David Fishback's Blog: September 2026

Sunday, September 20, 2026

VOTING RIGHTS: THE STRUGGLE TO BE COUNTED

An unexpected benefit of our recent move to a retirement community, just a couple of miles south of our old house: Our next door neighbors, Phil Portlock and Pat Sloan.

It is not just that Phil and I are both lifelong Washington baseball fans, but our lives have so many parallels and one-degree of separation connections in many social justice spaces.

Last week, Bobbi and I attended a Zoom special viewing of Phil's and Pat's 36-minute film, “VOTING RIGHTS: THE STRUGGLE TO BE COUNTED”, tracing the long and often brutal struggle by African Americans to gain and maintain the unrestricted right to vote. A moving pictorial tribute to Rep. John Lewis introduces the film. The film may be viewed here (https://youtu.be/QRiEkdWHMNE?si=CXvUR72e1_XNdhfJ), and I urge people to view it as an important summary of a vital portion of American history -- things we cannot forget as we face the challenges ahead.

The September 17 viewing included a useful and inspiring discussion with Phil and Pat. Fortunately, they are hosting a reprise this coming Thursday, Sept. 24 at 7:30 pm EDT. People can join the Zoom Meeting at

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85479677611?pwd=Vnes9cre8M0yUYYiMmP9grpx9ccqGk.1

Meeting ID: 854 7967 7611

Passcode: 339991

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Martin Luther King Services at Temple Emanuel, 1986-2026

Martin Luther King Services at Temple Emanuel, 1986-2026

2026 Joshua Maxey, Executive Director of Bet Mishpachah and Member of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. See details and transcript of his presentation https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2026/01/martin-luther-king-jr-commemorative.html

2025 James L. Stowe, Director of the Montgomery County Government’s Office of Human Rights. (The State of Human Rights in Montgomery County and Efforts to Build and Sustain a Community of Caring as a New Administration Arrives in Washington D.C.) More details on the flyer here.

2024 Dee Sanae, Founder Mosaic Visions.

2023 Gloria M. Shepherd, Executive Director of the Federal Highway Administration (Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at Temple Emanuel and Showing One Way That His Vision Is Being Realized by Governmental and Community Action)

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2023/01/celebrating-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-at.html

2022 Sunil Dasgupta, Temple Member and Director of the Political Science Program for the University of Maryland/Baltimore County at the Universities at Shady Grove (The Relevance of Dr. King to the “Critical Race Theory” Controversy) https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-relevance-of-dr-king-to-critical.html

2021 Yolanda Savage-Narva, Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Programs for the Union of Reform Judaism (Striving to Create Dr. King's Beloved Community: Reform Judaism's Quest for Racial Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2021/01/

2020 Toni Holness, Public Policy Director, Maryland ACLU (Making the Dream Real: Disparties in the Criminal Justice System)

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2019/12/mlk-shabbat-service-on-jan-17-speaker.html and https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/at-temple-emanuel-learning-in-order-to-do/ and http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2020/02/at-temple-emanuel-learning-in-order-to.html

2019 Brenda Wolff, Montgomery County Board of Education (Making the Dream Real: Challenges in Public Education in Montgomery County)

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-temple-emanuel-mlk-service-with.html

2018 Ike Leggett, Montgomery County Executive (Implementing Dr. King's Vision: What We Have Done in Montgomery County, and What We Need To Do in theFuture) https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2018/01/county-executive-ike-leggetts.html

2017 Will Saletan, Slate and Temple Member (Facing Implicit Bias)

http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2017/01/martin-luther-king-jr-shabbat-service.html

2016 Noah Roos and Micah Guthrie, Operation Understanding

2015 Rev. Carl Davis, Ken-Gar Baptist Church

2014 David Fishback, Temple Member (King, Gandhi, Mandela: Giants of the 20^th Century, Beacons for the 21st) https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2018/05/temple-emanuel-jan-17-2014-king-gandhi.html

2013 Jonathan Jayes-Green (speaking in the context of the Maryland Dream Act and the Maryland Civil Marriage Equality Act)

2012 David Fishback, Temple Member (What Would Dr. King Occupy?) http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2016/01/what-would-dr-king-occupy.html

2011 Solange Hansen, Temple Member (African-American recent convert to Judaism)

2010 Delegate Al Carr (Al represents the District 16 (which includes the

Temple) in the General Assembly; he is a descendent of the enslaved-line of the Thomas Jefferson family)

2009 Bridget Bailey Lipscomb (The Joshua Generation in the Promised Land) https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2018/01/2009-mlk-service-at-temple-emanuel.html

2008 Temple Emanuel Teen Choir

2007 Patricia Corbett (Deputy Executive Director of Metro DC PFLAG)

2006 Delegate Herman Taylor (representative from District 14 (Olney/Sandy

Spring/Ashton/Damascus/Burtonsville) in the General Assembly

2005 David Fishback, Temple Member (Theology, Morality & Faith: A Legacy of Dr. King) http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2015/11/theology-morality-and-faith-legacy-of.html

2004 Ike Leggett (then a member of the Montgomery County Council

2003 KESTY (Kensington Temple Emanuel Youth Group)

2002 Temple Emanuel Rabbi Warren Stone, Rev. Carl Davis, Iman Faisal Khan (this service was in the aftermath of 9/11)

2001 LaRae Jackson (Baltimore VISTA Volunteer)

2000 Steve Silverman, Temple Member (member of the Montgomery County Council)

1999 David Fishback, Temple Member (Dr. King and the Second American Revolution) http://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2017/07/dr-king-and-second-american-revolution.html

1998 Fair Haven United Methodist Church Choir and Dr. William A. Phillips (1997 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics and longtime member of Fair Haven)

1997 Operation Understanding Executive Director

1996 Richard Montgomery High School Gospel Choir

1995, 1994, 1993 No featured speakers

1992 David Fishback, Temple Member and Member of the Montgomery County Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Committee (“King: Lessons for the Closing Decade of the Century”)

1990 Shirley Small Rougeau, Civil Rights Activist

1989 Rev. Alfred Moser

1988 Charles Morgan, Civil Rights Attorney

1987 Phineas Indritz, Temple Member and Civil Rights Lawyer

About David

David S. Fishback has served on the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism since 2020, and served as Maryland Advocacy Co-Chair for the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG from 2008 until 2025.

For 30 years, David worked in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division. As Assistant Director of its Torts Branch, he was a leader in the successful effort to block the manufacturers of asbestos and Agent Orange from shifting their legal liability to taxpayers. Earlier in his career, David worked for the National Labor Relations Board, for the Center for Political Reform, and in a Memphis prison as a VISTA volunteer.

As an education advocate in Montgomery County, Maryland, David served as a PTA co-president of a magnet integration school and later as the chairperson of the county’s Citizens Advisory Committee on sexuality education, bringing intelligent discussion of LGBTQ+ topics into the public school curriculum in the face of significant conservative pushback. Along with his wife Bobbi, he co-founded the LGBTQ-inclusive Kulanu group at Temple Emanuel, where he had also served as a board member.

David holds degrees from Harvard Law School and The George Washington University. He received a Heschel Vision Award from Jews United for Justice in 2015.