Anti-Semitic Speech Provokes Reaction Pw s-the NEws-s«pt«inbw 1991
From Politicians and Jewish Organizations World Beat — — cont’d from preceding page
By Jackie Rothenberg
NEW YORK (JTA) — State
and local officials ahve joined
major Jewish organizations in
denouncing racist and anti-
Semitic remarks made by a
college professor affiliated with
the City University of New York.
In remarks made by Leonard
Jeffries Jr., chairman of the
African-American studies de
partment at CUNY’s City Col
lege, accused Jews of squelching
the progress of blacks in the
United States.
Jeffries, who is black, referred
to “a conspiracy, planned and
plotted and programmed out of
Hollywood,” by “people called
Greenberg and Weisberg and
Trigliani.”
“Russian Jewry had a partic
ular control over the movies.
And their financial partners, the
Mafia, put together a financial
system of destruction of black
peole,” Jeffries said. He made his
remarks at the Empire State
Black Arts and Cultural Festival
in Albany.
While Jeffries’comments were
made on July 20, they did not
come to light until Aug. 5, when
they were reported by The New
York Post. The Anti-Defama
tion League, the American Jew
ish Congress, the American
Jewish Committee and the Sim
on Wiesenthal Center immedi
ately issued statements deplor
ing Jeffries’ remarks and his
conduct.
State and city political leaders
also harshly criticized Jeffries.
Some lawmakers, along with
some of the Jewish organiza
tions, called for his removal as
department chairman. TheADL
called on City University Chan
cellor W. Ann Reynolds to
distance the university from
Jeffries’ views, which it deemed
“reprehensible and an affront to
the democratic and pluralistic
values which underpin our so
ciety.”
Similarly, a statement by the
AJ Congress condemned the
“repugnant attack on Jews” and
anti-white remarks made by
Jeffries, while the AJ Committee
accused Jeffries of “the worst
type of hate-mongering.”
And Mark Weitzman, associ
ate director of educational out
reach for the Wiesenthal Center,
said, “There is no room in any
classroom for a person who will
manipulate and twist facts for
racist and anti-Semitic pur
poses.”
Jeffries was in Africa and
could not be reached for com
ment. Bernard Harleston, pres
ident of City College, was on
vacation but issued a short
statement through the school’s
public relations office.
Harleston said that statements
undermining racial or ethnic
groups are “deplorable and
simply unacceptable.” He noted,
however, that “as an institution
of higher learning, the college
must also ensure the right of its
faculty and students to express
their ideas, both in and outside
of the classroom, without fear
of institutional censorship.”
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Harleston’s statement did not
mention Jeffries or the incident
in question.
Jeffries, a full-time tenured
faculty member, has come under
attack for similar remarks made
in the past. While lecturing to
his students, he has made a
distinction between the “ice
people” of European ancestry,
whom he characterizes as
greedy, materialistic and intent
on domination, and the “sun
people” of African descent, who
by contrast are humanistic and
communal, in his view.
Based on Jeffries’anti-Semitic
and racist history, “the New
York state agencies should have
known better than to invite Dr.
Jeffries to speak,” according to
a statement released by the AJ
Committee.
The festival at which Jeffries
delivered his remarks was sub
sidized by three state agencies.
Gov. Mario Cuomo has con
demned Jeffries’ statements,
which have attracted consider
able attention among politi
cians.
Mayor David Dinkins round
ly denounced Jeffries’ remarks,
saying he disagreed with the
professor’s statements.
Democratic City Councilman
Noach Dear of Brooklyn fired
off several strongly worded
letters to legislators, education
officials and the commissioner
of the state Division of Human
Rights, calling for an investiga
tion of Jeffries and his dismissal
from City College.
And in Albany, the controver
sy took on nonpartisan status as
some Democratic legislators
called for Jeffries’ dismissal
while William Powers, state
Republican chairman, issued a
statement denouncing Jeffries’
“virulent and anti-Semitic dia
tribes.”
New ArchMCologicMl Finds in
Egypt Cast Doubt on
SlMvery Existence
ROME (JTA) — A startling
archaeological discovery has
cast doubt on the existence of
harsh slavery in Egypt when the
pyramids were built and, by
inference, on the veracity of the
biblical account of Exodus.
The Turin newspaper La
Stampa reported on diggings
near the Great Pyramids of Giza,
outside Cairo, where a city
dating from 3000 BCE has been
unearthed.
It contains buildings, grave
yards, records and artifacts
which indicate that the pyramid-
builders were not slaves but well-
paid workers who enjoyed a
good standard of living, La
Stampa said.
They were paid for their labor
in gold and food, according to
La Stampa, which quotes Pro
fessor Zaki Hawass, director of
antiquities at Giza, who excavat
ed the city.
The professor will elaborate
on his findings in a paper to be
delivered at the international
conference of Egyptologists in
Turin, Sept. 1-8. About 1,500
experts from 30 countries are
expected to attend.
La Stampa also quoted Italian
archaeologist Silvio Curto, who
said the city and necropolis
unearthed at Giza confirm a
theory that arose from earlier
diggings elsewhere.
Curto, who will cochair the
Turin conference, told La Stam
pa that the new discoveries go
a long way to disproving the
accounts of the ancient Roman
historians, such as Herodotus.
The Romans’ accounts were
filtered through the perspectives
of their own society, in which
slavery existed, and “it was
unthinkable that such gigantic
construction could have been
accomplished without forced
labor,” Curot said.
As for Exodus, he added, “the
slavery cited by the holy book
can be understood in a moral,
not literal sense.”
He observed that Moses, “a
man of superior intellect, edu
cated at court, probably realized
that his people, through contact
with a society like that of Egypt,
ran the risk of being swallowed
up culturally and could lose the
outstanding points of their own
civilization.”
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