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 was struck by a column I read in the Sept. 23 issue of The Nation. In it, Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, discusses her dissatisfaction with the narrowness of her focus on mass incarceration. In reflecting on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington she finds powerful inspiration in the fact that in the aftermath of that historic event, “Dr. King ignored all those who told him to stay in his lane, just stick to talking about civil rights.” Dr.
In just a few days I turn the Executive Director’s job at the RFC over to my daughter Jenn. Most of my time these last few weeks has been spent handing over my responsibilities to her, and going through the accumulated papers, books, and stuff of 23 years.
A number of people have asked me what I intend to do with my blog. When I started writing these short essays four years ago, I didn’t know if I’d like it. But 200 posts later, I don’t want to stop.
I feel a kinship with Bradley Manning. In all likelihood a few weeks from now a military judge will sentence him to serve several decades in prison for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. My parents, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, were convicted of violating the same act and executed just over 60 years ago when I was six years old. But that’s only the beginning of my sense of connection with him. The prosecutors, and now the judge, have labeled Manning’s actions espionage, theft and several other unsavory terms. Stripped of the pejorative legal expressions, howev
One of my most enjoyable tasks as part of the staff transition underway at the RFC has been to review communication from beneficiaries from the past few years.
Under cover of darkness on July 28th, 2012 three members of Transform Now Plowshares used wire cutters to breach the fence at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The group, which included an 83-year-old nun, were all pacifists who had engaged in civil disobedience over the years in support of their anti-war beliefs. They expected to be arrested immediately, but when no guard appeared they moved deeper into the complex, cutting through three more fences before reaching a storage fac