No matter the college percent population or the amount of monetary funding a group has illegitimates a person or a group’s right to actively disagree. Although Philip Kurian’s flawed Oct. 18 column, “The Jews,” tries to tiptoe around it, he echoes the very idea that has fueled anti-Semitism for decades.
The 92,000 people who signed the petition against the Palestine Solidarity Movement conference are not identified as Jews, but as people of conscience who object to an organization that refuses to condemn terrorism. And I would imagine that many of the signers were black, white, Asian, Jewish and Christian. As much of the world, and this country in particular, fights a global war on terror, this very sentiment, whether or not you agree, should be allowed and understood.
Even worse is when Kurian tries to diminish anti-Semitism since most Jews do not have the visible differences that many other minorities who face racism have. Jews certainly cannot “renounce their difference by taking off their yarmulke.” They do not wear their religion and heritage simply upon their heads. They have an identity, although it might not be totally visible, just as ingrained as African-Americans and other minorities.
Racism and anti-Semitism both continue to resonate throughout the United States and the World. And while it is obvious that there is a distinct difference between the two, both are sentiments that must be battled, and the sensitive feelings many have towards them should be respected even if they are not understood.
It doesn’t take lots of money or a great college education to identify ignorance.
Judd Fastenberg
Trinity ’08
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