Hill: Dread in a Peaceful Place” by David M. Shribman (Oct. 27) was moving and eloquent. The sadness of the murders of 11 innocent victims killed just for being Jewish evokes the horrors of the Holocaust.

I visited Pittsburgh many years ago, and I sensed a feeling of community. I spent most of my life in the New York metropolitan area, so being Jewish doesn’t make you feel like an outsider or threatened. Those days are over. I imagined myself back in Nazi Germany in the ‘30s while Hitler’s words bellowed in the air.

The tragedy is that history can repeat itself. We cannot be deaf, dumb and blind to the rise of hateful words and, even worse, hateful deeds. I am reminded of Elie Wiesel’s closing words at the first meeting of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust in February 1979. He said, “I don’t know what we accomplished today, but we all said oy. Let’s turn oy into deeds to protect the Jewish community. We have no choice.”

STEVEN A. LUDSIN
East Hampton, N.Y.

The writer was a member of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust and the first U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, which built the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Yesterday, the leaders of Bend the Arc’s Pittsburgh Moral Minyan and their allies literally interrupted Trump’s visit.

“Trump’s motorcade forced to turn around after thousands of protesters
flood Pittsburgh streets” — RawStory

“Donald Trump, Meet America’s Jews.
They Are Protesting Your Hate.” — Forward

Pittsburgh March (Oct. 31st 2018)

Fight White Nationalism here TODAY:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1932358347068816/

Remove Lee Zeldin from the US Holocaust Memorial Council

David Posnett — Sat, 19 Aug 2017 07:38:32 +0000

Charlottesville protests

August 17, 2017

We are writing to publicly demand the removal of Congressman Lee Zeldin from the US Holocaust Memorial Council (USHMC) in Washington, D.C.. As a member of the USHMC, as a steward of our collective memory of atrocity, Lee Zeldin has a responsibility to work towards ensuring that identity-based hatred has no place in our society.

Lee Zeldin is failing in this primary responsibility. His official, tepid statement¹ about the hate rally this weekend in Charlottesville is unacceptable in its failure to call out Nazi and white nationalist movements as the cause of the violence. Instead, he effectively put Nazis and those opposing Nazis on equal footing, calling them both “ extremes that try to tear us all apart.” Most recently, Rep Zeldin has come out to support Trump’s defense of the white supremacist mob². While elected officials from both parties reacted immediately to condemn the president’s false equivalency as logically and morally reprehensible, as dangerous for our country, and a threat to democracy, Rep Zeldin placed himself on the wrong side of history. In Zeldin’s willingness to spread blame across white supremacist groups and those who oppose them, he gives outright license to the white supremacist cause and actions.

The Nazis are hearing these messages loud and clear. David Duke praised the president’s reaction. Neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer said: “Trump comments were good… He said he loves us all. Also refused to answer a question about white nationalists supporting him. No condemnation at all. When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him.”

Americans all over the country are relying on our leaders to name and condemn identity-based hate immediately and in no uncertain terms. We are relying as well on institutions like the US Holocaust Memorial to uphold its mission to remind us of what happens to a democratic country when hate is used as the fastest route to power. It is unacceptable to condone—implicitly, through silence, omission, inaction, delayed action, or false equivalencies—acts of hate, while sitting on a board committed to protecting against them. Representative Zeldin should be removed from the US Holocaust Memorial Council until he acts with the integrity that the office demands by

1) demanding that Trump disavow Neo-Nazis, skinheads, the KKK, white nationalism, and fire White House staff who are allies to the alt-right,

2) demanding funding to fight white nationalism,

3) defunding Trump’s anti-immigrant budget proposals, and

4) protecting our immigrant friends and neighbors from deportation.

¹ https://zeldin.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-zeldin-statement-condemning-violence-charlottesville-va

² https://www.facebook.com/RepLeeZeldin/posts/816798751822244

Please sign the following petition: https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/remove-congressman-lee?source=c.em&r_by=18002441

Mara Gerstein, Show Up Long Island

Amy Turner, Zeldin Watch (PEER NYPAN)

Eileen M. Duffy, Let’s Visit Lee Zeldin

David Posnett MD, Resist and Replace

Chris Cangeleri, Organize, Plan, Act