JVP-Albany Member Mark Mishler’s Speech on Jewish Solidarity with Migrants
On July 12, Mark Mishler spoke on behalf of JVP-Albany at the Lights for Liberty vigil for detained migrants. The following is a transcript of his speech.
Dear friends, dear brothers and sisters,
I am proud to be here this evening representing Jewish Voice for Peace.
We are here because we have no choice. Our history demands that we join with others to fight against all oppression, all forms of racism, all ramifications of white supremacy.
Jewish Voice for Peace stands for human rights.
We reject the premise that some people deserve human rights while others do not.
This is why we fight against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia;
why we defend the rights of working people around the world, whether they are immigrant farm-workers in the Hudson Valley, workers in factories just across the border in Mexico run by companies that abandoned Detroit, mothers trying to eke out a living for their families in sweat-shops in New York City where they are subject to super-exploitation because they lack documentation, hospital workers organizing a union at Albany Medical Center, or Palestinian fishermen in Gaza; and
this is why we stand in solidarity with Central American children in cages at the US -Mexico border, with children in military detention in Palestine, and with Black and Brown children harassed and unfairly targeted by the police in Albany.
This is why we demand of our government: close the camps, abolish ICE, re-unite families, and decriminalize migration.
This is why we insist — as Jews, as Americans — that no government that engages in dehumanization and violations of human rights speaks for us or in our name.
As Jews, we live each day with the historical trauma of the Nazi genocide. I cannot remember a time when I did not know about the crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis and their collaborators, motivated by hatred, driven by corporate greed — entire societies molded into methodical extermination machines.
For many of us, it is traumatic, even now, to read of the Kristallnacht,
of the Nazi round-ups,
the firing squads and mass graves,
the persecution of political radicals — communists, socialists, and labor activists,
the hatred towards Jews, towards the Roma, towards disabled people, towards the LGTBQ community,
the collaborators at all levels of society who either tacitly let this happen or actively participated,
the corporations that profited from war and destruction,
the detentions,
the labor camps,
the concentration camps,
the death camps,
the children separated from their parents,
the effort to obliterate an entire culture — the beautiful and vibrant born-out-of-struggle-and-hardship Yiddish speaking culture of Eastern European Jews, my heritage.
I re-read accounts yesterday of the methods used by the Nazi guards to force Jews into the gas chambers and was literally sickened. It hits home.
What are the lessons?
First, let us remember that the Nazi genocide against Jews was neither the first genocide nor the last.
Second, let us say “never again” and let it mean “never again will we as humans let genocidal actions occur, to anyone, anytime, anywhere”.
Third, let us understand that our safety and security does not come from separating ourselves, but, rather from uniting with others in solidarity against all forms of hate and oppression.
Fourth, let us see that this moment is the moment when our voices, our bodies, our solidarity are put to the test.
There is no second chance. There can be no collaboration. There can be no acquiescence. There is no middle ground. We either take bold action now or we will be condemned to repeat history, not just as a farce, but as a tragedy the proportions of which are unimaginable.
With the memory of the millions killed by the Nazis seared into our consciousness,
with the knowledge that some courageous people in Germany did speak up, but it was not enough,
with the understanding that none of us is safe unless all of us are safe,
with the humility to see that while each genocide is unique, the experience of genocide is not, and
conscious of the obligations history places on us, let us stand together this evening, let us light our candles as symbols of our resistance, our solidarity, and our love, and let us continue to stand for justice in the days to come.
We demand:
No children in cages anywhere.
Close the camps.
Abolish ICE.
Re-unite families.
End racism.
End the criminalization of migration.
