Consequences of Pain

Being a human being can be extremely complicated. People swimming in a flood of pain often grab at anything they see in the water in an effort to save themselves. Sometimes, tragically, what they grab onto may actually drag them down – and may cause them to drag others down, as well. A new documentary film, Pray Away, demonstrates that one should never assume that those in pain who grasp at false cures for their pain are lost forever. 

Pray Away focusses on the story of Randy Thomas, former vice president of the now-defunct Exodus International, who was in pain because the environment in which he grew up insisted that one could not be gay and be “right with God.” So Mr. Thomas was convinced that conversion therapies could help him and others “pray away the gay.” Eventually, after years of urging people to change their sexual orientation and debating those who opposed the “Ex-Gay” Movement, the suicide of a close friend finally led him to conclude that the Movement he had dedicated himself to was based on something that simply was not true. He describes his journey here. 

In 2008, as Advocacy Chair for the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG, I debated Randy Thomas on a local television program, NewsTalk, hosted by Bruce DePuyt. See transcript and commentary here. I think the transcript conveys the frustration Mr. Thomas felt in being challenged with the conclusions of the American Medical Association and other mainstream American medical and mental health professional associations – all of which rejected his premise. (I wish there was an extant audio or video of it.) He did not come over as a bad person. I felt bad for him. I am glad that Randy Thomas has seen the light. What his journey illustrates is that we should never simply assume that because someone has beliefs that seem to us hurtful and factually wrong, that they are irretrievable. 

I hope that others in pain, whatever that pain may be, who currently seek false remedies for their suffering will come around. Those who seek to bring facts – not fantasy – to the public discourse must approach those discussions with compassion and as much wisdom as they can muster.

Past Self-censorship on the Tulsa Massacre?

There is much discussion today about the Tulsa Massacre of 1921, including talk about why so few Americans were even aware of it until recently, and even fewer were aware of its scope and significance.

In response to the upheavals of the late 1960s, my alma mater, the George Washington University, offered in 1969 History 174, The Negro in American History; the professor used eminent African American scholar John Hope Franklin's From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans (3d edition) as the textbook. I took the course. I still have the 652-page book. Today, I went to the index to see what was written about the Tulsa Massacre. Much to my surprise, the entire discussion is in one part of one paragraph (pp. 483-84). The details and huge significance of those horrible days were treated cursorily by Professor Franklin as nothing more than a denouement to a series of incidents of mob violence in the United States in 1919. Here is the passage:

[I]n June 1921, the Negroes and whites of Tulsa, Oklahoma, engaged in fighting which some residents prefer to call a ‘race war,’ in which 9 whites and 21 Negroes were known to have been killed and several hundred injured. When news reached Negroes of the accusation of an assault of a young woman by a Negro, Negroes took arms to the jail to protect the accused person, who, it was rumored, would be lynched. Altercations between whites and Negroes at the jail spread to other parts of the city, and general rioting, looting, and houseburning began. Four companies of the National Guard were called out,, but by the time order was restored more than one millions dollars worth of property had been destroyed or damaged. This progressive young city of the Southwest was thus added to the list of communications in which there was no interracial peace.

This description is even more surprising in light of the fact that Professor Franklin’s father was attorney Buck Franklin, who, according to Wikipedia, is “best known for defending African-American survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race riot, in which whites had attacked many blacks and buildings, and burned and destroyed the Greenwood District. This was known at the time as the 'Black Wall Street', and was the wealthiest Black community in the United States, a center of black commerce and culture.” 

Is part (albeit a small part) of our national ignorance the fear of African American scholars of being too forthcoming regarding the depth of American racism, for fear of being written off as too sensitive? I do not know. But it is something worth considering.

Evan Glass to speak at Temple Emanuel Kulanu Shabbat Service, June 11 (Zoom Service)

In recognition of Pride Month, Temple Emanuel’s annual Kulanu Service will be held on Friday evening, June 11, at 6:30 p.m.

Our featured speaker this year will be Montgomery County Council At-Large Member Evan Glass, whose achievements include the authorship and passage of the Montgomery County LGBTQ Bill of Rights, which fills in gaps in our existing legal protections, including protections of seniors’ access to health care, HIV status, and gender expression. His topic will be My Journey, Our Journeys, and Using the Poltical Process to Achieve Progress. Evan, a former CNN producer and community activist, lives with his husband in Silver Spring.

We also will be noting the launch of the Temple Board of Trustees’ new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative. Please join us after the Zoom service for a discussion with Evan, followed by the Kulanu Committee’s first LGBTQ and Allies Happy Hour. Contact the Temple Office at 301-942-2000 or at office@templeemanuelmd.org for Zoom login information. 

