Activists took part in demonstrations. wrote letters to Soviet officials. visited refuseniks in the Soviet Union. sent packages to imprisoned refuseniks. and never quit working on their behalf. It was an impressive demonstration of determination and unity. And as this resolution notes. almost twenty years ago. on December 6. 1987. an estimated 250.000 persons demonstrated on the National Mall here in Washington on behalf of Soviet Jewish emigration as President Reagan prepared for a summit meeting with General Secretary Gorbachev. African Americans joined the rally in large numbers due in part to the active Jewish participation in the civil rights movement in the United States. One of these African American leaders eloquently expressed why so many nonJews were there. He said. "As long as one Jew is kept against his will in the Soviet Union. we are all Jews." A few years later. as the Soviet Union was collapsing and perestroika and glasnost became the watchwords. the barriers to Soviet Jewish emigration were lifted. Justice had at last prevailed. Mr.
Keywords matched
emigration