“If I knew what the word ‘Anti-Semitic’ meant when I was growing up, it would have been an accurate description of how I felt.” That quotation was from a personal conversation with Houston, Texas, Congressman Mickey Leland that I had with him in the late 1980’s. He is one of the most remarkable individuals I have ever met.

Mickey was born in Lubbock,  Texas in 1944, and died in an airplane crash in Ethiopia in 1989 on a mission designed to help save the lives of Ethiopian Jews. Why am I writing now about Mickey?

He was the epitome of a successful Congressman: well-respected, successful, and always engaging. He was someone you did not want as an enemy, who always fought strongly for what he believed. Of first concern to Mickey was people, the young especially, and most of all, those who didn’t have much and were usually trying to better themselves. He was the model for what all members of Congress should aspire to in their careers.

When my wife and I moved to Houston in 1983 so that I could work as Community Relations Director of its Jewish Federation, I encountered Mickey. He had recently begun a very unique effort, The Mickey Leland Kibbutz Program in Israel. This initiative, in various forms and under different names, eventually went national and became what is probably the longest existing and most successful effort designed to improve relations between Jewish and primarily  minority youth. In Houston, you had to be a High School Junior who lived or attended school in Mickey’s Congressional District (the 18th), in order to apply. The District itself was primarily African-American and Hispanic in population, with a small pocket of Anglo residents.

Mickey was someone who succeeded in bridging racial and religious gaps. As the rare member of Congress who was so popular that people, rather than getting re-elected, was his primary interest. Doing what was necessary to meet his own definition of success became his life’s work. In his youth, he was a self-described “anti-Semite” who would later save Jewish lives, and an American Congressman who was friends with problematic world leaders, among them Fidel Castro of Cuba and Colonel Mengistu, the Marxist Dictator of Ethiopia. He was also a respected African-American politician who repeatedly spoke out when he felt leaders of his own or other racial-religious groups did not live up to the high standards he set for them. Those standards were often unique, sometimes difficult to discern and explain, but almost always determined by their effectiveness in  improving people’s lives.

Over the years, the Leland Kibbutz Program immersed 16 and 17 year old youth in an intensive process of discovery. They explored Israel and the administered territories on the West Bank. They engaged with Arab and Israeli youth. Of special importance were encounters with recent immigrants to Israel, especially Ethiopian Jews. The latter had faced discrimination at home not because they were Black, but because they were Jews. Spending eight weeks abroad, most of the returning students seemed genuinely affected by their personal experiences in Israel. Follow-up with the students over the seven years I spent in Houston, allowed me to witness the incredible success some of them achieved. Some went on to become Military officers, members of the media, and business executives. Certainly, their newly-evident confidence in themselves had something to do with their personal choices and  success.

Mickey created the program as the result of a visit he made to Israel while still a member of the Texas Legislature. In discussions with some of Houston’s Jewish leaders upon his return, he noted how much the kibbutz experience might teach youth from his district. The initial concept of the program was vague in its beginning,  but by its third or fourth year, and as a process of review and follow-up ensued, the program was deemed to be moving in the right direction.

As noted above, other American communities adopted variants of the Leland program, including Baltimore in the late 1990’s. Thankfully, the then newly elected Congressman, Elijah Cummings, agreed to take it on and the program was restructured to reflect local conditions. Eventually, a year-round educational component was added, and a Youth Village, Yemin Orde, became its residential base for students when in Israel. Thanks to the leadership of Congressman Cummings, the program has also become a national model.

Mickey Leland was often irascible, argumentative and demanding. So what? He began the kibbutz program because he was concerned about the youth in his Congressional District. It and its countrywide-variants have been battle-tested, and most work. Young people’s lives are affected in a positive direction. Certainly, Members of Congress where the program is not operative can explore its successes with Congressman Cummings. So far, only Democratic Members have done so. With so many new faces in Congress, now is the perfect time for Members to examine these youth initiatives for use in their own districts. Even Republican Members can take advantage of that opportunity. See what one person can accomplish if they only care enough. Thank you Mickey!