A Letter To Harvey Milk By Leslea Newman

Do you remember our visit to the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C.? And how it evoked a feeling of sympathy so strong, we ended up speaking with a survivor ourselves? She explained to us how the Jewish community continues to face prejudice today. This survivor reminds me of the main character in a short story titled, “A Letter to Harvey Milk” by Leslea Newman. In the story, an elderly man named Harry, who survived the Holocaust, joins a writing class at a Senior Center. The text is composed entirely of Harry’s handwritten notes from the journal he used. It is through his writing that we watch his relationship with the writing instructor, Barbara, develop. She is a younger Jewish woman who was rejected by her family for being homosexual. Considering

The title itself is an allusion to the first openly gay politician elected in California. The San Francisco Supervisor of 1978, Harvey Milk, is also a prominent figure in the lives of both Barbara and Harry. He was the reason Barbara came out to her parents and was a regular at Harry’s old butcher shop. When asked to dedicate a letter to someone in his past, Harry deviates from the apparent choice of his late wife and mother, and strangely settles on Harvey Milk. From the title and first page alone, Newman establishes Harvey as an influential part of the story. This is no accident. Newman deliberately chose Harvey Milk because he is both gay and Jewish. Not only that, he is considered an icon to both communities alike. Newman continuously alludes to Harvey as a demonstration of the connection between marginalized groups. In his letter, Harry tells Harvey about the way his death was commemorated by the LGBTQ community, writing, “they made speeches for you, Harvey… You were a mensh, Harvey a mensh with a heart of gold” (Newman 6). This is in reference to the parades, speeches and protests held as tribute to Harvey’s assassination in 1978. Notice how Newman describes this historic LGBTQ event with Yiddish terms, illustrating a blend in communities. The grief Harry expresses in his letter goes hand-in-hand with the grief felt by the protesters. Newman is using this historical event to exemplify a resemblance between the LGBTQ community and the Jewish community. As Barbara reads his letter, the use of Yiddish words reinforces the same sentiments she and the protesters exhibited on that day but from an alternative, supporting group of people. This illustrates to the reader how the struggles of two different communities can be intertwined. Another repeated allusion in the story is to the Holocaust. As Harry reveals the story of his friend Izzie, who had an intimate relationship with another