Dear Members,
This weekend, I am headed to Houston to participate in the AFT’s Civil, Human, & Women’s Rights conference, along with PFT Staff Representative Wendy G. Coleman.
During this deeply troubling time, I am looking forward to joining with colleagues from across the nation to talk about our collective work towards a better, more equitable, and more just tomorrow.
I think about the upcoming conference in the context of the atrocities we are seeing unfold in the Israel-Hamas War. As I shared last week, our deepest sympathies are with every single individual impacted by this horror– and I want to be very clear that I mean every civilian– both Israeli and Palestinian–that has suffered so profoundly as a result of this crisis. The images and stories we are seeing from the region are truly devastating; the loss of lives is simply unconscionable.
The world feels very heavy right now. I have spent a lot of time over the past weeks thinking about the humanity of everyone suffering right now. I feel sympathy for the Israeli and Palestinian people suffering such incalculable loss–both in this current moment and in the past. I feel sympathy for our neighbors at home who are deeply impacted by this war. Of course, I do not have the answers to such deep turmoil. But I do know that what can, and must, undergird how we live our lives, is a deep and everlasting belief in our shared humanity.
So when I travel to Houston today, I will be there with conviction, with compassion, and with an ongoing promise to keep up our collective work towards justice, peace, and a better tomorrow.
In Solidarity,
Jerry