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Saturday, April 06, 2002
Berkeley Observer writes
I spoke to both of the victims of the Thursday morning assault today. Two quotes stick out in my mind: "The more I think back on it, the less I think it was a hate crime" and "I really, highly doubt that what happened was a hate crime." Those are verbatim. The Berkeley PD is not classifying it as a hate crime. No racial epithets were uttered, and the two weren't dressed overtly Jewish when the attack occured. One of the victims wholeheartedly believes that it was a botched mugging or gang initiation, and I tend to agree with him. That leaves the Hillel vandalism, which is unfortunate, but on its own in no way indicative of a trend. I'm unaware of other acts of intimidation against the Berkeley Jewish community.Sorry, B.O., but I see this as the Chancellor's logic. The new info about the mugging does take it down a notch. As Angry Clam noted 'It goes from Crazy Bad to Bad.' But vandalism, intimidation, and persistent Israelis = Nazis campaigns have created an atmosphere of anti-Jewish tension. Jews are either afraid or extremely angry, on a major US University. How insane is that? How have things gotten so bad that we can dismiss numerous instances of vandalism and (so far) verbal abuse as not so bad on a college campus? I don't agree that calling attention to the fact makes things worse. Even the Dean of Students felt that things are going to get worse before they get better. And yet the Administration is still playing the old 'Laissez-Faire' game it always plays, like nothing has changed. Unless some fairly substantial steps are taken, there will be an assault, or a protest will turn very ugly. And yet the Chancellor doesn't seem to have even talked to the head of the IAC and SJP, for example. That's what I'm calling for. To downplay the escalating tension on campus would be taking a blind eye to an explosive situation. All this media attention will get results from the Chancellor, and the campus needs that. I'm gonna stop calling it the 'Berkeley Pogrom,' tho. With a cooler head, that does seem needlessly inflammatory.Email This Post! |
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