Like many, I have watched and read with increasing distress the social media posts, articles, and letters in connection with several recent local election cycles.
I have also been approached by friends, strangers, and several organizations to sign their statements of objection.
Certainly, I am not alone in my horror at the character assassinations and public shamings we have been subjected to as spectators.
Still, I could not bring myself to sign others’ letters since, frankly, there are too many competing agendas at play; the likelihood of being misunderstood and/or co-opted is high.
One is also loath to add more “noise.” As you will read below, I have five specific requests I implore my neighbors to adopt to elevate our public discourse here in our beloved home, Great Neck:
How many of you reading this would encourage a close friend or family member to run for office these days?
Unless you are one of the relatively few people who have actually run for any type of office you probably cannot fathom just how painful it is to have others challenge you based on your religion, your ethnicity, or your gender, rather than your record/absence thereof. (It absolutely sucks.)
Surely, we need public servants and their associated supporters, whether in not-for-profit roles, civics groups, local villages, school boards, library boards, philanthropies, and even higher office.
Those of us who run for office must expect to be questioned and should encourage engagement on issues, not sidestep and ignore them. Refusing to engage on the record with the press or with opponents is undemocratic, not transparent, and not at all desirable.
Yet, in the current vituperative climate, one questions how much personal animus we may expect individuals to withstand in order to attain and serve in these positions.
With the amplifier of various social media platforms, rumors spread like wildfire. Whether we call it gossip-mongering or lashon hara (Hebrew for “evil tongue”) it is impossible to unring a bell. Unsubstantiated accusations, falsified letters to the editor, falsified campaign literature, vindictive letters to editors to settle old personal scores, designated campaign trolls attacking commenters on social media, forced “intersectional” connections between people’s religious, ethnic, and/or political affiliations -unfortunately each has become commonplace. Where does it lead? For one thing, fewer and fewer people of caliber will run for office.
Here are my five specific requests to my fellow residents:
- Take personal responsibility for what you promulgate. In this era of “fake facts” you should know very well that not everything you hear and read is true. Do not forward or share a letter or flier unless you have personally checked the validity of its authorship.
- Do not demean candidates or their supporters by reducing them to their mere race, religion, ethnicity, or gender. Actual people are far more complex than any of these isolated characteristics.
- Do not impute to groups the motives of individuals. Each person is drawn to the civic, and/or religious enterprises for various reasons. Voters can and should inquire about individual candidate’s positions without baselessly imputing stereotypes on them. This is true for every religion, every ethnicity, all genders. Hard stop.
- 501(c)(3) organizations should abstain from using their distribution lists or pulpits to endorse candidates. Whether it is currently legal under an Executive Order or not, the longstanding practice against such endorsements makes sense; reputable organizations still abide it. 501(c)(3) organizations are tax-exempt not only for separation of church and state but also precisely because public policy supports their communal efforts toward the commonweal. These missions are compromised when poisoned by political divisiveness. If you receive such an endorsement- whether from your pulpit or your inbox- think twice about the mission of the organization sending it.
- Register and vote your own conscience.
Lastly, please note that I wrote here in my personal capacity as a 25-year resident of Great Neck, currently in the Village of Kings Point, previously Saddle Rock; an American-born Persian Jewish woman; unregistered with either political party.
In years past, I have been registered Democrat and Republican. Some readers may also recognize my name as an elected Trustee of the Great Neck Public Schools and current president of a not-for-profit organization, SHAI, Sephardic Heritage Alliance, Inc.
Previously, I served as an officer of a local synagogue and a trustee of a private Jewish day school.
I cannot help but note that this week begins a time of mourning and introspection in the Jewish calendar, which commemorates the destructions of the ancient Temples in Jerusalem.
Although there are military realpolitik explanations for each, sages have chided for generations that the losses were attributable to baseless hatred among fellow neighbors.
I felt compelled to disclose this personal information since we live in such polarized times of identity politics that I can already apprehend that various detractors will lace into me for some aspect of my identity in attempts to dismiss the civic-minded viewpoints I tried to convey. (“She is too Jewish.” “She is not Jewish enough.” “She is too Persian.” “She is not Persian enough.” “She is not Asian.” “She has too many Asian contacts.” “She is such a feminist.” “She is such a sell-out to women.”) I’ll even add one: “She is too short.”J
Nevertheless, I wrote in my personal capacity, with humility and awareness of some of my many personal flaws. The views expressed are mine alone. If I am attacked, so be it. There is too much at stake. Great Neck must do better.
Rebecca Yousefzadeh Sassouni
Great Neck
