Hanukkah - Jews on the 5th Night of Chanukah stood up for Justice across White House

Chanukah | www.TheGhouseDiary.com

Washington, D.C., Wednesday, December 09, 2015 – The Jewish Voice for peace organized a Chanukah candle light for justice across the White House tonight at 5:30 PM.  They called it Network against Islamophobia for a national Chanukah action.  They will hold this event again on Sunday at 4:00 PM at the same place.

In their letter out to the public, they wrote, “While president Obama is in the White House celebrating with Israeli President Rivlin on Wednesday, we will be outside showing that American Jews stand for full equality and freedom for all people living under Israeli rule. We hope that the President will ask Rivlin what he is doing to make that a reality for ALL Palestinians.”

The letter continued, “We will be holding nine signs, which, together, are in the shape of Chanukah menorah. Each sign contains injustice that we recommit ourselves to challenging.” I remember the following signs, welcoming Syrian Refugees, black lives matter, anti-Muslim profiling, Jews against Islamophobia among other signs.  

The media was present, and Melanie from the Boston University News wire asked me on the tape who I was, and my purpose in being here.

“I am Mike Ghouse with American Muslim Institution, an organization committed to building a cohesive America where every American respects the otherness of others, and accepts the God-given uniqueness of each one of us.  God has created everything in balance and it is our duty to preserve that balance.”

In response to a question, “what the presidential candidates are saying about Muslims,” I responded, “The role of the President is to keep America safe from outside forces and internal conflicts, and to help Americans achieve in their pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

Mr. Trump has trampled on the very fundamental values of our immortal declaration,   “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

She asked how difficult it was to cope with what Dr. Carson and Mr. Trump have said. Indeed, they are making life difficult for themselves, God forbid, if they are elected, they will have to manage a population that is afraid of each other.  They are also dumb, if you recall the Gore v Bush, the difference was approximately 500,000 votes resulting in 5 electoral votes. If they are any smart, they will court nearly 5 -6 million votes from Jews, Hispanics, Muslims and others and easily increase the chances of winning. They need to know that bigotry does not pay.

We have to trust in the goodness of Americans, we have come a long way in being just and fair.  Over the last thirty years; Americans have never nominated an extremist as a presidential candidate who was hell bent on pitting one American against the other,  and who has messed with the character of our nation. Never!

It was a joy to sing the Dreidel,  Dreidel, Dreidel and a Christmas Carol. 

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/sWGwe4Vgnss

The damage they are doing to the social fabric of the nation is unforgivable. 
What JVC is doing tonight is demonstrating against bigotry in an effort to restore sanity in politics and justice to the average American, hence, I am here to support them.  If we don’t stand up for what is right, who will? We have no right to complain if we let negative forces persist without resistance. 

In response to how would you change the situation, I said,  we have problems because we don’t know much about each other, and whatever little we know  is myths about others. Instead of clarifying those myths, we pile up more myths and create deeper and wider chasm each passing day. The problems are ours, collectively ours, and we have to solve them by sitting down across each other, build friendships and learn about each other. When we find out our aspirations are similar – a life with a decent pay, nice place to live, good marriage, wonderful kids and a healthy and peaceful retirement – the conflicts fade and solutions emerge. 
The idea is for us connect with each other, understand each other, and when we do that, conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

It was good to see Medea Benjamin,  some of you may not like people who protest, but remember, they are the most patriotic individuals of the nation, they don’t want America’s moral standing go down the tube by letting bad things happen. They should be our heroes.

Thanks to JVC for standing up for America and for Justice around the world.

My shortest message of Hanukkah was, no matter how limited your resources are (like the oil in the lamp was enough for one day, but the oil miraculously lasted for eight days) have hope and do the right thing, the goodness of God will be with you.

A good article to read, it is has a particular significance to Muslims at this time.  Why Chanukah matters.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/cover_story/article/why_chanukah_matters
Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine Terrorism and foreign policy. Over 3000 Articles have been published on the subjects. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and bulk of his writings are at TheGhousediary.com