The Light Flickers

This issue of Smith’s Report must be the first ever that lacks the byline of Bradley Smith.

Our namesake and “face” has given over what for anyone else would be their “golden years” to the fight for freedom to discuss openly what might be history’s most-contended subject. It is a supreme act of self-sacrifice, perhaps to be compared with the self-immolation of Reinhold Elstner in Munich in 1995, which Elstner accompanied with a manifesto that haunts every broad conscience to this very day.

But Bradley’s fight has not consumed him, nor has it, as in cases such as that of his younger (by ten years) opponent, Abraham Foxman, enriched him financially. He struggles on, in the face of advancing age, implacable opposition, massively inferior funding compared with that of his opponents, and intractable deficiencies of means not only for conducting the good fight, but even for sustaining his meager standard of living and growing medical needs.

Recently, in addition to the cancer and other afflictions he has borne through the years, his doctor added concerns for his heart. Bradley long since earned his rest, but he has never taken it. As of press time, he has been slowed to a crawl compared to the vigorous pace he has maintained through all the years we’ve known him.

Get well, Bradley. The fight goes on—without you if it must, but with you always as an inspiring example for all of us who follow in your courageous footsteps.