Report on a meeting with Rep. Johnny Olszewski on February 13, 2026 in his Towson office

Friends,

I advocate that you consider getting to know your three members of Congress.  This can include calling and emailing the local and the D.C. offices.  In my opinion, though, it is best to visit the local office on a regular basis and voice your opinion.  It is also important to develop a relationship with the staff.  They are usually more progressive than the member of Congress and can be your conduit to the elected official.  And do your best to meet with your members of Congress.  It is not an easy task, but it can be done.  In the case below, this meeting took place after a year of showing up in the local office and being persistent.  Kagiso, Max

Report on meeting with Rep. Johnny Olszewski on February 13, 2026 in his Towson office

Attendees included the representative and his staff members, Jack Berson, Sean Naron and Lindsey MacGregor, and Ronda Cooperstein, Janice Sevre-Duszynska and Max Obuszewski.

Janice and Max prepared statements which they gave the staffers before Rep. Olszewski entered the room.  Their idea was to reference the documents but to speak extemporaneous.  Once Janice’s member of Congress entered the room, he shook our hands as we introduced ourselves.  Janice spoke to him in Polish, but Olszewski did not grow up in a Polish neighborhood and thus did not know many of the traditions.  Janice in Milwaukee and Max in Erie, PA lived in a Polish-American neighborhood and went to a Polish-American school and church.  When Janice asked him about Polish food, he did say he ate pierogi and kielbasa.

Ronda then thanked him for meeting with us, and highlighted all of the ills visited upon the Palestinians.  She informed him that there was a Save Jerusalem Coalition Campaign which helped in bringing about a congressional letter signed by over 75 members of Congress from both the House and Senate urging the administration to stop Israeli annexation efforts in the West Bank and demanding more aggressive U.S. intervention.

"Alongside the Knesset’s preliminary approval of two draft bills to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank," the letter states, "that body is also considering dozens of other proposed bills which, if enacted, would formalize various forms of annexation. Of particular concern are bills that would absorb settlements north, east, and south of Jerusalem to create an expanded municipality under Israeli control. Max’s member of Congress Kweisi Mfume and our senators Chris Van Hollen & Angela Alsobrooks were signatories.  Olszewski did not sign on, nor did Jamie Raskin.

Ronda then spoke about Gen. Smedley Butler and his book War is a Racket.  It was an educational moment.  She asked me if I knew Gen. Butler? No, I did not know him but saw a documentary about him at the Charles Theatre in the mid-1980s.  After the meeting she emailed the office a link to a booklet authored by the radical general.

Another issue she raised was getting a Zoom with Rabbi Arik Ascherman and members of the Foreign Relations Committee.  Johnny O and Kweisi are members of the Committee.  However, Johnny O said he is a first-year member, and the chair Brian Mast probably doesn’t know his name.  Ronda arranged a Zoom with O’s staff previously which was well-received,  O indicated he will try to arrange a Zoom with some members of the committee.  Note the rabbi was born in Erie, PA.

I pointed out that I was a Peace Corp volunteer in Botswana which borders South Africa, and that I saw the apartheid system.  Our group landed at Jo’Berg’s airport during a state of emergency, as the government killed Steve Biko in 1977 a few days before our arrival. The military checked our luggage looking for porno magazines.  In 1979 a nuclear test was detected while I was in Botswana.  I was not aware until years later that Israel helped develop the apartheid bomb.

Then in 1989 I was part of a human rights delegation to Israel/occupied Palestine. Now I witnessed Israeli apartheid in both the West Bank and in Gaza.  Most of the places I visited in Gaza, including Al Shifa Hospital, have been destroyed. I shared what I saw at Rafah.  The border to Egypt was closed, but people on each side were placing fingers through the mesh to touch a loved one.  At the airport in Tel Aviv as our group was departing, I was taken into custody and told by Shin Bet to remove my clothes but for my boxer shorts. Current photographs of undressed Palestinian took me back to the interrogation.  They did release me in time to board the flight back to Paris.

I then asked  O to condemn this Board of Peace and the false notion that a ceasefire actually exists.  I then informed the young staff members that Baltimore’s peace and justice community convinced both senators, Mikulski and Sarbanes, and four members of Congress in Maryland to vote against the illegal invasion of Iraq.

As a film buff, I urged the group to see THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB and NO OTHER LAND.  Regarding the latter film, an Oscar did not prevent the murder of the filmmaker.

 Janice in her letter asked O to co-sponsor H. R. 3565 – Block the Bombs Act and thanked him for his co-sponsorship of H. R. 3046 the West Bank Violence Prevention Act.  As he has in the past, he indicated he was opposed to some portion of Block the Bombs Act. He said not being a co-sponsor does not mean he would not vote for the legislation.  He stressed he is a strong supporter of a two-state solution, and is pained by the ongoing suffering.  Biden who was a Zionist said the same thing, as do almost all Democrats.  In reality, only a unitary state with equal rights for all is a real solution.  We did not challenge O’s point of view.

 Janice also expressed her concern about money in politics, specifically military contractors who profit from wars.  He agreed with her. Ronda followed up about taking AIPAC money.  His response was that he is not influenced by his donors, and tries to vote the right way.

 He thanked us for our advocacy.  We thanked him for having an open door office. He indicated we are all on the same page, and that he is pained by the ongoing suffering.   He was very optimistic that change in coming next January.

 One concern of his was Trump’s use of pardons.  He told us he will introduce legislation to control a president’s use of pardons.  Later I saw an article about his plan in The Baltimore Sun.

 As a former American government teacher, he informed us how excited he was to go to Congress. What a joke today. Once there his eyes were opened to the reality of Trump World.  We thanked him for standing together with other elected officials in defiance to ICE. 

 Before leaving he against shook our hands.  I informed him that Maryland Peace Action is working on a Town Hall with Senator Alsobrooks.  He was very interested and wanted to be kept informed.

 Afterwards, Jack Berson told us that his family escaped Poland around the time of World War II.  I told him that I was at Auschwitz and suggested he may want to see two films. The first A REAL PAIN was about two cousins going to Poland to find their grandmother’s house.  The other one is ZONE OF INTERST, which is much darker as it tells the story of Commandant Rudolf Hoss moving his family inside the death camp.  Hoss was hung between the house and the gas chambers.  

 We chatted with the staff for a few more minutes, and indicated we will be in touch.  Every few weeks Janice would deliver a letter to the office calling on O to do the right thing.  Jack informed us one of letters caused her representative to write to Secretary of State Mario Rubio.  The three of us as well as others plan to continue to work with this office as there are indications our voices are respected.  Later Ronda made this observation:  “It was a truly inspiring meeting. We believe he is acting in good faith and will continue to help us move forward on this issue.”    

 Kagiso, Max

 Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs