Statement by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
With deep sorrow, we mourn the passing of Adrienne Rich. Since the earliest days of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Adrienne was an unflinching, unconditional supporter of our work. She consistently reached out on our behalf, bringing attention to the import and impact of JFREJ, both locally and nationally. Whenever we needed her, Adrienne was there. As JFREJ grew, Adrienne traveled along with us, supporting the organization not just through deeds, but through intellectual connection and analysis. She pushed forward the ideas that pushed forward our work. In addition to being a visionary for the entire JFREJ community, Adrienne was a great mentor and friend to many. It is hard to imagine what JFREJ would be without the support and inspiration of Adrienne Rich.
JFREJ honored Adrienne at the 2007 Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk-Taker Awards. Below is the citation presented to her at the ceremony, followed by Adrienne’s acceptance speech. May her memory be for a blessing.
Marjorie Dove Kent
Executive Director
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
http://www.jfrej.org/2012-03-29/jfrej-honors-adrienne-rich-zl
When an artist has become one of the most respected and admired voices of her generation, it’s easy to think of her as simply “part of the landscape.” Adrienne Rich has never let that happen. She has been instead a model of engagement, wrestling with politics as with poetry. From early revelations of feminism, she yoked racism and sexism, mothering and revolution, opposing war and occupation, persisting in the will to change. From refusing the National Medal of the Arts from then-President Bill Clinton because, as she said, “the very meaning of art is incompatible with the cynical politics of this administration,” to nurturing marginalized voices and diving into the wreckage of history to salvage new narratives of resistance, Adrienne Rich’s every poem rebuts the assumption that politics is not the province of poetry. Her work has constantly interrogated notions of identity, nation, and home, asking: what does it mean to be a middle class woman, a white North American, a lesbian Jew, a Southerner, a citizen in a democracy?
Her successful blending of aesthetics, politics and erotics has enriched contemporary poetry beyond measure and strengthened progressive politics in devastating times. For the unceasing beauty and power of her art and her activism, her creative demonstration of the power of art as activism, and her thrilling model of activism through and beyond art, JFREJ is honored to present Adrienne Rich with the 2007 Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk-Taker Award.
Ed Pearl
Adrienne Rich accepts the JFREJ risk taker award
[Adrienne Rich, Frances Goldin, and Debbie Almontaser at the 2007 Meyer Awards. Click on the link to watch Adrienne’s acceptance speech. http://youtu.be/NspKdpvf838]
This is the place where I realize I am at home, in this company of comrades, friends and activists. In the presence of so many courageous activists of the deed and the word, I feel like a minor risk-taker. My admiration for the legacy of Rabbi Marshall Meyer and the work of JFREJ has been strong and deep. I live in California but I count myself a member of JFREJ in diaspora. I also have enormous admiration for the courageous self-organizing people with whom JFREJ makes common cause in this city. So it’s not just a figure of speech to say that I am truly honored to be here, in the company of NYCAHN, Debbie Almontaser, and the incomparable Frances Goldin. Accepting this award has made me ponder the word “risk.” And the concept of safety, which lies behind it, and which has become an American mantra. The idea that safety is a commodity some can buy for themselves and their children, regardless of who else lives at risk. Safety and security. The debased currency for which we’re urged to sell our mental clarity, the facts of history, our political imaginations, our possible solidarity with others. JFREJ has seen past these deceptions and struggles to re-affirm and reinvigorate the phrase “Tikkun Olam”, and the phrase “New York Jews.” I thank you, with all my heart....
Transparencies by Adrienne Rich
See on ESSF (article 24741), Adrienne Rich, Transparencies