Rahm Emanuel: Speak Out Against Immigration Curbs
Image by Getty Images
By Nathan Guttman March 30, 2017
Invoking his Jewish grandfather’s battle with anti-Semitism, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel penned a Chicago Sun Times article decrying the rise of bigotry in Trump-era America and the limitations being imposed on immigration.
“My grandfather came to a city of opportunity, not a country that breaks up families at the border,” Emanuel wrote of his maternal grandfather, Herman Smulevitz who fled anti-Semitic pogroms in Europe a century ago.
Emanuel was among the first mayors to declare their cities sanctuary places for immigrants, where local authorities will not cooperate with federal agents seeking to deport or arrest undocumented immigrants.
In his opinion piece, Emanuel reminds readers of the “Righteous Among Nations” memorial at Israel’s Yad Va’Shem Holocaust museum that honors non-Jews who helped saved Jews.
“Today, we must all be the righteous among the nations with the courage to speak out against the hatred and ugliness whirling around us,” Emanuel wrote.
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
