“If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” John Lewis, Late Georgia Representative and Civil Rights Leader

My family plays a lot of word games. Julia and Ben, when they were growing up, asked me many times, ​“What is your favorite word, mommy?” I always gave them the same answer, freedom. They would roll their eyes and walk away. Freedom remains my favorite word, and now that my children are grown and wise and caring global citizens, they understand why. 

When you lose your freedom, you lose your voice, you lose your stories. My parents fled oppression and came to America, and while being a Jew meant that I wasn’t always welcomed at the country clubs, I wasn’t born and didn’t live with a target on my back. When asked where do you see yourself in the future, an internment camp would never have been an answer that crossed my mind. A day before this mid-term election, I ask where do I see myself in the future more than ever before.