Remembering Jack Greenberg

Remembering Jack Greenberg
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The New York Times, in its Wednesday, October 12th, 2016 edition reported the death of Jack Greenberg:

Jack Greenberg, a lawyer who became one of the nation's most effective champions of the civil rights struggle, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. for 23 years and using the law as a weapon in its fight for racial justice before the United States Supreme Court, died on Wednesday, October 12, 2016.

Mr. Greenberg, Jewish, was the last surviving member of a legendary civil rights legal team assembled by Thurgood Marshall, the founding director-counsel of the legal defense fund and later the first African-American Supreme Court justice.

It is ironic that his death was reported on Yom Kippur. In the Jewish religion "Yom Kippur" means "Day of Atonement."

In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and you shall not do any work... For on that day he shall provide atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the L-RD.

-Leviticus 16:29-30.

It is probably the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Many Jews who do not observe any other Jewish custom will refrain from work, fast and/or attend synagogue services on this day. Yom Kippur occurs on the 10th day of Tishri. The holiday is instituted at Leviticus 23:26 et seq.

Many readers of this blog may ask: so?

Jack Greenberg was part of, and central to, that coalition of "Shared Legacies" between the African American and Jewish Communities that ended American Apartheid. Support and participation of many Jews and their organizations enabled some of the most important successes of the 20th century's "Civil Rights" Movement, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Those in this generation's Black Lives Matter Movement and others should take the time to learn more about the unique this extraordinary man and his "Shared Legacy.'

We are blessed that The Spill The Honey Foundation under the leadership of Dr. Shari Rogers, Lisa Weitzman, and others, has produced a film commemorating and memorializing this earlier joint struggle of the African-American and Jewish communities in support of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other efforts on behalf of civil rights.

The Foundation says says,

Shared Legacies focuses on a proud chapter in American history, a time when communities of different backgrounds effectively collaborated to transform the moral conscious of the nation. This history has been forgotten and, in turn, its lessons have been lost. The film tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement through archival materials and the eyewitness testimony of activists as well as their friends and family members. It brings pride to both the African-American community for its significant accomplishments and the Jewish community for its impressive supporting role.

The Civil Rights leaders of the postwar era are quickly passing away. Fortunately, we are preserving their accounts for posterity through film. Imagery has long been recognized as a powerful tool for education. As such, we expect that the film will facilitate continued dialogue and cooperation between like-minded individuals from different racial and religious backgrounds to achieve social justice.

We expect that the film will facilitate continued dialogue and cooperation between like-minded individuals from different racial and religious backgrounds to achieve social justice. The blue print of the historical alliance can be modeled today to heal the divide and promote partnerships for working together to solve social issues in our country.

See: Spill the Honey sizzle V5 final Revised LG fix.mp4 4 min.

Shanah Tovah, Jack Greenberg!

May YOUR legacy endure.

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