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ABE WON’T BE SILENT - Every day since that Gross Baboon stunk up the White House in 2017, at least two breaking news stories enter my inbox, highlighting some evil, perverted, low lives. One jerk is worse than the next. Either they are diddling with an underage teen or proudly spewing racist and antisemitic rhetoric, or my favorite, a bible-thumping Christian conservative nationalist, AKA Trump MAGA Republican lunatic who is spewing nonsense to prove that Jesus doesn’t approve of gays, trans, or women having abortions. Even though Jesus said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” But their actions are saying, “To hell with Jesus.” And they can stop singing, “My God Is An Awesome God,” too.
As I see it, these are the worst people on Earth since Germany during World War II, and they are proud to be part of the brewing Fourth Reich. They are potentially worse than the Nazis because at least the Germans were educated and cultured. These idiots are shooting cans of Bud Light with assault rifles as their badge of honor. All I know is that we will keep these fascists at bay. The best way is to “Vote like we never voted before.” - John Lewis. Hence, vote blue…or…you know.
On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, I wanted to share my comments from an event I was invited to speak at.
I was raised by parents who were Holocaust survivors. Since childhood, I have heard countless horror stories, especially from my mom, who survived Dachau. It was a lot. So, I wanted to separate myself emotionally and spiritually from that legacy. I remember once, my mother called me an assimilated Jew, which I was OK with.
But life has that funny way of grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking some sense into you. For me, it was when the Nazis were marching in Charlottesville. That was my wake-up call. By then, my parents were long gone, but that day, watching in horror on the news made me think about my parents and what they somehow survived. Those marching white supremacists made me see the same evil my mother spoke of that was beginning to seep through the cracks of hell and take hold in our political landscape and social construct.
And for the record, NO, there were NOT good people on both sides.
Anyway, shortly after that, a miracle happened. The US Holocaust Museum contacted our family to say that a piece of music was discovered and attributed to my uncle Wolf, a renowned composer and conductor of the Vilna Symphony Orchestra, who was killed hours before the liberation. Seventy-five years after his tragic death, the song was found in a book written by someone who survived the Klooga concentration camp where he was brutally murdered.
The song was called “Stay Silent”; the prisoners sang this in defiance of the Nazis. It was like a psalm or a prayer. A silent form of protest was how they could resist the evil Nazis. Let’s face it, in a concertation camp, there are not many options to show resistance. So, the message was…
“Let’s stay silent, let’s stay silent, not a word be said.
Let’s murmur a prayer and keep our dignity. And not let them take our tears.
They can’t stop us from crying silently. So let’s Stay Silent.”
I knew immediately that Wolf’s Song needed to be shared, and there was a movie in there somewhere. As an activist, I realized there was an opportunity to give my uncle, who until that point was one of the 6 million anonymous Jews, a name, a face, and a legacy. But it wasn’t going to be for “staying silent.” So, I contacted a songwriter I know, Kara DioGuardi, and asked her to update the lyrics, and so began the journey of “Wolf’s Song, Won’t Be Silent.” Please watch this sizzle reel of my film in production. Click this image to watch.
I’m still working out the ending and want to incorporate the concerning rise in antisemitism, racism, and homophobia. My goal is to unite diverse groups through music to fight these white supremacists. They started this war, and we must finish them by voting out their idiotic GOP representatives. That’s why we simply can’t and won’t be silent.
Peace…
(ABE GURKO is the executive producer of a documentary “Won’t Be Silent,” about the extraordinary Women of Protest Music. He's an Opinionator who hosts a podcast, "Conversations From the Edge of Democracy," that discusses the current state of our fragile political landscape. Abe is a contributor to CityWatchLA.com. [email protected]. Abe’s opinions are his own and not necessarily those of CityWatchLA.com)
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