The mission of the Kulanu Committee is to support Temple Emanuel’s increasingly diverse community as we seek to welcome, celebrate, and honor each other’s identities. Kulanu was formed initially to advocate for the inclusion of LGBTQ Jews, same-sex couples, and families with same-sex parents. Over time, its mission has expanded to encompass the range of diversity in our community, including family structure, race and ethnicity, religious background, familiarity with Judaism, age, economic circumstances, political views, and physical and mental health.

The future of Roe v. Wade before a Supreme Court majority not reflective of the popular will.

On June 29, 1992, the Supreme Court decided Planned Parenthood v. Casey, upholding its ruling 20 years earlier in Roe v. Wade. Both decisions rested on the proposition that there is a constitutional right to privacy. Yesterday,the Court agreed to hear a case that coukd lead to a reversal of those precedents. In the nearly 30 years since Casey was decided polling has shown consistently that a majority of Americans believe that those two cases were correctly decided. In the nearly 30 years since, the issue of reproductive rights has increasingly split along political party lines, Democrats largely in favor, Republicans largely against. In the nearly 30 years since, we have had eight Presidential elections. The Democrat has won the popular vote in seven of those eight elections. In the nearly 30 years since, eight of the nine justices of the Supreme Court have replaced retired or deceased justices: only Justice Thomas was on the Court when Casey was decided, and he dissented. Three of the eight were appointed by Democrats, five by Republicans. In each instance, the question of Roe and Casey loomed over the confirmation proceedings. Over a century ago, the satirist Finley Peter Dunne's fictional bartender Mr. Dooley observed that the Supreme Court ultimately “followed the illiction [sic] returns.” While this was intended as a cynical comment, it also reflected the concept that, over time, the Supreme Court was not as anti-democratic as it could, in the abstract, be. The relationship of the Court to the elected branches of government was, in theory, tempered by the fact that its members were nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. For many decades, most Americans have been basically satisfied with Roe and Casey, and this approval has been reflected in the popular vote for President. But now we are seeing that the Constitutional defect of the malapportioned Electoral College and Senate is catching up with us.

The Senate's Constitutional Responsibility to Enforce the Fifteenth Amendment

Today, the Washington Post published my letter discussing the Constitution's 15th Amendment in light of the recent enactment of the Georgia voter suppression law, and the avalanche of similar laws around the country:

The 15th Amendment states that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." And it further states that "Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

In light of the voter-suppression laws signed by the governor of Georgia and similar laws on their way to enactment in many other states, it is clearly time for Congress to do its job, to "enforce [the 15th Amendment] by appropriate legislation."

If the Senate is faced with the choice between keeping the filibuster and enforcing the 15th Amendment, then the imperatives of the Constitution must take precedence over a Senate rule that was used in the 1950s and 1960s to thwart the Constitution. Senate Republicans need to look to their consciences. All Senate Democrats need to have the courage to look to what matter the most.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/letters-to-the-editor/on-the-georgia-voting-law/2021/03/30/85b39492-90a9-11eb-aadc-af78701a30ca_story.htm

Of course, the Post has word number limitations on letters it considers for publication; it published what I submitted.  If I had had the space, I would have provided this further context:

Congress sought to enforce the 15th Amendment during the First Reconstruction in the decade following the Civil War. Then Congress abandoned the field to the forces of White Supremacy for more than 80 years. In a very real sense, the victory for freedom won in the Civil War was then lost.

Finally, in 1964 and 1965 with the enactment of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, Congress started to do its job, beginning the Second Reconstruction -- seeking to finally secure the rights patriots fought and died for a century earlier.

Then, in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013, the Supreme Court cut the guts out of the Voting Rights Act. Now the Republican Party seeks to end the Second Reconstruction and revive the soul of the Confederacy. The enactment of the Georgia voter suppression legislation is just one example.

It is time for Congress to do its job under the 15th Amendment. If it cannot be done so long as the filibuster survives, and the choice is between the obstruction of the filibuster and the promise of the Gettysburg Address -- "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people" -- then can the choice made by patriotic, decent Americans be in doubt? Senate Republicans need to look to their consciences. And Senate Democrats need to look to what matters the most.

"If you will it, the Dream gets complicated."

From this week's Washington Jewish Week.  I provided an on-line comment to the Golubcow piece, and the WJW then published it as a Letter to the Editor.  The title of the letter is the WJW's, but it fits.

