Reminders of Holocaust, Civil Rights Struggle Help Rouse Activism Against Violence
By Hamil R. Harris and Aruna jain
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, May 1, 2006
Thousands of people poured into Washington on trains, in buses and in cars from across the country yesterday. Evangelicals joined Hollywood entertainers, black civil rights leaders joined conservatives, and politicians from both parties spoke in unison on the same stage.
But among the largest contingents at yesterday's "Rally to Stop Genocide" on the Mall were Jewish Americans, who said they were appalled by the violence in Sudan.
Vladimir Vishnevskiy, of the Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, came to Washington with two busloads of Holocaust survivors, World War II veterans and youths.
"This is extremely important," he said. "We are Russian Jews, people who know firsthand what hate and the Holocaust and genocide is about."
It is unclear how many Jewish Americans were among those at the rally, but they were among the most visible, wearing shirts or clutching signs that read, "Not On Our Watch" and "Dare to Interfere in Darfur" and "Never Again," the latter a reference to the Holocaust. They came as part of Jewish youth groups, community centers or religious groups; they were teenagers, parents and grandparents.
Fourteen-year-old Sabrina Kestenbaum donned the same bright-yellow T-shirt -- bearing a bull's-eye on a map of Africa and the words "Darfur 'Never Again' " -- as classmates from the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in Manhattan.
She said she was overwhelmed by the crowds and surprised by how many people she knew.
"We see a lot of Jewish kids that we recognize from other schools," she said.
"Or from camp," added her friend, Susan Moskovits.
Gary and Mira Foote came with members of Beth Shalom Congregation in Westminster, Md. As the Footes headed to the Metro station for the two-hour trip home, an African American woman going to the rally spotted one of the "Never Again" signs their children were carrying and stopped them.
"Can I borrow that?" the woman asked.
The rally included people from a broad spectrum of racial, ethnic and religious groups -- many of whom have different interests and agendas. It had been a long time since an issue has brought ordinary blacks and Jews together, said Mira Foote, a public school teacher.
"Holocaust memorial day has just been observed," she said. "This pricks the soul of everyone who has ever studied and mourned the loss of fellow Jews and fellow human beings."
Some Sudanese immigrants said they were pleased to see a wide range of people at the rally.
"It makes me feel wonderful that there are people that actually care about what is going on in the world," said Emtithal Mahmoud, 12, whose father is a member of the Darfur Alert Coalition. "People that want to make a difference, people who want to help." Emtithal's family was forced to flee their homeland when she was 5.
Sharon Benveneste, 67, of Havertown, Pa., came to town with a group representing five or six congregations from the Philadelphia area.
"We hate the idea of wholesale killing anywhere in the world. But this is so dastardly, what is happening in Darfur. And hopefully we will convince our government to help stop the raping and the killing in the villages," Benveneste said.
The rally also drew veterans of the civil rights movement, including Al Sharpton and Benjamin Chavis Muhammad, who was executive director of the Million Man March about a decade ago and is president of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, an advocacy group, as well as elected officials from both major political parties.
Sharpton, who at times has clashed with Jewish leaders, said: "I think it is historic, but the historic part of it will only mean something if we stop the genocide. We can't just have this as a picnic of interdenominational, interpolitical harmony. We must go to our respective constituents to have it stop."
Staff writers Karlyn Barker and Lisa Rein contributed to this report.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.