8 March 21 • 2019
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Editor’
s Note: On March 7, the House 
of Representatives voted to pass a reso-
lution denouncing anti-Semitism and 
other forms of bigotry (“House Passes 
Anti-Hate Resolution,
” thejewishnews.
com, March 8). The vote came in 
response to an anti-Semitic trope used 
by Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, 
who said Jewish Americans have 
“allegiance to a foreign government.
” 
It was not the first time Omar was 
accused of anti-Semitism. Originally, 
the House resolution addressed only 
anti-Semitism, but after pressure from 
the Progressive wing of the Democratic 
Party, was expanded to include 
Islamophobia, racism and other forms 
of hate. Below, JN readers share their 
thoughts on the resolution and its 
debate in the House of Representatives

We Are Watching
Tom Lantos must be turning in his 
grave.
The late Democratic congressman 
from California and chair of the 
House Foreign Affairs Committee 
was much revered and beloved by his 
colleagues as an icon of human dig-
nity and champion of tolerance and 
human rights. Rep. Lantos was also 
a Holocaust survivor, the only one to 
have served in Congress. Tom Lantos’
 
Hungarian Jewish family, like mine, 
was slaughtered by the Nazis. 
What a disgrace to his memory 
and blot of shame on Congress that 
a U.S. Congressman, James Clyburn 
(D-S.C.), minimized the pain and 
suffering of Holocaust survivors and 
their families as some sort of perverse 
defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) 
who has repeatedly spewed vile lies 
and slanders invoking ages-old calum-
nies against the Jews.
There was no reason or relevance 
whatsoever for Clyburn to insert his 
grossly insensitive opinions of how the 
suffering of Holocaust descendants 
is somehow less than that suffered by 
Rep. Omar, who fled war-torn Somalia 
as a young girl. The ADL has joined 
other prominent organizations and 
individuals in condemning Clyburn’
s 
repugnant remarks.
Unacceptably silent in the face of 
Clyburn’
s offensive remarks are the 
members of Congress who represent 
us in Southeast Michigan, including 
Reps. Andy Levin and Elissa Slotkin, 

both of whom are Jewish. U.S. Rep. 
Brenda Lawrence, whose 14th District 
is home to the Holocaust Memorial 
Center and the largest concentration 
of Jews in our area, did not denounce 
Clyburn’
s hurtful comments and didn’
t 
even call out Omar for her blatant-
ly anti-Semitic slurs, according to a 
report in the Detroit News.
The fecklessness of spineless law-
makers claiming to be friends of the 
Jewish community and of Israel is 
galling. True friendship and character 
are demonstrated by speaking out as 
boldly against anti-Semitic hatred and 
bigotry as against any other “ism” and 
standing in solidarity with the honor 
and rights of the Jewish people and the 
Jewish homeland. 
Members of the Michigan delega-
tion, we are watching and we are wait-
ing. And we won’
t forget.

Linda Stulberg

Farmington Hills

The Zionist in Me
Rep. Omar’
s comments and those 
of a number of others bring out the 
“Zionist” in me. (And I rather like it.) 
President Trump’
s decision to move 
the American Embassy to Jerusalem 
brought out the “anti-Zionist” in me. 
The meaning of “Zionist” is very dif-
ferent in each response.
Some comments by leftists who 
repeat the truism that “criticizing 
an Israeli government or policy isn’
t 
always anti-Semitism” bring out the 
retired teacher in me. Of course, that 
statement is true, but how do they 
apply it?
Saying that people in the American 
government who “support Israel” 
are bought off by the money of Jews 
whose loyalty is with another country 
— I think that’
s anti-Semitism, even 
if it can be stated by people who don’
t 
mean it that way. (No one ever means 
it that way except neo-Nazis, the Klan 
and Farrakhan’
s Nation of Islam. That 
combination could bring out the his-
torian in me, but I don’
t have time for 
a treatise, and I’
m sure readers don’
t 
either.)
However, besides being anti-Semitic, 
that idea is also inane. Was President 
Obama bought off by “Jewish money” 
or placing another country above 
America when he supported the exis-

tence of Israel as a Jewish state? (Or 
maybe I shouldn’
t venture there 
either …)
I understand why Jewish people and 
others who connect with Palestinians 
as human beings would oppose a 
concept some have voiced; that this 
must make them either anti-Semites 
or self-hating Jews. I would oppose 
that concept, too, if I associated with 
people who go around saying that. But 
that isn’
t the issue.
I also don’
t want to gang up on any 
young person. When I was young, I 
voiced some rather silly ideas myself. 
But ideas have a life of their own and 
some are worth calling out.

