
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 14, 1991                   TAG: 9102140501
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ANTI-SEMITISM/ RESURGENCE OF AN OLD THREAT

THE SO-CALLED civility movement on college campuses - a movement endorsed by the Wilder administration last spring - has been ridiculed by some as saccharin-coated psychoclaptrap. Like its cousin, "politically correct thinking," the civility movement supposes social ills of intolerance and oppression can be cured by encouraging sensitivity and polite behavior.

Perhaps a cure is too much to expect. Maybe Scud missiles of bigotry and hatred will forever defy efforts to shoot them all down. But Virginians, and all Americans, have got to become more vigilant against destructive prejudice. That much is clear from a recent report showing that anti-Semitic incidents have increased nationwide for the fourth straight year and, in Virginia, nearly doubled over a 12-month period.

The report, by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, recorded 23 anti-Semitic incidents in Virginia in 1990, including the desecration of Beth Israel Jewish Cemetery in Roanoke in December. Incidents in this state mirrored those throughout the nation: vandalism, harassment, threats and assaults against Jews or Jewish institutions.

The league report cited in particular a dramatic increase of acts of bigotry against Jews on college campuses. That increase was reflected in an earlier report on American college life that found racial and sexual harassment growing alongside anti-Semitism. It helped prompt Virginia's Secretary of Education James Dyke to ask each of the state's institutions of higher education to adopt plans for creating more civil, less divisive campus environments.

On and off campuses, a decline in civility seems but one factor behind the rise in anti-Jewish acts - maybe the least of the factors.

A sinking economy tends to foster resentment against stereotyped "rich Jews." There was a public furor when musician Professor Griff said Jews are responsible "for the majority of wickedness that goes on around the globe." But that didn't stop his rap group, Public Enemy, from recording the anti-Semitic lyrics in "Welcome to the Terrordome."

Additionally, the league cites evidence linking recent anti-Semitism to the Persian Gulf crisis; it fears this could be accelerated by the war in the Middle East. The latest issue of the Klan's newspaper headlines a story about the war: "Another Blood Sacrifice on the Altar of International Jewry." A Norfolk radio disc jockey quips that the most popular song in Israel today is "Onward Christian Soldiers."

Sensitivity-training and civility workshops won't be enough to banish this ages-old problem from the planet. But, especially in times of war and recession, when emotions and tensions run high, sound-minded individuals must stand up and speak out against those who perpetrate the madness of intolerance, whether it's aimed at blacks, women, Jews or Arab-Americans - the latter being particularly vulnerable at the moment.

It matters not whether the victim wears a yarmulke or kaffiyeh. Americans, and Virginians, must not let acts of bigotry and hatred go unchallenged.

by CNB