Where Tuskegee meets Zelensky
On Monday I Zoomed into the Black History Month assembly at my twins’ school. My kids have a schoolmate/friend/neighbor whose late great-grandfather was one of the Tuskegee Airmen, and this man’s son was the featured speaker.
It was just a wonderful assembly all around, with the speaker addressing elementary school students in vibrant, age-appropriate language, and enlivening what could otherwise seem like ancient history with family photos that connected right back to their classmate and their school in 2022.
One of the kids asked a poignant question: Why did your dad fight for this country when it had demonstrated so much racism? Answer: For one thing, the Tuskegee Airmen fought for the ideals of America. And for another, they were fighting for innocent people who were in trouble and who really needed help.
What probably nobody expected when they inked this presentation on the school calendar was that discussion of war in Europe would be so utterly relevant to current events. This ended up being a valuable jumping-off point for many discussions in my household.
My son asked about the “innocent people in Europe” and I attempted an age-appropriate primer on the Holocaust. This also segued into the answer to a question he has long asked: “But whyyyy do we have to go to our Jewish after-school program on Thursdays?!”
That, son, is because so many Jews in history were hurt and killed just for being Jewish, and we now have the right and privilege to be Jews right out in public, and it is our duty and our joy to honor our ancestors and preserve our future by knowing our history and celebrating our culture. (Plus, you sing songs and eat snacks and it’s fun.)
It is so moving to see Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish and the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, stand up to a dictator so powerfully and fearlessly on the world stage as history continues to loop and repeat. As it does, look for the Tuskegee Airmen and the Volodymyr Zelenskys.
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