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.