Posts Tagged bigotry

When Will We Ever Learn?

There was an anti-war song from the sixties that I always loved, titled “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” The refrain was “oh, when will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?” I’ve thought about that refrain a lot lately, as America has increasingly retreated into one of the ugliest nativist episodes in a [...]

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Us versus Them, Redux

When I was growing up in Anderson, Indiana, Jews were often viewed as an alien species. I can remember being asked—in all seriousness—whether Jews had tails, and whether we lived in houses, like “real people.” In addition to these innocent if disconcerting questions, I also remember being called a “dirty Jew” for the first (but [...]

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How Small and Ugly Can We Get?

I received this email from a colleague with whom I team-teach classes from time to time. It speaks for itself. “One of my IUPUI journalism students was enjoying coffee at a Greenwood, Indiana Starbucks while chatting with his friend José. They were speaking Spanish. A woman interrupted them saying, “You need to start speaking ‘American’ [...]

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Frightening Ignorance

Elie Weisel is a Holocaust survivor who has written moving books and articles about the Nazis, and their effort to exterminate the Jews. He has been the recipient of numerous honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize. Recently, he objected to the use of pictures displaying Nazi atrocities on signs carried by “teabaggers” protesting healthcare reform–making the (obvious and reasonable) [...]

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