24 | OCTOBER 31 • 2019 

Jews in the D

continued from page 22

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL 
CENTER FUNDING
According to the gover-
nor’
s office, the Republican 
budget tried to gut funding 
for discrimination inves-
tigations by diverting $1.5 
million of the Department 
of Civil Rights budget to 
three private museums: the 
Arab American Museum 
in Dearborn, the Wright 
Museum in Detroit and the 
Holocaust Memorial Center. 
Whitmer restored funding 
for discrimination investi-
gations through the State 
Administrative Board. By 
doing so, she stripped the 
funding from each of the 
museums, resulting in a 
$500,000 deficit for each, 
which may end their ability to 
collaborate on traveling exhib-
its designed to improve race 
relations as they did last year. 
“It’
ll be very difficult to 
continue the programs for 
the coming year without the 
funding,
” HMC CEO Rabbi 
Eli Mayerfeld told Bridge 
Magazine. “The 
funding really 
was the catalyst 
that made these 
opportunities 
happen.
”
According 
to Berman, “This is fake 
news. My understanding 
is [Republicans] actually 
increased the department’
s 
budget by 1.2 percent. We 
didn’
t try to gut discrimination 
investigations at all.
”
Democrats counter that 
Republicans defunded por-
tions of the Department 
of Civil Rights budget in 
response to the creation of 
a new Hate Crimes Unit 
put in place earlier this year 
by Attorney General Dana 
Nessel, which Republicans 

said could open the door to 
harassment of those with con-
servative beliefs.
Senate Appropriations 
Chairman Jim Stamas, 
R-Midland, told Bridge 
Magazine the $1.5 million 
budget shift wasn’
t an attempt 
to punish the department but 
rather to provide “sustainable” 
support for the institutions.
Moss says the state needs 
both: a “robustly funded bud-
get to investigate hate crimes” 
and a well-funded Holocaust 
Memorial Center “that edu-
cates what can happen when 
hate is left unchecked.
”
According to FBI statistics, 
hate crimes were up 14 per-
cent in Michigan in 2017, with 
456 incidents. The Michigan 
Department of Civil Rights 
fields about 2,000 civil rights 
complaints a year. 
“
As the only Jewish state 
senator, I feel a great amount 
of stress,
” said Moss, who 
recently passed a state reso-
lution naming Oct. 27, the 
anniversary of the Tree of Life 
shooting, a day rededicated to 
combating anti-Semitism. “I’
ve 
been assured by the governor 
that when Republicans come 
back to the negotiation table, 
this will be addressed.
” 
Whitmer left a $100 place-
holder for each of the muse-
ums in the budget, giving 
lawmakers an opportunity 
to restore funding during 
negotiations. According to 
Berman, who is also Jewish, 
Republicans are open to 
doing so.
Moss urges constituents to 
reach out to their legislators 
and urge them to pass sup-
plemental spending bills. 
“The louder our voices are 
the more pressure there is to 
act,” he said. 

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