Students Address Anti-Semitism Through History Lesson
Forum at the Freeman Center offers examples of disparaging rhetoric, aims to encourage intercultural exchange on campus

By James Todd

Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004 -- Prompted both by a column in the student newspaper and the 66th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Duke students on Tuesday addressed the issue of anti-Semitism with dramatic readings, photographs, history lessons, discussion of Jewish culture and a critique of the language used in the controversial column.

The column in The Chronicle, by senior Philip Kurian, criticized how Jewish people responded to the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) conference, held at Duke in October. In a letter to the editor, Duke President Richard H. Brodhead said the column “revived stereotypical images that have played a long-running role in the history of anti-Semitism.”

Before a group of about 50 students, faculty and administrators on Tuesday, student presenters read and displayed articles and cartoons from 1930s Germany that disparaged Jews. The readings were intended to show how anti-Semitic rhetoric can set the stage for violence against Jews. They then showed a series of photographs of damage from Kristallnacht, the November 1938 night in Germany when synagogues were burned and the widows of Jewish-owned stores were smashed.

Next, excerpts from Kurian’s column were presented beneath excerpts from notoriously anti-Semitic writings.

“This column bothered us so much because it reminded many of us of language that has been used by others with far more hateful agendas,” said junior Corinne Low, the Freeman Center coordinator of public outreach. After the presentation, Low stressed that the comparison between Kurian’s column and the other statements was not meant to attack Kurian, but to illustrate how his words could upset people conscious of historical examples of anti-Semitism.

Kurian, who attended the event and was alerted to its content beforehand, said he supported the effort by the Freeman Center students to explain why his column triggered a strong response on campus. He noted he has since written a follow-up column that reflects on his controversial one.

“Their program went far in helping me understand a language to talk about” conflicts between cultural groups, he said. “In public, people are not discussing these issues because they don’t know the language. That’s troubling.”

The program also included a panel discussion of Jewish culture and history.

Sophomore Matt Makover gave historical examples of anti-Semitism; law student Sam Wald, Law discussed the diversity of customs and race within Judaism; and senior Amanda Zimmerman described challenges and rewards of practicing Judaism while at Duke. Duke history professor Malachi Hacohen helped field questions.

Junior Dinushika Mohottige, a student leader at Duke’s Center for Race Relations, said she supported the event because dispelling generalizations about the Jewish community is important.

First-year student Allen Keel said he has read a lot about anti-Semitism in books, “but I wanted to hear it from a live person.”

Sophomore Shadee Malaklou, an Iranian-American and vocal supporter of the PSM conference, said she attended the event “to be a constructive participant in the dialogue and a not a destructive participant.”

“I can fight for my people without discrediting the Jewish people,” she said.  

Low, the program organizer, was pleased that the audience included student leaders who can help carry on an intercultural exchange on campus.

“Too often, I think people assume [others] know why people are upset,” she said, when really the grievance just needs to be explained.

At the event, “anti-Semitism became not just a concern of Jewish people,” she said. “Something’s a problem not only when it’s a problem for you.”