[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 10, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S2075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                        REMEMBERING LANI SILVER

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, it is with a heavy heart that I ask 
my colleagues to join me today in honoring the memory of a remarkable 
woman, Lani Silver. Lani was a passionate activist, oral historian, 
journalist, filmmaker, speaker, and artist who passed away January 28, 
2009.
  Lani was born on March 28, 1948, in Lynn, MA. Shortly after she was 
born, her family moved to San Francisco. When she was 19, Lani traveled 
to South Africa, where she observed the awful impacts of apartheid. 
Lani was profoundly affected by this experience, and when she returned 
to San Francisco she began what was to become a lifetime commitment to 
progressive causes.
  In 1981, Lani founded the Holocaust Oral History Project. Over the 
next 20 years she recorded over 1,700 oral histories, with over 1,400 
Holocaust survivors and witnesses. Lani also served as a consultant to 
Steven Speilberg's Shoah Foundation, which recorded 53,000 Holocaust 
survivor oral histories. Thanks to Lani's vision and determination, 
these valuable stories were not lost forever.
  Lani's commitment to social justice took many forms. In 2006 she 
cowrote and produced an opera about Yukiko Sugihara, a Japanese 
diplomat in Lithuania who, during World War II rescued thousands of 
Jews during the Holocaust by hand-writing visas against the orders of 
the Japanese Government. Lani also organized events, exhibits, and 
media campaigns around the world to honor Sugihara and make sure his 
important story would not be forgotten.
  In 2000, Lani founded the James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History Project, 
in honor of James Byrd, Jr., who was brutally murdered in Jasper, TX, 
in 1998 by three White supremacists. The project has recorded 2,500 
oral histories on racism in America with participants from the San 
Francisco Bay area, Jasper, and Houston, TX.
  Lani's many contributions have not gone unrecognized. In 1996, Lani 
received the Woman of the Year award from KQED public television and 
radio, and in 2003 she received the Alumni of the Year award from the 
City College of San Francisco.
  Lani stood out as a driven activist who cared for her community 
deeply and will be remembered by friends and colleagues as earnest, 
humble, and dedicated to the ongoing fight for equality and fairness. 
Her optimism, dedication, and courage are reflected by the thousands of 
individuals whose lives she has enriched and improved. We will always 
be grateful for Lani's example of passionate activism.
  Lani is survived by sisters Lori Silver and Lynn Jacobs; nieces Sara 
Silver Jacobs, Brette Silver Jacobs, and Lauren Shaber; nephews Jose 
Jacobs and Justin Shaber, and brother-in-law Syd Shaber. Our hearts go 
out to Lani's family and friends during this difficult time.

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