Operation Understanding DC | weekend retreat, meeting with Shoah survivors

Operation Understanding DC, a program for Black and Jewish teenagers in the DC area whose mission since 1993 is "... empowering a generation of social justice leaders who will promote respect, understanding and cooperation while fighting to eradicate racism, anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination."

The participants recently visited relevant sites in Farmville and Richmond, Virginia, and returned to DC to hear testimony from two Holocaust survivors,  Peter Feigl and Rose-Helene Spreiregen. They also met with students from an allied program from Atlanta, Georgia, the Black Jewish Teen Initiative.

Thanks to the OUDC students, to Mr. Feigl and Ms. Spreiregen, and OUDC's staff, Dr. Linda J. Mann, Xochi Quetzali Cartland, Kyla Goldsby, and Alix Swann.

I have been documenting OUDC since its founding by Karen Kalish in 1993.

Peter Feigl

Rose-Helene Spreiregen.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today we honor an exemplar of the highest ideals of our nation, a brave, just, and moral leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., z'l. 

May we all learn from and follow his example; to stay strong, focused, ethical, wise, and compassionate.

SNCC Legacy portraits 2023

I again had the opportunity to make portraits of SNCC Legacy Project's board members. SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) comprised much of the vanguard of the civil rights movement.  They have continued to do meaningful work for society, as well as having being in the forefront of moving our nation toward fulfilling its stated ideals of equality and freedom for all during the crucial efforts of the 1960's.

Every one of these individuals is a  true American hero, brave righteous champions for justice and freedom.

May we carry on their important and still very necessary work.

Thanks to DC's own Sharlene Kranz of the SNCC Legacy Project for the assignment

Quarantine Diary 48 | part 2 / Vigil for Justice

 Ruth and I participated in the weekly vigil for justice with our fellow congregants in Fabrangen.

Again, the shofar was sounded to awaken us.

Black Lives Matter.

Quarantine Diary 31 | March for Black Lives / Arlington

A March for Black Lives was held on August 1st 2020, in Arlington, Virginia. Hosted by Arlington for Justice, and organized by Yolande and Anika Kwinana, the march started at Drew School in Green Valley and proceeded to the Arlington County Courthouse. Organizations including MOMS Demand Action, Justice Forward Virginia, Black Parents of Arlington, and Arlington Young Democrats were represented.

Black Lives Matter.

Quarantine Diary 28 part one | On the street in DC (American investigations)

Some recent sights around Washington DC.

The anti-Tr*mp signs are ubiquitous.