Reflections from Minneapolis: The Way Forward is Not in the Heavens |
It was negative 20 degrees outside in Minneapolis last week—so cold my eyelashes were frozen—but the temperature did not stop me and thousands of people from being out in the streets. I flew to Minneapolis to participate in a massive day of action, after organizers asked faith leaders from across the country to come and bear witness to what is happening in their city.
What I saw that day made one thing clear: The horrors are growing, but so is our resolve.
Minnesotans are showing up for each other. People came from across the state to defend their neighbors. They are organizing fundraisers to cover rent for immigrant families understandably too afraid to leave their homes to go to work. They wear whistles everywhere they go to alert community members to ICE presence. It’s this bravery that brought people in from across the country. This is solidarity: neighbors show up for neighbors, and the circle widens. This is the type of sustained civic resistance we need to turn the tide back towards democracy.
As the CEO of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, it felt urgent for me to continue the long tradition of American Jews rising up with our neighbors to fight for the soul of our nation and our collective safety. We are at a critical inflection point in the fight to stop authoritarian consolidation of power—which is no longer creeping........