Yes, it’s happened. We’ve been cited as a source in this week’s Washington Jewish Week in a piece about the Virginia immigration legislation. I appreciate the love. It’s a bit funny I must admit. I do wish Greenberg had contacted me for a decent quote rather than pulling a quick blip from the site. And also didn’t write about me as if he was reading a police or court report. “The J Voices founder and editor is a Cole Krawitz, who identifies himself in the blog as a writer, poet and activist who lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., before recently relocating to California.”

I love it. A Cole Krawitz. Too much. Either way, I’m glad that amidst a number of Jewish organizations waffling over how to speak out on a local issue because they don’t usually tackle local issues, we were able to make a statement. It does help not being weighed down by organizational bureaucracy. At the same time, it also raises important reminders about the need for more Jewish local organizing groups, even amidst all the craze amongst Jewish groups to become more and more nationally focused.

Here’s the quote:

The Loudoun County resolution ‹ which is preliminary in nature and apparently paves the way for the adoption of concrete policies after further study in the fall ‹ is neither xenophobic nor racist, according to Reid. Opposition to the measure, he said, is largely “knee-jerk liberal reaction” from those who find that a contrarian position in this case “suits their political agenda.”

Not surprisingly, a progressive Jewish blog known as J Voices had a completely different take on the doings in Northern Virginia. In a message posted shortly after the Prince William legislation was adopted, J Voices stated: “If you weren’t doing anything about immigrant rights before, this should raise an alarm or two, nu?”

The piece as a whole is interesting for sure in terms of hearing that Jewish organizations in Virginia were less likely to take public stances on local versus state legislation.

“We chose our battles, and we’ve had good impact at the state level, and maybe we wouldn’t have the same impact locally,” said Debra Linick, JCRC’s assistant director for Northern Virginia and the District.

or

Melanie Maron, executive director of the American Jewish Committee’s Washington chapter, said her organization also favors federal legislation rather than a “piecemeal” local approach. “A lot of these local bills improperly target a specific group of people, and they have a mean-spiritedness that we do not support,” added Maron, who said the AJCommittee does not always take an official position on local issues.

Whether we agree with these particular groups’ politics or not, what this really highlights is the importance of supporting and building local community organizations to be doing broader educational and organizing work. While so many organizations are climbing for the national spotlight, there is a critical need for local organizations who do not see supporting local communities as piecemeal, but rather as an important overall necessity to our strength as a whole.

Do you hear my pitch coming next to find a local organizing (Jewish is good too) near you, and work for local immigrant rights in coalition with immigrant communities? Yeah, I thought you might have. :) And if there aren’t any, well, there’s always more to build.