I am delighted to announce the creation of the Moish and Lillian Antopol Fund which will provide significant annual support for “the children of targeted activists who face the unintended consequences of their parents’ resistance.” Created by their children, the fund honors Moish and Lillian’s activism and seeks to transform the family’s experience of targeting and repression into support for kids suffering through similar experiences today.
As the family explains,
“Our parents, Moish and Lillian Antopol, were hounded by the FBI for labor organizing and Communist Party activities promoting human brotherhood, justice and world peace. All of that was considered subversive during our childhood years from the 1940s through the early 1960s. Our father’s imprisonment occurred before we were born (his cell-mate, also a labor organizer during the Depression, was our mother’s brother who arranged a blind date at a Communist Youth Organization rally).
The memories of our childhood experiences enable us to empathize with the families helped by the RFC. We understand the pressures of living under government scrutiny and illegal surveillance. In our blue-collar family, the blacklist caused constant financial insecurity. Our parents did not intend for us to sense their defiance and fear, to feel isolated in our neighborhood, to get indigestion when FBI agents barged in at dinner times, to learn wariness or to shoulder the terrible burden of keeping dangerous secrets.
With gratitude, we remember sharing ongoing support with our family’s brave and generous comrades and the freedom of being with their children. We cherish enduring images of our mother leading songs, our father leading discussions, and the fun we had at Party picnics. Our lives have honored our parents’ values. With this fund in our parents’ memory we carry forward our legacy to another generation of activists who continue the struggle for freedom, justice and peace.”
With gratitude to the Antopol family for their generosity, we join them in honoring Moish and Lillian’s resistance and commit ourselves to carrying it forward. —Jenn Meeropol
2013 RECIPIENTS OF THE MOISH AND LILLIAN ANTOPOL FUND
Spring 2013
Youth Opposes Military in School. $1000 Development grant for the 22-year-old who protested the presence of JROTC shooting ranges on his high school campus and that military recruiters outnumbered college counselors. In retaliation, his principal banned him from his own commencement ceremony. CA
Fall 2013 (See related article for detailed grant descriptions identified by “Antopol Fund”)
3. Young Activist Endures Assault and Arson
6. Labor Organizer Tortured
18. Mother Gives Birth Behind Bars
36. Mother’s Truck Set on Fire
39. Family’s Home Bulldozed
44. Father Fired for Reporting the Truth
55. Educational Support for Daughters of War Resister