Views

To make a donation to the 
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION
go to the website
www.djnfoundation.org

The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at 

29200 Northwestern Highway, #110, Southfield, Michigan. Periodical postage paid at 

Southfield, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send changes to: 

Detroit Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Hwy., #110, Southfield, MI 48034.

8 | JULY 2 • 2020 

1942 - 2020

Covering and Connecting 
Jewish Detroit Every Week
jn

Arthur M. Horwitz
Publisher
ahorwitz@renmedia.us

F. Kevin Browett
Chief Operating Officer
kbrowett@renmedia.us

| Editorial
 Editor: Andrew Lapin
alapin@thejewishnews.com
Associate Editor: Jackie Headapohl
jheadapohl@renmedia.us
Social Media and Digital Producer:
Nathan Vicar
nvicar@renmedia.us
Multimedia Reporter: Corrie Colf 
ccolf@renmedia.us

Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello
smanello@renmedia.us
Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin
dannyraskin2132@gmail.com
Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar
rsklar@renmedia.us
Contributing Editor: David Sachs
Editorial Intern: Yael Eichhorn
yeichhorn@renmedia.us

Contributing Writers:
Nate Bloom, Suzanne Chessler, 
Annabel Cohen, Shari S. Cohen, Shelli 
Liebman Dorfman, Louis Finkelman, 
Maya Goldman, Ronelle Grier, Madeline 
Halpert, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Alan 
Muskovitz, Eli Reiter, Mike Smith 

| Advertising Sales 
Vice President of Sales and 
Business Development: Carol Kruemmer
ckruemmer@renmedia.us
Senior Account Executive: Keith Farber
kfarber@renmedia.us
Account Executives: 
Tim Brown, Catherine Grace, 
Kathy Harvey-Mitton

 | Business Office
 Operations Manager: Andrea Gusho
 agusho@renmedia.us
 Operations Assistant / Event Coordinator: 
 Ashlee Szabo
 Circulation: Danielle Smith
Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner

| Production By 
 Farago & Associates
Manager: Scott Drzewiecki 
Designers: Jessica Joannides, 
Kelly Kosek, Kaitlyn Schoen,
Michelle Sheridan

| Detroit Jewish News
Partner: 
Arthur M. Horwitz
ahorwitz@renmedia.us
Partner: 
F. Kevin Browett
kbrowett@renmedia.us
Partner: Michael H. Steinhardt
How to reach us see page 12

Thank You
I just wanted to say thank 
you for your recent article 
“Learning from History” in 
the Jewish News. 
I praise you for using your 
position, your voice and your 
privilege to speak to others 
from similar backgrounds to 
advocate for the Black com-
munity. I have seen many 
statements over the past two 
weeks voicing some form of 
support, but many have lacked 
the sincerity of recognizing 
the role that white (or white- 
passing) people have played in 
our regional history, and the 
roles we must assume going 
forward in order to enact real 
change. Many statements of 
support have been void of 
actionable options that point 
readers to ways to get con-
nected and actually help. Your 
article provided both. And you 
didn’
t pull your punches. 
Thank you for being an ally 
for Black lives. Our commu-
nity is stronger when there is 
not just equality, but equity for 
every member of that com-
munity. There’
s a lot of work 
to be done, but the load is 
lighter when we all take it on 
together. 

— Carie Branch

Hamtramck

Regarding the 
“Editor’
s Note — 
Healing Ourselves” 
Contrary to Andrew Lapin’
s 
assertion, Black Lives Matter’
s 
original 2016 platform began 
with bald-faced anti-Semi-
tism from the get-go. It has 
never retreated. The mere 
removal from the internet 
of its embarrassingly hateful 
position on the existence of 
Israel, without renouncing 
its vicious message to Jews, is 
not clarification, it’
s conceal-
ment. Many Jews today are 
conned by BLM’
s PR move.
Melina Abdullah, the 
co-founder of BLM’
s Los 
Angeles chapter, has a record 
of appearing at Nation of 
Islam events and praising the 
anti-Semitic hate group and 
its leader, Louis Farrakhan. 
When Facebook decided 
to remove Farrakhan over 
his hateful rhetoric toward 
Jews, Abdullah came to his 
defense. “Facebook and 
Instagram’
s decision to ban 
The Honorable Minister 
Farrakhan along with known 
white-supremacists rep-
resents the ultimate in false 
equivalencies,” Abdullah 
complained. “As a Black com-
munity, we should be very 

wary when others attempt to 
silence our leaders. I continue 
to appreciate the Minister’
s 
fearless leadership and 
intense love for our people.”
The platform of BLM, 
which has existed since 2016, 
could have been written 
by Hamas. It declares that 
the Jewish people of Israel 
perpetrate genocide against 
Palestinian Arabs and that 
Israel is an apartheid state. 
“The U.S. justifies and 
advances the global war on 
terror via its alliance with 
Israel and is complicit in the 
genocide taking place against 
the Palestinian people,” reads 
the “Invest/Divest” section 
of their charter “A Vision for 
Black Lives.” 
That same BLM platform 
supports Omar Barghouti’
s 
anti-Semitic BDS movement. 
Barghouti, the co-founder of 
BDS, has said the sole pur-
pose of BDS is the euthanasia 
of the Zionist dream of Israel. 
Those vandalizing statues 
across the world claim that 
they’
re fighting hate, but 
their targets have often been 
the men and women who 
courageously stood up to 
racism and hatred. The stat-
ue of Raoul Wallenberg, the 
Swedish diplomat who saved 

thousands of Jews during 
the Holocaust, stands in Los 
Angeles. When mobs swept 
through the area, looting 
Jewish stores and defacing 
synagogues with “BLM” and 
“Free Palestine” graffiti, the 
statue of a man who risked 
his life to resist fascism and 
bigotry was one of their tar-
gets. 
Jews have got to be literate 
enough to read the hand-
writing on the walls. We Jews 
helped start the NAACP and 
walked with Dr. King. We 
ask, where is the reciprocity? 
When will they finally stand 
with us to support Israel?
At this time of unrest, it 
is worth remembering an 
op-ed by Congressman John 
Lewis in the San Francisco 
Chronicle in January 2002. In 
that op-ed commemorating 
Martin Luther King Day, 
Congressman Lewis recalled 
the wise and prescient 
words of Dr. King spoken at 
Harvard a few weeks before 
his death: “When people 
criticize Zionists, they mean 
Jews; you’
re talking anti-Sem-
itism.” 

— Ed Kohl

Co-President, Michigan Jewish 

Action Council

West Bloomfield

LETTERS from page 5

