Rachel Corrie's Story is One America Needs to Know, Too

“Everyone has a right to life, liberty and security of person” — Article 3, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Rachel Corrie is well remembered in Palestine, the same thing should take place in her home country, the U.S.A.

(EUGENE, Ore.) - Lord Leebrick Theatre Co.’s production of “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” recently ended, ably directed by Carol Dennis with Rachel’s role well-performed by Nicole Trobaugh. We thank the theater for staging this important work, now translated into some half-dozen languages and staged in over a dozen countries to date.

We agree with Craig Weinerman’s March 9 guest viewpoint that more context for the events leading to Rachel’s death was needed, and we provided some basics on one-page handouts to theater-goers at each performance. On the first two nights our handouts corrected misinformation on the theater’s website and playbill, which managers agreed to remove after speaking with the Corries.

Following this, what Weinerman described as our “aggressive and defamatory anti-Israel advocacy” on new handouts included the mission statement of the International Solidarity Movement with which Rachel worked, which describes itself as “a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli apartheid in Palestine by using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles.”

It continues, “Founded by a small group of primarily Palestinian and Israeli activists in August 2001, ISM aims to support and strengthen the Palestinian popular resistance by providing the Palestinian people with two resources, international solidarity and an international voice with which to nonviolently resist an overwhelming military occupation force.”

We added, “Martin Luther King once said, ‘The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.’ By joining the ISM, Rachel was not simply following personal beliefs and youthful idealism, but was engaging directly in shaping this historical arc, defending the weak from abuse by the strong, challenging cruelty and injustice, and supporting fundamental human rights under international law:

To read the rest of Jack's article, visit the Eugene Register Guard.