We All Deserve a Place of Refuge

And we channel our despair, our rage into action.

Tomorrow, Tuesday November 7, is Election Day in Mississippi. Make a plan to vote. Find your polling place and see your sample ballot. Check out the Mississippi Today Voter Guide for more information about the statewide candidates. Take a selfie with your “I Voted” sticker and tag us on Instagram.

Rooted explores stories of place from the people who call Mississippi home, with the aim of making our state a more just, more equitable place to live and thrive. Each week we ask: what does it mean to live in Mississippi? To be from Mississippi? The answers to these questions vary depending on the individual and the day. But a common thread I see among Rooted contributors is that to call Mississippi home is to answer a higher calling. If you choose Mississippi, you choose the underdog. You call out injustice when you see it. You channel rage into action. You fight close-minded bigotry with open-hearted love.

This month, I have also been asking myself: What does it mean to be a Jew in Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.A? What does it mean to align myself with the struggle for equality and liberation? It has been an especially lonely, isolating month, living in a state where only 0.5% of the population identifies as Jewish. I have been bolstered by the company of my Southern Jewish friends, like Rooted editor Shira Muroff, as well as moments of bittersweet interfaith solidarity in my community.