Jennifer Meeropol is the granddaughter of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and the daughter of RFC Founder, Robert Meeropol. Jenn became the Executive Director of the RFC on September 1, 2013. Prior posts on this page were written by Robert (unless otherwise noted), and represent his opinions, which are not necessarily shared by the RFC.
I’ve been thinking a lot about family in the lead up to the 66th anniversary of the execution of my grandparents, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. In part, that’s because my first emotional connection to the case was trying to imagine what it was like for my dad and uncle when their parents were arrested, convicted, and executed.
In honor of today's centennial of Pete Seeger's birth, I'm re-posting this blog my father, RFC Founder Robert Meeropol, and I wrote following Pete's death in January, 2014. A collection of photos, videos, memories, songs and stories about Pete from the RFC community is available here.
We woke up this morning to the news that Pete Seeger had died.
Along with the inspiring and affirming messages from our supporters (highlighted in the cover story of our most recent newsletter), we also receive a steady stream of communication from our grantees. These updates come from parents of kids we’re supporting and from the young people themselves. The notes often thank us for making music or dance or drama programs available to them or invite us to celebrate a milestone event, like a graduation or award.
“My daughter studied the KKK at school... she is not only worried about the government repression [for my organizing] but about the possibility of racist physical attacks against us as well.”
It’s been an ugly, painful week marked by multiple, high profile hate crimes around the country. Unfortunately, this is not an aberration but a continuation of assaults that have intensified since Trump’s election – the attacks on immigrants, activists, communities of color, women, journalists, faith groups, and folks who identify as LGBTQ.