WITNESS

To Witness is to observe something such as an event, action or a change. In our daily lives it is challenging to observe the myriad of activities that occur to and around us. However, certain events some cataclysmic and others seemingly the essence of minutiae, seize our attention. I have witnessed three events recently that have captured my consciousness and as a witness is often compelled to offer testimony, it seems incumbent upon me to describe the events and the power of the link between them.

Participating in our community’s No Place For Hate® program,that is sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, led to an opportunity to go to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. with a diverse group of Massachusetts residents. I met City Councilors, priests, Asst. District Attorneys, teachers, students, retirees and others from various “walks of like.” The Holocaust Museum experience was something I tried to brace myself for psychologically, spiritually and emotionally. The intensity and revelation of the exhibits were horrific yet equally beautiful in the commitment displayed to honor the victims and expose the depth of hatred, ignorance and the erosion of democratic ideals that created the conditions for the Holocaust and WWII.

Neese Goldin a 76 year Lithuanian Holocaust survivor told her story as a young Jewish girl forced to live in the ghetto and then a concentration camp. Dozens of her family members were “exterminated. Amazingly, Neese’s sense of humor brought us from tears of grief to tears of joy in a moment, as she wove the story of being re-united with her mother. She described what it was like to be stripped of everything, even the will to live. She instructed the students in the group to be grateful for the privilege of having books. Knowing the survivors are aging and many have already passed-on, made the experience of meeting her one of the most humbling and significant experiences of my life. To be a witness is an honor and a responsibility.

The week after meeting Neese, I was able to attend a press conference at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Business Center in Worcester to bear witness to elder civil rights leaders protesting Governor Romney’s proposed Executive Order 452, which dilutes Affirmative Action. I observed resilience, anger, fatigue and resolve by these great and ordinary people (teachers, social workers, neighborhood activists) to fight against the erosion of the rights that they had fought so hard to attain. For some of the speakers discrimination and bigotry were legal for the first half of their lives. Reality proves the forces of bias, hatred and discrimination are still ingrained in our society. The overwhelming angst was that this group was fighting to not lose ground when we all knew we should be working toward progress.

Not wanting to let the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 go unnoticed, I organized a Recognition Ceremony with the President of the Worcester Chapter of the NAACP, Earlena Yelverton, Director of the Worcester Chapter of the ACLU – Ronal Madnick, City of Worcester Mayor Tim Murray, City Councilor Dennis Irish and Worcester County Sheriff John “Mike” Flynn, all speaking in support of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the need to continue to eliminate emergent bias and prejudice.

As Americans we have a precious gift with our form of government. We must guard it with intelligence and great care. Democracy is similar to the word witness in that they can both be nouns or an activity depending on the context in which they’re used. We need to be action-oriented in guarding our freedoms...for Neese, for ourselves, for our children and future.

-Kathleen Conley Norbut, Candidate for Governor's Council
Selectman
Monson
www.norbutgovcouncil.com