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Greenberg's View
Antidote To Anti-Semitism
T
he accession of a German-born cardinal,
Joseph Ratzinger, to lead the Roman
Catholic Church understandably has raised
Jewish concerns.
Pope Benedict XVI was a member of the Hitler
Youth, albeit unwillingly, as a young man and was
also reputed to be among the more conservative
members of the Vatican's inner circle.
Both this pope and his Polish-born predecessor,
Pope John Paul II, lived through the horrors of
World War II and witnessed firsthand the ravages
of the Holocaust. But there were vast differences
between the German and Polish experiences in that
war. There were reasonable questions whether Pope
Benedict would continue to
build on the friendly rela-
tions that Pope John Paul
had cultivated with Judaism.
On his recent visit to Germany, however, the new
pope did not make a false step. His visit to the
rebuilt Roonstrasse Synagogue in Cologne, burned
to the ground by the Nazis in 1938 during
Kristallnacht, was a symbolic milestone.
Even more than John Paul's visit to a Rome syna-
gogue, the first time a sitting pope entered a Jewish
house of worship, Benedict's stop in Cologne, at a
place that suffered through the worst of the
German past, awoke the echoes of history. Pope
Benedict chose to address the phenomenon of ris-
ing European anti-Semitism in Cologne. He also
EDITORIAL
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Doughnut Town
R
emember when it all started going sour
for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick? It was when
a member of his staff, Christine Beatty,
was stopped for a traffic violation and told the
cop: "Do you know who the [obscenity] I am?"
It has been my experience that people who have
to ask that question are not nearly as important as
they think they are.
Nonetheless, it was the mind-set that was outra-
geous; the sense that her position placed her above
the law.
As things developed, that seemed to be
the defining attitude of his administra-
tion; whether it involved perks for old
pals, leased SUVs for spouses, promo-
tions, expense accounts or dealing with
the peasants.
The irate question posed to a cop who was try-
ing to do his job set the tone for all that followed.
How dare you question me! This is my town.
made a point of reaf-
firming his intention to
improve relations with
the State of Israel.
Just as impressive,
however, was his meeting
with Muslim leaders in
the same city. He direct-
ly reminded them of
their "great responsibili-
ty" to educate the young
so that they could "turn
back the wave of cruel
fanaticism that endan-
gers the lives of so many
people and hinders
progress toward world
peace.
The pope made it clear
that Islamic terrorism is
not a phenomenon that
arose simply because of
the existence of Israel. He understood that the tar-
get of the "new barbarism" is also Christianity. In
this, he drew a distinct difference between the posi-
tion of the Catholic Church and the leadership of
several Protestant religious groups, whose knee-jerk
response to terrorism has been to urge divestment
from Israel.
Pope Benedict has been careful to characterize
terrorists as deviants from the true Muslim faith.
Nonetheless, he fixed responsibility exactly right
where it belongs; on religious leaders who turn a
blind eye toward incitement to violence in the
name of Islam.
The Catholic regions of Germany fostered the
worst instances of anti-Semitism in that country's
history. The Rhineland and Bavaria were longtime
breeding grounds for racial hatred. Adolf Hitler
grew up just across the border as an Austrian
Catholic, and his first followers were drawn heavily
from Bavaria.
There is a long and terrible legacy to overcome.
But in the first months of his papacy, Benedict
XVI seems to grasp what the poison of anti-
Semitism, both past and present, can do. In his
words, at least, he seems committed to draining it
from his Church. 1-1
Kilpatrick family has been careful to culti-
Sure, there were the persistent rumors of
vate them, and when they start sermoniz-
the wild party at the Manoogian Mansion.
ing about the news media and suburban
I had heard them for months before they
financial interests picking on a proud
surfaced in print, and they wouldn't go
young black man, it won't be pretty.
away.
Maybe it won't work. Black people know
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox
special pleading when they hear it as well
conducted an investigation and concluded
as anyone else, and Hendrix has his racial
the stories were just "an urban legend."
bona fides in order.
I like Cox. I think he is a pretty smart
GEORGE
Kwame also lacks the aura of Coleman
guy with big political ambitions. He is not
CANTOR
Young, who would have been re-elected if
about to antagonize the mayor of Detroit
Columnist
he'd taken his SUV and ran over the cop
over a call like this when it may bite back on
who tried to stop him.
him in a future election. A mayor who works
I don't know that any single individual can
to bring out a big Democratic vote in
reverse the decline of the city. But, in his own
the city is a Republican candidate's worst
peculiar way, Coleman was absolutely right about
scenario. Better to keep him uninvolved.
the relationship between Detroit and the suburbs.
So Kwame could have skated away
He always said that it couldn't be the hole in the
from that dust-up, whether it was true or
doughnut,
surrounded by prosperity. If that hap-
not.
pened; he said, the entire area would be damaged.
But this sense of arrogant entitlement, this idea
Was he right? Tell me how many of your siblings
that the mayorship was the "Good Ship Lollipop"
and friends, kids and grandkids are living in
for himself and his old buddies from high school
Chicago right now, demanding a city that is some-
was implicit in the question Beatty asked.
thing more than the center of a bagel.
The city's black establishment has lined up pret-
If the wrong guy wins this election, that hole
ty solidly in Freman Hendrix's corner. But the wild
will only grow larger. 0
card is the attitude of the black ministers. The
REAL ITT
CBE CE
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aotcorn.
.rs
9/ 8
2005
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