Edna Garte

Waterford

What Now?
What do you anticipate the 70 percent 
of Jews who vote Democrat are going 
to do? 
Nothing? Like the German Jews 
did in the 1930s, putting their head 
in the sand — until they were moved 
to become sand in the ovens of 
Ausch 
witz?
In 1930s Germany, the German 
Jews did not think Hitler and his fol-
lowers would be taken seriously by 
the German people. Can you see the 
parallel here with Rep. Ilhan Omar, 
Rep. Rashida Talib, Rep. Alexandria 
Ocasio-Cortez and Louis Farrakhan? 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi trivializes 
their anti-Semitism by saying things 
like “they don’
t know what they are 
saying,” etc. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth 
Warren and other far-left Democrats 
defend them. Other Democratic lead-
ership and voters are just silent.
They didn’
t have the guts to outright 
say anti-Semitism is unacceptable and 
call out Omar for her multiple anti-
Semitic comments.

Lawrence Freedman

Clawson 

carries us to Restaurant Depot, a trek 
to Troy but cheaper than Cass’
 old 
Sysco contract; to KFC for a regular 
donation through America’
s Second 
Harvest; and to a church to retrieve 
catering equipment from a post-funeral 
luncheon. Since the end of Prentice’
s 
non-compete last fall, revenues from 
Cass catering have covered the agency’
s 
entire food budget.
As we drive around, he tells me what 
he’
s planning for his new restaurant — 
small plates, big tables, new-style part-
nership with old-style service — but 
won’
t say where. When we pass Leon 
and Lulu in Clawson, I ask if it’
s some-
thing like that. He nods without taking 
his eyes off the road.
But this is not the comeback saga 
of an irrepressible entrepreneur. The 
entrepreneur, according to Matt 
Prentice, is Rev. Faith Fowler. Fowler 
first reached out to Prentice in the late 
1990s when he was debuting Duet at 
Orchestra Hall. She was looking for 
ways to serve the marginalized mem-
bers of the Cass Corridor and recruited 
him to teach a cooking class to sex 
workers.
In the 20 years since, Fowler has built 
one social enterprise on top of another, 
including mud mats made from illegal-
ly dumped tires; the Ford Freight Farm, 
a 40-foot shipping container that grows 
hydroponic vegetables; and a village of 
tiny homes down the street.
When Cass bought the Crittenton 
Maternity Home on Woodrow Wilson 
and Elmhurst, Prentice designed the 
kitchen and tapped some of the hun-
dreds of people who worked for him to 
build it out. He runs that kitchen now 
and is looking for his successor.
This is not an inspirational story 
about the redemptive power of chil-
dren, though Prentice opened the 
kitchen, formerly off limits, to kids 
served by Cass and swapped out cold 
cereal for hot breakfast. He and I 
served bacon, eggs, waffles and hash 
browns there on Sunday. 
The kids are shy. They clean their 
plates and clear them when they are 
done eating.
The story of Matt Prentice is the 
story of the benefit and cost of food, of 
living to eat and of eating to live. 
It is his story and it’
s ours. It’
s just 
desserts, pain quotidian and — as my 
mother-in-law says — it’
s no one’
s last 
meal. ■

“Matt’
s Apprentice” continued from page 8

Correction: In the editorial “Henry 
Ford: Let The Discussion End?” 
March 14, page 5, it should have 
stated that the Dearborn Historical 
Commission distribute 
s the Dearborn 
Historian.

