A tribute to judge Ralph Fertig: Kurdish American Education Society

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur | iKurd.net

Today on April 7th, 2019, members of the Kurdish Communities of Southern California, and a distinguished representative from the Kurdish American Education Society attended a memorial service for the much beloved Judge Ralph Fertig, here in in Los Angeles. Several dignitaries were in attendance, even the Honorable Mayor of Los Angles Mr. Eric Garcetti was present. He was fittingly memorialized as an indefatigable advocate of social justice and a staunch human rights activist.

Members of the Kurdish Community were there in Attendance to honor and to pay their respects to Judge Ralph Fertig. His influential achievements were borne of deeply held convictions, and fundamentally believed in all our inalienable human rights. One cause he was particularly fierce in defending was that of the Kurdish people. The Kurds, for decades, even centuries, have been historically like the Biblical David, who, by their determined and singlehanded efforts have persevered in defending their rights against those, like the Goliaths of this world, who are all human rights violators and life abusers, there in their homeland, Kurdistan.

Ralph was well aware of the just and timeless struggle of the Kurdish peoples. He took a keen interest in the many arrests and overt assassinations of their political leaders as well as the imprisonment and execution of Kurdish intellectuals. He took special note of the total disenfranchisement of political activists by the Iranian, Turkic, Iraqi & Syrian governments for many ongoing decades; this is still continuing to this day as we’ve witnessed the ongoing fight against ISIS and the shadowy organizations supporting them.

The plight of the Kurds first hit home for Ralph back in 1988. That was the year when the world witnessed Saddam’s brutal regime utterly annihilated the Kurdish town of Halabja by means of a lethal chemical attack which left thousands of innocent human beings lying dead. He confessed to me his horrific shock at the images of so many young but lifeless bodies lying there in Halabja’s desolated streets. Ralph recalled one time that he could hear in his mind the panicked cries and anxious screams as the victims gasped for their last breath and could even imagine the ensuing silence; his heart was truly extended to them all. The cries and screams of the Kurds of that day no doubt reminded him of another holocaust where millions of his own people died at the hands of another cruel and heartless tyrannical dictator driven by the deadly combination of fear, ignorance, and the racism these give rise to.

Ralph himself was a true mensch. Besides that, he was a good person who upheld the highest ideals of this life. His tireless defense of Human Rights was the result of his personal experience, having both seen and heard the painful suffering of the surviving members of his own Jewish Community during the second world war. He Believed in the rights of marginalized people everywhere. These beliefs took him on a path walked by many a great civil rights leaders before him, always championing the inherent dignity of human life; civil rights leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Mahatmas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, individuals who, like Ralph, have made the world a better place for the following génération, selflessly extending the quality and quantity of life for countless others.

KAES - Kurdish American Education Society in Los Angeles — Kurdish American Education Society KAES in Los Angeles

The role of a human rights defender is truly noble, one which not only determinedly perseveres, building upon the recognized work of great leaders in our past, but also one which struggles with the world’s present injustices, as well as helping to forge future leaders who passionately seek to secure that which has been gained during this last period of humanity’s unprecedented growth with its inherent striving, toil, and immense personal sacrifice.

Ralph was a good judge. He was a wise and fair adjudicator who held firmly in his impartial hand the honorable scales of real justice. He judiciously advocated and delivered justice for many individuals whose rights were forsaken, overwhelmed and denied.

My deepest thanks now go out to you Ralph, for being a good human being, a great mensch, an honorable man of true justice, a good defender of human rights, and most of all, a good friend to the Kurds, I hope you know how much you will be missed by those you helped to keep the light of justice lit.

Blessed be your soul, and again, Thank you.

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur, the President of Kurdish American Education Society, Los Angeles, U.S.

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