Arlene Frank

Because I’m the daughter of Holocaust survivors

I am Jewish. I am a feminist. I am a daughter of immigrants who were Holocaust survivors. I am a mother. I am a lifelong Detroiter. I believe in comprehensive racial and gender equality, economic and social justice, and lasting peace for all. Each of these threads weave the tapestry of who I am, and they are the foundation of who I am supporting in the upcoming election.

My parents, Holocaust survivors, were the victims of hate, bigotry, and violence—enduring lies about ruining their homeland and blame for every economic and social problem. The lies, blame, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-immigrant sentiments that are currently being advanced are reminiscent of the Nazi propaganda that forced my father into a concentration camp and my mother to scrub the streets of her beloved Vienna while hate was spewed at her. I choose to support and vote for a president who does not mimic these dangerous tropes and who embraces the value of the diversity of humanity.

As a child of immigrants who began their lives again in America but faced discrimination and continued to endure lies about their very being, this election and the vilification of immigrants hits particularly close to home. To be perfectly honest, hearing former President Donald Trump and his supporters disparage and vilify immigrants makes me glad that my parents are no longer alive.

As a feminist, I am supporting Harris because of her strong positions on reproductive rights and choice, LGBTQ+ rights, and equality for all human beings. Reproductive rights and choice and autonomy over one’s body are of utmost importance to me, and since Roe was overturned, I support someone whose policies will protect pregnant people’s choices. I appreciate the importance of affordable childcare and home health care for our elders, for which women are overwhelmingly responsible, and Harris’s economic plan understands these vital needs.

I am a progressive Jew who believes in the concept of tikkun olam, repairing the world. I support the right of the people of Israel to live in a democracy in peace, free from terror and the unnecessary loss of innocent lives. And I support the right of the people of Palestine, the West Bank, and Israel’s neighboring countries to live in a democracy in peace, free from terror and the unnecessary loss of innocent lives. And while the political, religious, economic, and cultural intricacies and challenges of creating this situation are beyond what I can knowledgeably propose, I believe that Harris has the genuine desire and ability to work to find an end to the horrific war in the Middle East, that she is the best choice to work earnestly, resolutely, and fairly to bring a solution to fruition, and that a Harris presidency will consider the needs of all the people who inhabit that region in negotiating peace and justice.

As a mother, I want to see a world where the next generations can be assured of equality and prosperity that isn’t dependent on the exclusion of others. Where affordable and comprehensive healthcare coverage is available for all, where democracy and our Constitution will be defended and upheld, where economic and social justice and all paying their fair share is valued, where the president will be the president of all Americans and not try to gaslight us.

As a lifelong Detroiter, I know that the economic policies of a Harris presidency will be far better for my city than those of the undemocratic and totalitarian Project 2025 plan. The economy of our nation, while certainly not perfect, has had good news of late, and with the progressive policies of a Harris presidency addressing human need over corporate greed can continue to bring good news and grow our economy in ways that meet the needs of all.

For all these reasons, and many more, I choose to support someone whose beliefs and policies embody the essence of what being Jewish, a feminist, a daughter of immigrants, a mother, and a Detroiter mean to me and are the soul of my expression of self.

I am voting for integrity, truth telling, kindness, justice, economic growth and stability, reproductive choice, diversity and equality, democracy, peace, and much more. I am voting for a better, and more beautiful, world for all. I am proudly voting for Kamala Harris.

[Please note: this essay was originally published in the Detroit Free Press on October 19, 2024.]

Arlene Frank is the former executive director of Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, former director of the Oakland Community College Womencenter, and lifelong Detroiter.