Publisher's Notebook
Tempest In A Tea Party?
T
he involvement by the Jewish News last month in
an alliance with Wayne State University's WDET-
FM, the Michigan Chronicle, the Arab-American
News, Latino and the Atlanta-based Southern Poverty Law
Center to expose the rise of right-wing extremist groups,
especially in Michigan, generated an array of responses
from readers and non-readers.
Responses tended to fall into four
categories:
• "Thank you" for informing the
Jewish community, especially in
the aftermath of the FBI bust of the
nearby Hutaree militia, about these
groups;
• How dare you suggest the Tea
Party harbors or enables people with
extremist views;
• How dare you do anything in
partnership with the Arab-American
News;
• Angry voicemail messages generated in part by Frank
Beckmann through his WJR-AM morning talk show audi-
ence.
For the record, the Jewish News editorialized in its April 8
edition that while there is plenty to debate about what kind
of America we want, and while the Constitution provides
wide latitude to express diverse viewpoints and a mecha-
nism to effect change at the ballot box, we are a country
of laws. And there is a line between vigorous and spirited
discourse and threats and acts of intimidation, including
physical violence. That line must not be crossed. When it
is, those who cross it and stoke it, be they on the extreme
right, extreme left or in the news media, must be called out
and held accountable.
Regarding the Tea Party, there is no doubt it has a gen-
eral point of view about smaller, less intrusive govern-
ment and lower taxes that animates its adherents and is
consistent with similar movements that dot our country's
history. However, for the Tea Party to expand its footprint,
its leaders and those who actively seek its support — like
Michigan gubernatorial candidates Mike Bouchard and
Mike Cox — must be willing to unequivocally condemn
those who are extremists.
A case in point? We in the Jewish community need to
look no farther than James Traficant, the disgraced former
Ohio congressman who recently spent time in prison pin-
stripes and has cultivated Tea Party support for an improb-
able run for the presidency in 2012. He was the keynote
speaker at several recent Ohio Tea Party rallies.
Here is what he told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, who
asked why he targets or has a grudge against Israelis:
"The grudge is not necessarily a grudge. It's an objec-
tive assessment that no one will have the courage to speak
about. They're controlling much of our foreign policy.
They're influencing much of our domestic policy. [Paul]
Wolfowitz as undersecretary of defense manipulated
President Bush No. 2 back into Iraq. They've pushed, defi-
nitely, definitely to try to get Bush before he left to move
into Iran.
"We're conducting the expansionist policy of Israel and
everybody's afraid to say it. They control much of the
media, they control much of the commerce of the country
and they control powerfully both sides of the Congress.
They own the Congress ... Am I an anti-Semite? No, I'm
not. And that's exactly what they're going to say."
By the way, you can find the full Van Susteren-Traficant
interview where I did, on the website of former Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke.
For the Tea Party movement to percolate, it needs to
purge itself of Traficant and those who promote and
embrace extremist views, including blatant anti-Semitism.
Sheriff Bouchard and Attorney General Cox: Care to offer
any condemnations?
What If We Threw A Dinner
And Nobody Showed Up?
Not long after arriving in Detroit in 1986, I attended
my first of several annual B'nai B'rith Great American
Traditions dinners at the Renaissance Center in downtown
Detroit. With 1,000 people in the ballroom and a multi-level
dais containing several dozen captains of Detroit industry
and politics, it was an impressive site. Big-name entertain-
ers, from Marvin Hamlisch to Kenny G, serenaded honorees
while Max Fisher or other mega-leaders from the Jewish
community presided.
Fast-forward to last month's B'nai B'rith Great American
Traditions dinner at the Book-Cadillac Hotel in Detroit
honoring esteemed community leaders Allan Gilmour and
David Baker Lewis. There was no dais. Aside from award
presenter Alan E. Schwartz and his wife, Marianne, there
were painfully few leaders from the Jewish community.
There were fewer than 200 people in attendance.
While there should be a "sunset" rule that requires some
Jewish organizations to "retire" their dinners and find other
means of financial support, as long as they are still hap-
pening, our entire Jewish community leadership must take
responsibility for attending these events when leaders from
the general community are being recognized.
Gilmour spoke eloquently about the outsized impact our
Jewish community has had on the cultural, educational,
health and philanthropic landscape of Detroit and the
region. And Lewis was gracious in his comments toward
Schwartz, one of his most valued mentors.
Perhaps Federation can enlist its underutilized Board of
Governors plus the Young Adult Division (YAD) roster to
attend, on a rotating basis, these types of Jewish-sponsored
events that honor leaders in the general community. Think
of it as being a Jewish community "ambassador:' The hon-
orees would notice, value and appreciate it. And our Jewish
leaders would hear what Gilmour, Lewis and others have to
say about our community's role in enhancing our city and
region.
Next on the local dinner circuit are Detroit Mayor Dave
Bing and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson,
who are being honored May 13 by the Jewish National
Fund... an excellent opportunity to recruit a table of
"ambassadors." El
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Sixteen-year-old Bracha
Greenes attends Yeshiva
Darchei Torah through
JARC's School Inclusion
Program. With the help
of the program's staff -
including the program
coordinator, a classroom
assistant, and behavior,
teacher and speech
consultants - Bracha
graduated the eighth
grade with the rest of her
class. Her mother beams
with pride, "It was the
culmination of many years
of hard work and effort.
Bracha fits right in with her
peers and is a part of the
whole community."
May 27, 2010
- PM
Detroit Zoo
:;pringFlation is the major source
of four:fit -4i for IARC's services for
children kAiith any disability.
TICKETS
$25 each
Purchase at:
www.jarc.org
248.538.6611
Are Jews aware of the Tea Party's
undercurrents?
How can groups bring in funds
0
a„ ' outside of dinners?
15arri6v- c.
iN
May 6
2010
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