>>>I've seen it and would also recommend it. Also American History X ( amazing Ed Norton performance)
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>>Yeah, good movie, but very disturbing. Solomon saw it in a college course and then chose it for one of our family movie days.
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>That's so sad to read, Tamar. I know extremely well that you are one of the good guys. (So to speak, LOL). You really are. Yet you have to live with this crap, and so do your sons, which I know hurts you more. I wish I had some magic wand to wave it away.

It doesn't really bug me. I look at where we were and where we are now, and it's pretty amazing. One of the volunteers who stayed with us for Get Out the Vote was a Frenchman named Antoine who's been living in the US (in New York) for 3 years, and absolutely loves it. Within 15 minutes of arriving at our house, he was talking about being Jewish and what that was like in France. He said that there, even the rabbis recommend not wearing a yarmulke in public. He was so thrilled to be in a country where he sees people in yarmulkes every day.

As I think you know, my family has a long history of fighting against injustice. Family legend has it that my great-grandfather (my father's father's father), who was descended from several generations of Richmond Jews, was forced to leave that city because he was educating blacks. My father tells stories about helping to integrate M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston when he did his post-doc there in the late 50's.

My mother's reaction to her childhood was tolerance. Her friends are all colors of the rainbow <s>, and she spent her working life teaching mostly minority children to read. (She taught first grade for many, many years and apparently was very good at it.)

My parents were on the mall on August 28, 1963 for the "I Have a Dream" speech, and took us to more civil rights and anti-war rallies than I can remember.

I guess the bottom line is that I know, despite the existence of skinheads and other haters, that American is a good place, and that I'm fortunate to live here and now.

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>Do you think we will have a Jewish President in our lifetimes?

Yeah, I think so. In fact, if you'd asked me two years ago, I would have guessed we'd have a Jewish president before a black one. I think it's just a matter of the right candidate coming along.

Tamar