Montana Tucker: Spreading the word
Montana Tucker, an America singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, videographer and social media celebrity, opened the day’s program with these remarks.
Every day on my social media platforms, I am sharing the real and raw stories of those whose lives have been forever altered — hostages, survivors clinging to the pieces of their former lives, and families waiting for answers.
When I walked the Grammys red carpet this year, I chose to wear a dress with a yellow ribbon reading, “bring them home.” I wanted to do everything that I could to make sure no one missed my message, and to make sure the hostages and their families felt seen and heard. …
For me, this is extremely personal. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and my zaydi used to tell me stories about how he was beaten up daily by Nazi soldiers at the labor camp that he was enslaved to work at because they were trying to force him to say that he hated being a Jew and that he didn’t want to be a Jew anymore. My zaydi refused to give in, and he never gave up. He was never going to stop being a proud Jew.
My grandma, Lily, is still alive today, at the age of 96, She was just 13 years old when she was taken to Auschwitz. She had to watch her own mother get beaten up and dragged off to be killed in the gas chambers. She witnessed atrocities that no child should ever have to see.
[My grandparents] instilled in me a deep Jewish pride and a deep sense of responsibility to remember but also to speak out. It’s that responsibility that led me to create my Holocaust educational docuseries called “How to Never Forget.” …
As I traveled back to Israel and walked among the ruins left by terror, I knew that I had to share the stories of the most vulnerable, the children. These children had to witness similar atrocities as my grandmother witnessed. So I filmed a documentary called “The Children of October 7” [to be released in December].
If we allow terror to silence innocence, if we keep tolerating hate on our campuses, in our cities, in our lives, then we compromise our values, our laws, and ultimately our humanity. We cannot allow that — not now, not ever, never again.
From the beginning of our people’s history, there have been many attempts to wipe Jews off of the planet. But guess what? We are still here, and we will always be here. We are not going anywhere. We are strong, we are powerful, we are resilient, we are proud, and we will never give up.
So let’s say something and do something. Thank you for being here, for standing with Israel and for supporting the cause of justice and peace. Let us continue to stand together to strive for a world where freedom, justice and peace prevail. Am Yirael chai.
