Martin Luther King Jr
Philip Weiss
I wish I were in Pittsburgh. This afternoon at Carnegie Mellon University, an 11th-grader will step nervously to a microphone and deliver a hammer blow to American Jewish support for Israel.
Jesse Lieberfeld, 17, a junior at Winchester Thurston High School, will read an essay, "Fighting a Forbidden Battle: How I Stopped Covering Up for a Hidden Wrong," about how he sees himself in Martin Luther King, because of his own struggle with his religion's ordination of support for Israel. The piece is one of two winners in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. essay-writing contest sponsored by the university. It is brave and clear and necessary:
I read the essay , it's truly brilliant , for a 17 years old that makes him giant. congratulation .
ReplyDeleteHow come the ADL and the Israeli Embassy have not been able to pull the plug on this event.
ReplyDeleteCan we be sure that it'll go ahead?
Well, he won the contest and must read his piece. There's little they can do about it.
ReplyDeleteI'm posting it on FB.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, on a totally different, but no less important subject (erasing people's history), here is an example of a book banned (no, not in some religious autocracy)... in ARIZONA!:
<p>Rethinking Colombus: The Next 500 Years
</p><p>Used as a textbook in Arizona for about twenty years, Rethinking Columbus even includes an essay by local Tucson writer Leslie Silko. The book promises to reposition Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas and “help readers replace murky legends with a better sense of who we are and why we are here — and celebrates over 500 years of the courageous struggles and lasting wisdom of native peoples.” The book even contains a mock trial of the explorer and special material for Thanksgiving Day.
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