New Exhibit Remembers the Past Speaks to the Present.
By Caryl Butterley
The LJD Jewish Family & Community Services (JFCS) is an organization rooted in the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam or “repairing the world.” JFCS puts this into practice through its many social service programs, including child welfare, financial assistance, mental health counseling, senior services, and so much more. At the heart of the agency stands the Frisch Family Holocaust Memorial Gallery, a space dedicated to remembering the six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust and as a place for speaking truth and telling stories that need to be told.
The newest gallery exhibit, “We Could Not Be Silent,” highlights an inspiring act of solidarity when, over the course of three days in June of 1964, events transpired that changed our nation’s history and were a significant factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
This was an era when Black citizens and their allies in St. Augustine were striving to desegregate private and public properties—from hotels to lunch counters, to pools, to public beaches. When Martin Luther King, Jr. arrived in St. Augustine to work with local movement leaders, he encountered an environment of incredible hostility and violence.
