A View from Dallas

This is the patrol car of Sgt. Michael Smith who was laid to rest today.  He was stationed at the North Central Command Station, which provides service to the vast majority of Jewish institutions in Dallas.  Although you can’t see it, there are notes, drawings and messages from many Jewish organizations — day camps, congregations and community members.  There is even an Israeli flag with a note attached declaring that “Israel stands with Dallas.” This week I participated in a moving interfaith service and took my kids to deliver tzedakah to our local station.  In my day job (an attorney for the Anti-Defamation League), this week offered multiple professional opportunities to dive deeply into tikun olam.  It has been filled with memorials and back-to-back meetings on police community relations throughout the southwest.  It will culminate with a training tomorrow when the Dallas Holocaust Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ADL will collaborate to bring the national Law Enforcement and Society (LEAS) program to Dallas.  LEAS is an innovative training that uses the lessons of the Holocaust to increase law enforcement’s understanding of their role as protectors of the American people and the Constitution.  How, as leaders and as parents, do we lay the foundations to continue discussions about racism in our country?  Difficult times.

Cheryl Drazin, WHP Alum (Dallas 13), is the Jean & Jerry Moore Southwest Area Civil Rights Counsel at the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), a nonprofit organization that has been a leader in combating bigotry, prejudice and anti-Semitism for over a century.  Cheryl is responsible for overseeing the civil rights agenda for the nation’s seven southern and southwestern states.  Cheryl provides legal guidance and oversees the civil rights agenda for her region, including the areas of anti-Semitism, bullying, discrimination complaints, education equity, freedom of speech, hate crimes, immigration, separation of church and state and voting rights.  Cheryl serves as the Vice President of Strategic Programs for Camp Young Judea and is a member of the board of Jewish Children Regional Service. Cheryl can be reached at cdrazin@sbcglobal.net