THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

The first question gave Asner a
chance to explain how he felt about
being a Progressive Jew. Replied
Asner, "It's funny, I always thought
that the reason you were Jewish was to
be a progressive. So in this day and age
of many Roy Cohns running around
the world it seems a contradiction of
terms. I hope that the naturalness of
my being a progressive and the auto-
maticness of my being a progressive
will return to that stage; that the so-
called Neo-Liberals who have cropped
up in this Age of Reagan are merely a
hula-hoop fad and will disappear, and
that the bedrock, that mainstay of
Judaism that I've always come to be-
lieve in, the progressive, the identifi-
cation with the disenfranchised, the
dispossessed, will resume. . . . The
Judaism I know, the Judaism I adhere
to, is what New Jewish Agenda es-
pouses. I think that is basic Judaism."
Then Asner talked about the re-
cent vandalization and defacement of
his home by members of a neo-Nazi
group. He said he was speaking at an
American Civil Liberties Union con-
vention in Boulder, Colo. when he
heard about the incident. "I was told,"
said Asner, "that a report called in

Actor Ed Asner is a leading spokesman
for the NJA.

that this was done due to my participa-
tion in the spread of international
Communism and international
Zionism. And I thought what a con-
tradiction in terms there too . . . My
assistant told me that two neighbors
across the street had most of it cleaned
up already. Still, when I drove up to
the house on my return, I still expected
to see vestiges of the damage and a
knot (formed) in my stomach over
what I was about to confront. When I
came up to my, door (on . which "Kill

.

Jews" and a swastika had been spray
painted), I was delighted and in a way
disappointed. It looked better than
when I had left town. So out of that
ugly incident, two very nice men who
are my neighbors, and whom I had a
fleeting relationship with up until
that time, became steadfast, strong
people that I owed a great deal to. So
when I refer to the incident, I say that I
came out ahead on the deal."
Had Asner considered the possi-
bility that the defacement of his home
may actually have been the work of
one of the right-wing Jewish defense
groups opposed to progressive
Judaism? The anonymous caller who
telephoned the news media to alert
them to the act identified himself as a
member of the National Socialist Lib-
eration Front and said, "We claim re-
sponsibility for the attack on the home
of the Communist Jew pig Ed Asner."
Anser reflected for a moment and
replied, "I suppose there are people
who think it could be they (a right-
wing Jewish organization). My home
was picketed by the JDL at a previous
time when the Screen Actors Guild (of
which Asner is president) voted a con-
tribution to the Vanessa Redgrave suit
(against the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra) and they elected me as a
target for displeasure. Whether
they're that subtle that they would use
that kind of subterfuge — I don't
know."
Lately, Asner's commitment to
social causes appear to be taking pre-
cedence over his acting appearances.
But it isn't all by choice. Asner says he
hasn't maintained his commitments
as effectively as he could. "I tend to
scattershot," he explained, "rather
than be monumentally effective in a
few areas as I should be. It is an
enervating procedure that I have been
following for four, years and I would
hope to find simplification and greater
clarification in whatever activities I
engage in — in terms of progressive
activism . . . When I'm given that re-
quest to be here or to be there, and how
very necessary it is especially in this
Day of Reagan . . . I'm too flabby to
resist . . . There's such a great need out
there for activism . . . but far, far too
many Americans are sitting on their
voices."
When the Lou Grant Show was
cancelled on network television, Asner
said part of the cancellation was moti-
vated by opposition to his activism.
Has his acting career , continued to suf-
fer? Has he lost jobs or been turned
away as a result of his increased public
exposure as an outspoken advocate of
often-politically unpopular causes?
"Some of that has occurred in the
past," replied Asner. "I don't work a
lot. Nowhere near as much as I would

Continued on Page 50

.

"Look, I don't know who those
people are, but for any group to

claim they are the last bastion of
Jewish activism is just plain
bullshit."
So Says Richard N. (Rick)
Wiener, the 35-year-old political

Rick Wiener, Democratic Party
chairman.

vvundkerkind and Michigan Demo-
cratic Party chair since 1983.
Wiener took issue with the^
New Jewish Agenda claim during a
recent interview in his Lansing
- office. He maintained Jewish "ac-
tivism (in the Democratic Party) is
as high or even higher than ever
the extent that Jews are active p s
ticipants in the things we care a
.out, whether it's volunteer work or
- raising money or giving money;
whether for a cause or an indi-
vidual. And the (Jewish) level n
volvement with candidates on
federal level has gottengreater aV
the last half-dozen

iii

Friday, July 26, 1985 41

