Please note: An earlier version of this post contained errors in the schedule for this week’s upcoming podcasts. This updated post has the correct dates.
We had a great turnout yesterday for The Debrief’s conversation featuring fellow fabulous Jewish women fighters for democracy, civil rights, and universal human rights Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Stephanie G Wilson, PhD.
We missed those who weren’t able to make it — but on the bright side, you’ve got some great weekend viewing ahead of you!
Our free-wheeling conversation focused on four topics:
Shavuot: This two-day Jewish holiday, a harvest festival that commemorates the revelation of the Torah to the Jews at Sinai, continues til sundown tonight. Rabbi Sandra wrote a poignant reflection on the holiday and what it means to celebrate it in our current political and social context. In addition to discussing the holiday, Rabbi Sandra took some Judaism-related questions from the audience and we all got to benefit from her thoughtful responses.
Evisceration of the Voting Rights Act: We spoke about the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais and how it is designed to effectively wipe out what is left of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, which prohibited racial discrimination in congressional redistricting. We addressed how the Jewish community is and should be responding to this grievous rollback of civil rights protections, which impacts all of us.
Deadly attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego: It faded all too quickly from the headlines, but it was important for us as Jewish leaders to speak out about the attack and the imperative of Jewish solidarity with Muslim Americans.
Nick Kristof’s NYT piece on sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees: We offered our reactions to the piece, the well-documented facts regarding widespread rape and torture of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, and the ensuing Jewish communal meltdown.
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Helpful Resources Related to This Podcast:
Rabbi Sandra’s Shavuot reflection:
2. Analysis of the Callais decision:
Heather Cox Richardson’s piece on SCOTUS’s decision and how we can understand Callais and the subsequent response to it as analogous to post-Civil War efforts by white southerners to monopolize power by suppressing Black men from exercising their newfound voting rights
The Brennan Center for Justice on how Congress should respond to Callais
My message to our Muslim friends and neighbors in the aftermath of the San Diego shooting, to which I later added this key context regarding the teen shooters’ goal of civil war by accelerating the disintegration of America’s social fabric:
As context for our discussion of the Kristof piece, there are SO MANY GREAT RESOURCES on The Debrief and you can peruse them all in our podcast archive. Allow me to recommend these three podcasts, in particular. Watch them yourself and share with others who would benefit from watching/listening to them!
For starters, my conversation with Sari Bashi of The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel is a must-watch (obvious trigger warning):
For anyone (still) in denial and disbelief that Israel could be perpetrate systemic abuses against Palestinian detainees, my discussion with Prof. Omer Bartov on his new book, Israel: What Went Wrong?, is mandatory viewing:
My friend Michael Sfard is one of Israel’s leading human rights lawyers and an incredible human being. I highly recommend this illuminating conversation with a person tirelessly committed to the struggle for equality, justice, human rights, and democracy in Israel-Palestine:
That’s a lot of great content. And there’s much more coming up on The Debrief, of course!
Oh? Anything Good Coming Up This Week?
Lol, of course! Here’s what we’ve got on the schedule —
TUESDAY, May 26, at 12pm Eastern:
I’ll be hosting the great Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy, who folks will know as a top progressive foreign policy thinker and former advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders.
Matt is a prolific writer and I’m especially keen to talk with him about his recent piece on the Abraham Accords. We’ll also discuss what the Democratic Party’s foreign policy platform should look like going forward.
THURSDAY, May 28, at 12pm Eastern:
I’ll be honored to speak with Jaser Abu Mousa, a Palestinian political analyst and Yale Peace Fellow who survived the genocide in Gaza and is now a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute.
Check him out right here on Substack! He’s putting out a Gaza Biweekly that’s a must-read to understand what’s happening in the Strip (especially now that the Iran war has completely pushed Gaza from the headlines). Here’s the latest installment, entitled “Moving On Without Peace.” He also published this heart-wrenching piece about his son Hmaid on what should have been Hmaid’s 21st birthday.
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That’s all for now, folks.
Looking forward to seeing you this coming week!
Til then, wishing you a Chag Sukkot Sameach (happy Sukkot holiday) and an enjoyable, meaningful Memorial Day weekend.
Warmly,
Debra
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