This Week

Washington Watch

Census Yes, Bias Yes?

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

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3/10
2000

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coalition of religious groups
— including a prominent
Reform organization —
announced plans this week
to help the Census Bureau get an
accurate count as it undertakes this
year's headcount.
At the same time, a leading Jewish
activist is urging the government to
drop its ban on asking questions about
religious affiliation as part of the cen-
sus — a move that would please
Jewish federations, which want the
information to help plan programs
and fund drives, but would outrage
other Jewish groups.
At a news conference this week,
Catholic, Jewish and Muslim leaders
announced plans to use their religious
facilities to encourage congregants to
fill out and return the census ques-
tionnaires.
Rabbi David Saperstein, director of
the Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism, said the census push is a sim-
ple matter of social justice.
"Disproportionately, the people
who are not counted are the poor, the
vulnerable and the minorities," the
rabbi said.
The resulting undercount, he said,
means that these groups "lose money
for transportation, education, health
care and other services that would
otherwise be available. And they lose
congressional districts, and therefore
the right to be represented."
Religious institutions, he said, can
reach many of those who typically do
not respond to the census because of
distrust of the government.
On a more controversial subject,
Rabbi Saperstein said it's time for the
government to lift the prohibition
against asking about religious affilia-
tion — something that was dropped,
in part, because of concerns raised by
Jewish groups and other minorities.
"The census could provide absolutely
vital information that would be far
more accurate and comprehensive than
any survey the Jewish community could
do on its own," he said. Changing
Jewish demographics would make a
census database that includes religious
affiliation particularly valuable, he said.
Generally, Jewish federations agree,
but most Jewish defense agencies,
including the American Jewish

Congress and the Anti-Defamation
League, say it's unconstitutional.
There is another reason for resistance
to asking about religion; some Jewish
politicos fear it could highlight the
declining importance of Jews in many
congressional districts as the communi-
ty disperses across the country.
That, they worry, could have a devas-
tating impact on Jewish political clout.

Bias Program Threatened

Jewish groups led by the Anti-
Defamation League mobilized this
week to fight a surprise move to kill a
bias-reduction program in the schools.
Sen. Jeff Sessions is pressing an
amendment to the Elementary and
Secondary Education Reauthorization
Act (ESEA) eliminating a Department
of Education program that develops
and supports anti-bias and hate crimes
prevention programs. The Alabama
Republican and other Senate conserva-
tives are unhappy with the inclusion
of sexual orientation in the program's
discussion of hate-inspired violence.
The program was incorporated in
sections of the 1994 education law
aimed at curbing school violence. It
included educational and training
programs to reduce hate crimes,
conflict-resolution training and
materials and partnership programs
between local agencies and commu-
nity organizations to develop initia-
tives to reduce bias-motivated violence.
Michael Lieberman, counsel for the
ADL's Washington office, said the
result has been a number of successful
and innovative programs. This week
the ADL, backed by 69 civil rights
groups ranging from the American
Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
to Women of Reform Judaism, sent a
letter to Capitol Hill urging lawmak-
ers to reject the Sessions amendment.

Museum Downgrade

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum has quietly rewritten the job
description for the head of its academ-
ic arm and filled the post with an
administrator instead of a scholar.
In 1998, John K. Roth, a
Claremont-McKenna College histori-
an, was named director of the muse-
um's Center for Advanced Holocaust
Studies. But he withdrew after foes
disclosed articles that he had written
likening Israeli actions in the West

Bank to Nazi resettlement policies.
Since then, the gun-shy U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Council has left
the post vacant. Now, in a move that
was announced only to council mem-
bers, an appointment has been made —
but for a somewhat less glittery position.
Paul Shapiro, formerly a special
director to museum director Sara
Bloomfield, has taken over as center
director. Council sources say the job has
been redefined as more of an adminis-
trative than a scholarly post; they have
abandoned their hope of finding a big-
name scholar to head up the center.
"Basically, it was too hard to find
someone who would leave academia
for the very volatile environment of
the museum," said one close observer
of the council. "And it was hard to
find someone without a record of
scholarship that would prove contro-
versial to one group or another."
Shapiro, a former U.S. Information
Agency official, is an expert in
Romania and the Holocaust, but his
primary credentials for the center job
are administrative.

Mixed Signals

Confused about Iran? So are policy-
makers in Washington, who are
pulling in different directions as the
Iranian government changes.
Last week, Congress passed a mea-
sure that could impose sanctions on
Russian companies that contribute to
arms proliferation in Iran.
The measure, a priority for the
American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, passed without a single
dissenting vote.
But the measure includes broad
waiver authority that makes it unlikely
sanctions will be imposed anytime
soon. "We would have liked to see it
tighter," said Malcolm Hoenlein, exec-
utive vice chair of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations. "But it still sends an
important message."
The twice-yearly reporting require-
ment, Jewish activists say, will also
keep Washington policymakers
focused on the Iranian danger.
Hoenlein downplayed the recent
electoral victory of Iranian moderates.
"So far we haven't seen any real
change," he said, adding that the real
test would be the new government's
treatment of 13 Iranian Jews charged
with spying for Israel. On Monday,
Vice President Al Gore, speaking to the
Conference, said the administration
will also regard that as a key test of the
intentions of the new government.

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