If you will it, the dream gets complicated

Saul Golubcow’s reflections (“Reading Herzl’s ‘The Jewish State,’ 125 years later,” Opinions, Feb. 11) would be unambiguously uplifting were it not for the reality that the Jewish state was founded on territory that, for well over 1,000 years, was the homeland of people who were not Jewish.

Given the nature of anti-Semitism in the West, Herzl’s dream was understandable. But let us not pretend that its fruition was not without terrible cost to the non-Jewish inhabitants of the land and to our own self-image as a just people.

The tragic history of nationalism has been the displacement and oppression by one group of another. How we deal with this horrible dilemma when we become the displacers will determine the spiritual and, perhaps, the physical fate of our people.

DAVID S. FISHBACK
Olney

https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/74602/letters-feb-17-2021/editorial-opinion/

Striving to Create Dr. King's Beloved Community -- Temple Emanuel of Maryland's annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Shabbat Service

 Last Friday evening, Temple Emanuel of Kensington MD held its annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Shabbat Service, following a tradition we began in 1987.  See https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2020/12/annual-mlk-shabbat-service-temple.html  We were fortunate to have as this year’s speaker Yolanda Savage-Narva, Director of Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion programs for the Union of Reform Judaism.  The theme for this year’s service was Striving to Create Dr. King’s Beloved Community: Reform Judaism’s Quest for Racial Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.

 

The recording may be viewed at

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=160016085624212&ref=watch_permalink  Yolanda’s presentation begins at Minute 52.  Rabbi Rosenwasser and Cantor Lindsay conducted a lovely, meaningful service; the readers movingly conveyed the significance of the evening.  We were particularly pleased to welcome Rabbi Emeritus Warren Stone back to our virtual bima for the first time since his retirement last summer.

 

Here is the program for the Service:

 

 

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., SHABBAT SERVICE

TEMPLE EMANUEL,  JANUARY 15, 2021

 

Striving to Create Dr. King's Beloved Community: Reform Judaism's Quest for Racial Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

 

Officiants: Rabbi Adam Rosenwasser and Cantor Lindsay Kanter

 

Candle Blessings:  Joanna Silver

Readers:  Joanna Silver, Rabbi Emeritus Warren Stone, Sue Berman, Sunil Dasgupta, Nathan Rhein, Melissa Spence

 

Introduction of Guest Speaker:  David Fishback

 

Guest Speaker: Yolanda Savage-Narva, Director of Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Union of Reform Judaism

                                

Board Representative:  Joanna Silver

 

Thank you to the Temple Anti-Racist Action Group (Wendy Rhein and Melissa Spence, Co-Chairs) and the Community Social Action Council (Ian DeWaal, Chair)  

 

READINGS

 

PART I

 

[Joanna Silver] This evening, it is worthwhile to recall these words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who grew up and preached in the church that Senator Raphael Warnock now leads. 

 

Dr. King's often quoted from Amos (5:24), "We are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied, until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

 

His vision was rooted in a faith that right would prevail: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

 

But he also knew that only through the work of our own hands would the world become a better place:  

 

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. . . .  No social advance rolls in on the wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of dedicated individuals, who are willing to be co-workers with God."

 

This evening, we give thanks to all those in Georgia and around the country who took these words to heart.

 

PART II

 

[Rabbi Emeritus Warren Stone] Dr. King recognized that our goal could not only be the end of legal discrimination -- that we must go well beyond that: 

 

"We are simply seeking to bring into full realization the American dream -- a dream yet unfulfilled. 

 

“A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men no longer argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; the dream of a land where every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality -- this is the dream.”

 

 “When it is realized, the jangling discords of our nation will be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood, and men everywhere will know that America is truly the land of the free and the home of the brave."

 

But to achieve this goal requires more than words.  It requires us to see, really see, each other.

 

[Sue Berman] Listen to Maya Angelou’s poem, Equality:

 

You declare you see me dimly

through a glass which will not shine,

though I stand before you boldly,

trim in rank and making time.

 

You do own to hear me faintly

as a whisper out of range,

while my drums beat out the message

and the rhythms never change.

 

Equality, and I will be free.

Equality, and I will be free

We have lived a painful history,

we know the shameful past,

but I keep on marching forward,

and you keep on coming last.

 

Equality, and I will be free.

Equality, and I will be free.

Take the blinders from your vision,

take the padding from your ears,

and confess you've heard me crying,

and admit you've seen my tears.

 

Hear the tempo so compelling,

hear the blood throb through my veins.

