STATEMENT

We are aware that one of our poets, Tracy Soren, has become part of a controversy regarding the cancellation of a panel at the national J Street Conference in Washington. In the organization’s official statement, they claim that in the name of “being critical of the use and abuse of Holocaust imagery and metaphors,” it would be “inappropriate” that they feature poets “whose poetry has used such imagery in the past and might also be offensive to some conference participants.”

We disagree with the censoring of this discussion before it began, and further believe that Ms. Soren has been falsely labeled under this statement, as well as in various media references depicting the session in question as “anti-Israel” or a “poetry slam.” The session, to include non-competitive performance poetry and a panel discussion, was titled “Culture as a Tool for Change,” as seen HERE.

Ms. Soren is a gifted poet, and one sensitive to and proud of her Jewish heritage. She has never used, much less abused Holocaust imagery in her poetry. Her viewpoint on the Arab-Israeli conflict is her own, and admittedly complex, to the point that she has as of yet refrained from participating in that dialogue with her art.

We fully support Ms. Soren in her quest to clarify the current misrepresentations of her beliefs, wherever they might arise.