Opinion
OTHER VIEWS
Helping Sustain Oak Park
0
ak Park was a special place for
Jews who lived there from the
late 1950s through the 1970s.
Every time Oak Parkers from that era run
into each other, there's reminiscing: who
lived in which house, memories of playing
outside until the street lights went on, sto-
ries about school and summer camp.
It's a networking system that lives on!
What is the difference between Oak
Park gone by and today's Oak Park com-
munity? I would say resources and net-
working opportunities.
The Oak Park community has always
been special. Today, Oak Park is a commu-
nity with goals and aspirations, but lacks
the same resources that were available
in years past. Public schools across the
nation struggle with budget cuts. Oak Park
Schools do not have the same resources
available that other Oakland County
school districts do.
If you're old enough, you might remember
a famous line from a local furniture store's
advertisement: "You've got an uncle in the
furniture business." Having the Oak Park
Business & Education Alliance (OPBEA)
in partnership with the Oak Park School
District is like having your favorite
aunt or uncle looking out for your
best interests.
The OPBEA is a continua-
tion of a successful pilot project
initiated by Consumers Energy
to help schools graduate stu-
dents for tomorrow's workforce.
Established in 1993, the Alliance
is a nonprofit organization of
educators, businesses and gov-
ernment entities that provide
assistance to the Oak Park School
District to improve the educa-
tional experience of students.
It is a simple equation: Young people
need goals and aspirations to be moti-
vated. Today's youth are influenced by the
news media: big stars making big bucks,
average people getting jobs with Donald
Trump and free dream houses to live in.
According to Oak Park staff, many young
people truly believe that good things hap-
pen through luck! They don't realize it
takes hard work and a plan to get what
you want out of life.
OPBEA is made up of a cross section of
Metro Detroit business and community
leaders who truly want to make
a difference. Represented on
the OPBEA board are Oakland
County government, William
Beaumont Hospital, Oakland
University, Comerica Bank,
Jewish Family Service, AT&T,
Blue Cross Blue Shield, Oakland
Community College, Hagopian
I
Family of Companies as well
ri Fidler
as other individuals and small
mmunity
businesses.
View
There are many oppor-
tunities to get hands-on
involvement with the OPBEA.
Operating on the theory that youth are
most motivated by a caring person acting
as a positive role model, much of what the
OPBEA does involves face-to-face contacts
with students. Activities include career-
focused education mentoring programs
as well as programs that recognize and
encourage student success.
A lot of activity takes place in our small
office on Greenfield Road in Oak Park. We
are responsible for all of the programming
and business aspects of the Alliance. We
build relationships with donors, serve as
facilitators for our in-school programs,
manage our 501(c)(3) status, collaborate
with community members, and market
and assist board members with commit-
tees. Much like the guy that used to be on
the old Ed Sullivan Show, it's a lot of plates
to keep spinning!
For a small nonprofit with a small bud-
get, we accomplish quite a bit. As a par-
ent, a past teacher and a member of the
Jewish community, I see the importance of
being involved with the Oak Park School
District.
Your time, input and resources are
needed to help have a successful school
district! Please consider getting involved.
Oak Parkers: Be true to your roots! There
are opportunities to sponsor programs
or donate your time. Help the Oak Park
Business & Education Alliance make a dif-
ference. Contact me to learn more! LI-
Lori Fidler is executive director of the Oak Park
Business & Education Alliance. She holds a
master's degree in education and is a certified
fundraiser. For information on volunteering or
sponsoring a program, contact her: (248) 967-
0457, lori@opbea.org or www.opbea.org.
Encouraging Anti-Semitism?
New York/JTA
D
uring times of crisis, Jews get
nervous, and for good reason.
How many generations have
learned the meaning of the word "scape-
goat" the hard way?
Amid the current global financial melt-
down, some have pointed out Jewish names
in the news or hyped classical anti-Semitic
tropes of "Jewish bankers:' How serious is
the threat, and what should we be doing?
Some of the anti-Semitic charges first
appeared on white supremacist and other
hate Web sites. These are small in number,
a few thousand from well over 100 million
sites. They blame "Zionist criminals" for
most things that go wrong in the world, so
should we be surprised they update their
offensive material?
Anti-Semitic messages have increased
on some Internet discussion groups, and
this is disturbing. The good news, how-
ever, is that Internet companies such as
Google and Yahoo have adopted terms of
service to counter hate postings and are
removing much of the material once they
are alerted to it.
No American politician or media per-
sonality has blamed Jews for the financial
A32
November 6 2008
crisis. Obviously, to do so would
ingly, as the financial crisis
be absurd. Many actors from
deepened, Hamas took up the
every imaginable background
mantle, asserting that Jews are
had their hands in this melt-
to blame.
down. But while hard-core
There is the potential for
anti-Semitism has little cor-
anti-Semitism to grow during
relation with rationality, we
difficult times. This is all the
should derive comfort from past
more possible in the age of the
episodes when Jews have been
Internet, a medium in which
alarmed during troubling times
slanders and rumors are eas-
Kenneth
in which Jews were implicated.
ily circulated and too easily
Stern
Attitudinal surveys regularly
believed. Indeed, a conspiratorial
Special
showed the concerns, while
storyline already has appeared.
Commentary
understandable, proved unwar-
On Oct. 3, a Web site associ-
ranted. Jews were not blamed for
ated with the Holocaust-deny-
the 1973 Arab oil embargo, for example.
ing group the Barnes Review posted an
On the international stage, however,
article with a fake byline tilled "The Voice
the ground is more fertile for serving up
of the White House." Displayed next to
Jews as scapegoats. Fresh in our minds
another article from the Bloomberg news
is last month's U.N. General Assembly
service, which described how Lehman
speech by Iranian President Mahmoud
Brothers lost $400 billion before it went
Ahmadinejad, who delivered a classic anti- bankrupt, the fake article asserted that the
Semitic diatribe accusing "Zionists" of
$400 billion was sent "frantically" to Israel
"dominating an important portion of the
and that "the senders are all Jewish."
financial and monetary centers."
Other sites picked up the item as real,
That this outrageous address came just
and as the London Jewish Chronicle
a couple of weeks before the meltdown
reported, the allegation appeared in the
on Wall Street and in other global mar-
comment section of the Independent
kets means it might resonate with some
newspaper's Web site for eight hours
Arab and Muslim audiences. Not surpris-
before it was removed. It likely will reap-
pear or circulate via e-mails for some time.
The story wasn't as quick to emerge as
the charge that Jews were told not to go to
work on 9-11, which still is widely believed
in many parts of the Arab and Muslim
world. But it has the same element of
alleging the uncovering of a "secret truth."
Elsewhere in Europe, the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe
has emerged as a key venue to com-
bat anti-Semitism. The OSCE special
representative for anti-Semitism, Gert
Weisskirchen, has been raising the con-
cern about increased anti-Semitism
related to the financial crisis, and the need
for European leaders and institutions to
be prepared to speak out.
No one knows whether the Lehman
Brothers falsehood will have traction or
become another on the long list of canards
with a short and inconsequential life span.
The "bright line" test will be how main-
stream institutions around the world react
in the days and weeks ahead: Will they
condemn, ignore or endorse such hatred?
What they do, or don't do, will be key.
Kenneth Stern is the American Jewish
Committee's expert on anti-Semitism and
extremism.