Monday, March 22, 2010

The Choices We Make: A Follow-Up

On my last post, I said "If Mr. Johnson ever wishes to explain his comments, or apologize for them, or make any sort of statement regarding this post, he is more than welcome to do so on this blog." I recieved this communique from Michael Johnson not ten minutes ago. As I promised, I am posting it in its entirety. Only the contact information (email address, phone number) has been withheld.
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To the Madison and Campus community,

Recently, insensitive comments that I made two years concerning Jewish students have been discussed by both the Daily Cardinal and Badger Herald in relation to my current campaign.

I know that words don't have to have malicious intent to have malicious effects upon people. Sadly, those comments are mine and I own them. They don't reflect on anyone or anything except my own poor judgment in using those words. I made them and I apologize in no uncertain terms because they were deplorable, offensive, and hurtful to the personal histories and struggles of many of my fellow students.

As someone who has worked to defend and protect the histories and struggles of this diverse community of ours, I failed to take the things I had learned in my experiences and apply them to those of others, whom I had considerably less experience working with.

However, let me be clear; I am in no way anti-Semitic. It saddens me greatly what my fellow students who are Jewish and their families have been through, and have always stood in solidarity against the threats that they face from those who wish to erase their history of struggle.

No matter our differences, we share a common bond; that we call this small world of Madison home, and that it should always be a safe space where everyone can live and learn. Together.

Sincerely,
Michael Johnson

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Choices We Make

What if someone said the following:

“I have this feeling that blacks would rather be treated as this oppressed group to justify constantly reaching back to slavery”

Or:

“Is this not like the fifth or sixth time this year a Latino student has criticized the BH for something printed in their paper??? It’s starting to get out of hand…”

Or:

“The funny things is the Muslims seem to be so anxious to be treated poorly, they reach and make comments about 'infidels' and women...”


How would you feel if you were a member of either community? Would you feel offended? Marginalized?

Ok. Now imagine the person saying those comments was a candidate for public office. If that were the case, these quotes might make it into a major newspaper. Would you vote for that candidate? Would you tell other people to vote for them?

I bring up this issue because comments extraordinarily similar to these were made in 2008 by a current candidate for County Board, Michael Johnson, and listed on the now-defunct Fearless Sifting blog in a post that brought up Mr. Johnson's comments during his run for alderman. In reality, these comments were made against Jews. They read as follows:

“I have this feeling that Jews would rather be treated as this oppressed group to justify constantly reaching back to the holocaust”

“Is this not like the fifth or sixth time this year a Jewish student has criticized the BH for something printed in their paper??? It’s starting to get out of hand…”

“The funny things is the Jews seem to be so anxious to be treated poorly, they reach and make comments about blacks or brown people...”

These comments were made regarding the publication of a shout-out in the Badger Herald making light of the Holocaust. There are more. For example:

“Well, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu said 'Jews must get over this victimization complex, and stop acting like they have a monopoly on suffering'..”

I can't find any record of Archbishop Tutu ever making that statement, but if someone can find me evidence of such a statement being made, I'll post the whole quote right here. Desmond Tutu has made repeated comments about the treatment of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government, and he has likened it to the apartheid policies of South Africa. That is a fair and legitimate political statement, and Tutu has the right to make it. But, again, I have never found a quote of Archbishop Tutu saying, “Jews must get over this victimization complex, and stop acting like they have a monopoly on suffering.” So either Mr. Johnson knows where I can find the quote, or he put words in someone else's mouth. If the situation is the latter, then it means “Desmond Tutu's” words were really Michael Johnson's words, and he must explain them.

Why do I bring these two-year-old quotes up? I bring them up because as a candidate for County Board and a potential public figure, Michael Johnson should know better than to make comments like these. In an era where nearly everything we do or say is recorded for posterity, he should have been more careful. Mr. Johnson did not have to make those comments, and he certainly did not have to make them public. I want to know why he chose to do so, given that they would almost certainly attract attention and upset more than a few people.

Am I accusing Michael Johnson of being anti-Semitic? No. Believe me, if I were to accuse someone of that, I'd be blunt about it. Am I making this post in an attempt to take Mr. Johnson down and ruin his shot at being County Board Supervisor? Au contraire, I believe that if Mr. Johnson addressed these comments and explained himself, it would make him a stronger candidate. I respect Mr. Johnson tremendously for choosing to run for public office, as I respect (most) people who do. The path is not easy, the demands are crushing, and it is often a thankless endeavor. But I must question his decision-making skills, because he has issued questionable comments more than once. Someone who runs for office should know better, not just because it'll get picked up by third parties, but because that office-holder is a representative of the people, and our representatives should exhibit the best traits, the qualities that we all aspire to hold. Sometimes chief among these qualities is knowing when to bite your tongue. As a final example:

“As fair as the comparison of the two, the herald is better is because it's actually a newspaper, and not a church bake sale newsletter posing as one. I've only read the cardinal once, and that was even asking too much, as it came off as pot luck notification that a publication”

Generally, if I were a candidate, I would not insult one of the two major papers on campus, especially one that makes endorsements. Again, I would cite this as an example of a candidate not knowing when to bite his tongue and making a poor decision.

I bring this matter up in light of the recent controversy on the Badger Herald regarding the Bradley Smith advertisement that, in essence, denied the occurrence of the Holocaust and the death of six million Jews. The events of the past few weeks show that comments similar to the ones Mr. Johnson made a couple years ago are still being made by other individuals, and that these comments generate backlash and rebuke from people who will not tolerate those sorts of statements, (admittedly) including myself. I urge Mr. Johnson to take great care in the future with what he says publicly, but I also ask him to stand up and declare that he neither condones nor would tolerate comments like those made on the Badger Herald website, or in any other forum. I believe that it will make him a stronger candidate, and certainly close the book on the comments made in 2008.

If Mr. Johnson ever wishes to explain his comments, or apologize for them, or make any sort of statement regarding this post, he is more than welcome to do so on this blog.