Yes, my drums are beating nightly,

and the rhythms never change.

 

Equality, and I will be free.

Equality, and I will be free.

 

PART III

 

[Sunil Dasgupta] Dr. King, in his famous passage about us all living in a World House, presented this homily:

 

"Some years ago a famous novelist died.  Among his papers was found a list of suggested plots for future stories, the most prominently underscored being this one:  'A widely separated family inherits a house in which they have to live together.'"

    

 "This is the great new problem of mankind.  We have inherited a large house, a great 'world house' in which we have to live together -- black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Moslem and Hindu -- a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace."

 

Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson, in her book Caste, provides a take on this metaphor, which takes us deeper into the problems posed by us all living in this house.

 

“We in the developed world are like homeowners who inherited a house on a piece of land that is beautiful on the outside, but whose soil is unstable loam and roack, hearing and contracting over generations, cracks patched but the deeper ruptures waived away for decades, centuries even.

 

“Many people may rightly say, ‘I had nothing to do with how this all started.  I have nothing to do with the sins of the past.  My ancestors never attacked indigenous people, never owned slaves.’

 

 “And, yes.  Not one of us was here when this house was built. Our immediate ancestors may have had nothing to do with it, but here we are, the current occupants of a property with stress cracks and bowed walls and fissures built into the foundation. We are the heirs to whatever is right or wrong with it.  We did not erect the uneven pillars or joists, BUT THEY ARE OURS TO DEAL WITH NOW.

 

“And any further deterioration is, in fact, on our hands.”

 

[Nathan Rhein] So how do we figure out how to deal with this broken house.  How do we, in fact “Repair the World” we have inherited.  Perhaps we start with these prophetic words from Dr. King:

 

“Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family will live in a decent, sanitary home.

 

“Let us be dissatisfied until the dark yesterdays of segregated schools will be transformed into bright tomorrows of quality integrated education.

 

“Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity.

 

“Let us be dissatisfied until men and women, however black they may be, will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not on the basis of the color of their skin. Let us be dissatisfied.”

 

[Melissa Spence] Dr. King’s words, actions, and vision, like the Exodus story, must be told to every generation, and must be seen not just as history, but as a lesson for the present and the future.  Dr. King’s teachings were a way of stating the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam – humankind’s effort to repair the world.

 

They are lessons for us all. 

 

Dr. King taught us, “if you can’t fly, then run.  If you can’t run, then walk.  If you can’t walk, then crawl.  But by all means, keep moving.”

  

Tonight, we rededicate ourselves to “keep moving.”

 

https://templeemanuelmd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/69/2021/01/210112-MLK-service-booklet-with-readings-1.pdf

 

****************************************************************

 

INTRODUCTION OF YOLANDA SAVAGE-NARVA

 

Yolanda Savage-Narva leads the URJ's efforts to address racial justice and equity in all its forms, as well as other kinds of oppression -- looking not only to do what we can in the wider world, but also to what we need to do in our own congregations, as we seek to fulfill Dr. King's vision of building a Beloved Community and to follow the ancient admonition of Tikkun Olam, "Repairing the World." She also serves as Vice-Chair of the URJ's Commission on Social Action, and as Co-Chair of the Religious Action Center's Racial Justice Task Force.

Before joining the URJ staff, she was Executive Director of Operation Understanding (oudc.org), a non-profit whose mission is to create a generation of young leaders to promote respect, understanding, and cooperation while fighting to eradicate racism, anti-Semitism, and all other forms of discrimination. Earlier in her career, she worked in public health and education.

A member of Temple Micah in Washington, D.C. and of Delta Sigma Theta (an international Black sorority dedicated to community service and education), Ms. Savage-Narva is a graduate of Tougaloo College and has a Masters Degree in Education from Jackson State University.

 

Before joining the URJ staff last month, she was executive director of Operation Understanding, which brings Jewish and African American teens together to explore the American Civil Rights Movement and built connections between the two communities.  Now, of course, we are becoming more and more aware that the two communities are not always distinct, but are intertwined. 

 

Yolanda is particularly well qualified to take on her new position.  I have had the pleasure of having conversations with her, and have witnessed her wisdom as she has moderated and spoken at URJ/RAC events over the last weeks addressing the tumultuous times we are going through.  We are very fortunate to have her with us tonight – and will have an opportunity for discussion after the close of the Service.

 

So I am pleased to welcome Yolanda to Temple Emanuel.

 

****************************************************************

 

For information on past MLK Services at Temple Emanuel, see https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2021/01/martin-luther-king-services-at-temple.html