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6 | MAY 14 • 2020
editor’
s note
How We Covered the
Lansing Protests
Our response to the Michigan Conservative Coalition and other
criticisms of our stories about “Operation Gridlock.”
I
n our coverage of the
April 15 Lansing protests
to “re-open” Michigan,
we at the Jewish News chose to
highlight the fact that several
of these protesters carried
signs and
props equating
Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer and
her policies
to those of
Adolf Hitler
and the Nazi
regime. This
has prompted a fair amount
of reader response, much of it
negative.
The most prominent crit-
icism of our coverage has
come from Marian Sheridan,
co-founder of the Michigan
Conservative Coalition
(MCC), which organized
that day’
s protests. We had
interviewed Sheridan for our
story. On April 30, the same
day a new crowd of demon-
strators (unconnected to the
MCC) went to the state capitol
building to protest Whitmer’
s
latest extension of statewide
COVID-19 restrictions, we
received a letter from Sheridan
objecting to how we framed
the April 15 events.
The JN’
s coverage, Sheridan
said, “highlight[ed] a small
fraction of outliers who had
nothing to do with the orga-
nizers and what the entire pro-
test was about … It’
s unfortu-
nate that the Jewish News chose
to dwell on a couple of people
carrying controversial flags and
ignored the thousands there to
voice their concerns over their
agonizing losses.
“It was obvious your article’
s
true intent was to disparage
the legitimate protesters and
the Michigan Conservative
Coalition,
” she continued.
“The attention given to these
sign carriers actually rewards
and encourages this type of
behavior.
”
Sheridan concludes, “Shame
on the Jewish News.
”
She wasn’
t the only one who
felt this way. Commenters on
our website and several letters
to the editor from our regular
readers accused us of ignoring
the protesters who obeyed
social distancing protocol and
did not carry inflammatory
signage; of ignoring the fact
that the protesters themselves
were not supporting Nazism;
and of not applying the same
standards when figures on “the
left” make similar analogies
to President Trump and other
right-wing figures in power.
(You can see some of these
letters in this week’
s issue; we
published the MCC’
s letter in
full on our website.)
As it happens, the discussion
prompted by our Lansing cov-
erage fits into one of our larger
JN editorial goals for the year:
The Anti-Semitism Project, in
which we seek to understand
and contextualize what con-
stitutes anti-Semitism in the
modern age. And that, in fact,
is our “true intent.
”
In this case, the questions
at hand are: Were the Lansing
protests anti-Semitic? And
were we right to report on
them? Reader concerns are
important to us, so this is a
good opportunity to explain
our own thinking on these
matters, and to respond to the
MCC and to others who have
objected to our work. You don’
t
have to agree with our perspec-
tive, but I’
d ask that you take
the time to read it.
THE JN’S ROLE IN REPORTING
ANTI-SEMITISM
As the largest Jewish news
organization in the state of
Michigan, we have a respon-
sibility to report on notable
instances of anti-Semitism and
its associated evils within our
community. These include,
yes, trivializing or mocking the
horrors of the Holocaust, or
equating any person or policy
one does not like to Nazism.
Such a comparison is not only
crass and ugly; it’
s also ahistori-
cal, ignoring the unique, geno-
cidal inhumanity of the Third
Reich and weakening our
ability to educate future gener-
ations about the Holocaust.
Some Holocaust survivors
have spoken publicly about
how our current lockdown
makes them recall the darkest
chapters of their own lives. We
can and should honor their
struggles and their valid psy-
Andrew Lapin
had been dreading for 37 years.
She wanted help. I didn’
t realize
that a certain amount of resent-
ment (rightly so) had built up
over these many years.
Yes, she was right. My work
excuse was a bunch of bunk.
I had been lazy and selfish. I
was determined to try to make
amends.
I woke up early Tuesday
and ran downstairs. I opened
the dishwasher to a full load
of dishes. I proudly proceeded
to put the dishes away in their
proper place. This took some
doing because I’
d never helped
before, so I didn’
t know their
proper place. I did the best
I could and put the last dish
away. I hadn’
t really been pay-
ing attention to this task, but
glanced at the last dish in hor-
ror. There was food and crumbs
caked on the plate. I quickly
looked at the other dishes. They
were also filthy. In my effort to
help, I had once again solidified
my title of house moron. The
dishes were not washed. In a
noble effort to help my wife I
had put away dirty dishes.
Fortunately, some good has
come out of this. My wife has
now reevaluated her position
and will no longer require me to
help. She is now of the opinion
that no quarantine or deadly
virus is reason enough to give a
moron access to such a sacred
space as a woman’
s kitchen.
Some cynics may say I
screwed up on purpose to dis-
qualify myself from any future
chores. To them, I say, that is an
insult to my honor and shows
you don’
t really know me. My
true friends would tell you that
I would never do anything so
deceitful and, in fact, am a true
moron.
— Steve Cash
Novi
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