THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 26, 1995 TAG: 9510260035
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
In his otherwise fine article Oct. 17 on the Million Man March, staff writer Dave Addis, used a choice of words that he might want to reconsider. He referred to Louis Farrakhan's offer to make peace with a Jewish community ``that has long reviled him as an anti-Semite.'' The word ``reviled'' is defined to mean ``vilifying through abusive speech.''
That Farrakhan is an anti-Semite is indisputably clear from his own words - what other conclusion can be drawn from references to Judaism as a ``gutter religion,'' to Jews as ``bloodsuckers'' and to his total distortion of history, giving Jews the leading role in the slave trade. The Jewish reaction has been what one might reasonably expect: resentment and appeals to black leaders and blacks in general to disassociate themselves from Farrakhan's views, sometimes through ads, as in The New York Times, that consist largely of Farrakhan's own words. To characterize this as a reviling of Farrakhan reflects, at least, an extremely poor choice of words.
As to Farrakhan's offer of peace, on the Larry King program, in response to a question, he said he was prepared to apologize to the Jewish community in those situations where ``he can be shown to have been wrong.'' In other words, he is open to being shown that the teachings and traditions of Judaism, with their civilizing influence over thousands of years, do not evidence a ``gutter religion.'' What reactions should one expect of the Jewish community to this magnanimous offer?
FRED A. NICHOLSON
Norfolk, Oct. 17, 1995 by CNB