Hear Our Voice

I remember quite well when I learned about the Nazis that sought to march down the streets of Skokie, IL in 1978.  I remember a teacher and a Rabbi trying to inspire us with the devastatingly complicated notion that free speech in America was so sacred, was so respected, that even this most hateful speech and especially those who spoke it, had to be protected by the full force of the law.  That their right to regale publicly in Hitler and his Jew-hatred had to be held as  sacrosanct, in order for me to enjoy the full rights of freedom that are my birthright as an American and a human being.  How it is possible that in 2018, the public undermining of this right is being denied the football players of the NFL?  And no secret is being made of it?  No one is ashamed?  Is anyone frightened?  To be Jewish and to not be offended by the limiting of speech, even in their “workplace”, one has forgotten why America was known as the Great Medina. 

It’s not that I don’t personally disagree with the stand.  And it’s not that I imagine there are perhaps more constructive ways to make these views clear.  It’s that when we speak of what makes America great, we cannot forget central to that is this: our commitment to freedom is so imbedded in our country’s DNA, that we are willing to allow it to make us uncomfortable, angry and sad in order to stand by what the flag stands for.  History has a long memory.  As much as I and my fellow Jewish generation have had it “so good,” there is a reason why we celebrate and marvel at and remember and memorialize the darkest moments of our past – because they are real, because they happened and could happen again – if but for the slow and sure dismantling of the truly unique aspects of our country.   “J’accuse” NFL!  Not because I believe this is a veiled attack on Jews.  But because I know that the unraveling of the rights of speech is a litmus test for what can easily come down the pike next.