Letters to the Editor
Posted November 3, 2009 (3 weeks ago) at 11:28 pm in Opinion
Cross purposes
We have recently become aware of an event sponsored by the USC College Republicans on tonight, in which David Horowitz will be brought to our campus to give a speech entitled “The Campus War Against Israel and the Jews” as part of a yearly campaign entitled “Islamo Fascism Awareness Week” that he does at college campuses across the country every fall.
Horowitz has previously asserted:
African-Americans owe American society a debt for having been enslaved for hundreds of years, and that they should display gratitude to white Americans for the system of institutionalized oppression that completely denied African-Americans any human rights;
Muslim Student Union groups in the United States are supporters of terrorist activity abroad, “are part of the network founded by the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and funded by Saudi money,” and send money abroad to help “exterminate the Jews;”
Students should stay away from “women’s studies, black studies, cultural studies, whiteness studies, post-colonial studies, all those studies [sic]” because they are “dangerous” for students’ minds.
These statements demonstrate Horowitz’s racist, offensive, and ignorant views of various communities, and he has used his Islamo Fascism tour to promote these views and make these statements in the past. The fact that these statements are accepted as academic debate or anything more than racist ranting is absurd and truly a stain on the level of debate in American society today.
Despite this, universities across this country continue provide him a forum to speak and dignify his racism by allowing it to echo out from the highest levels of academia. This racism is directly attacking our student population, and his diatribes offend every student who does not consider her or himself a racist. Allowing Horowitz to speak at USC is paramount to the administration’s elevation of his hate speech to academic debate, in effect legitimizing his verbal attacks on students.
SCampus, the document that outlines the university administration’s relationship with the student body, declares in the Principles of Community, “As a scholarly community, we aspire to create an environment in which racism, sexism, ageism, xenophobia and homophobia do not go unchallenged,” and further states that, “We [USC] speak out against hatred and bigotry whenever and wherever we find them.”
USC has a responsibility to its students to protect them, as the administration itself acknowledges, and to not allow that the lecterns of our university be used as a forum for people from outside the student body to come and threaten students. In the past, Horowitz has done exactly this — made derogatory remarks towards entire communities of students based on their race and religion.
How exactly is the USC administration protecting students as it allows Horowitz to use the platform USC provides as a pulpit for racist hatred and incitement, unchallenged, as he has in the past?
As students, we ask that the USC administration be conscious of the kind of academic environment it is fostering by promoting racist speakers such as Horowitz, and that it be willing to act in accordance with its own protocols regarding hate speech and the targeting of students.
USC Progressive Alliance, SCALE, USC Students for Justice in Palestine, USC Food Not Bombs, Women’s Creative Collective, Chair Akira Mizute Lippit, Chair John Carlos Rowe, Professor Laura Pulido, Professor David Lloyd, Professor Macarena Gomez Barris, Professor Brent Blair
Double standards
Tonight College Republicans is hosting David Horowitz, founder of the Freedom Center. Mr. Horowitz is a political conservative and an advocate of pro-Israel policies. For exercising its right as a student organization to host a speaker on campus, College Republicans has faced unfounded attacks by the student organizations Students for Justice in Palestine and Progressive Alliance. SJP and Progressive Alliance are distributing fliers, emails and Facebook messages that accuse Mr. Horowitz of making racist statements and of perpetuating hate against individuals of the Islamic faith. These flyers, emails and Facebook messages are slanderous against Mr. Horowitz and College Republicans, as they are categorically false. College Republicans refuses to allow SJP and Progressive Alliance to slander its members and its speaker Mr. Horowitz with such abhorrent statements. Slander is a serious legal wrong and is legally actionable.
Following is Mr. Horowitz’s response to the accusations that SJP and Progressive Alliance are launching against him:
“I am not a racist and I am not an Islamophobe. I have organized protests on more than 100 college campuses against the oppression of Muslim women. I have published booklets against the oppression of Muslim women, and I have sponsored panels with Muslim speakers against the oppression of Muslim women. There are numerous videos of my campus speeches on the web where I can be seen saying that my efforts are not directed against all Muslims, but are in fact conducted on behalf of most Muslims against the hijacking of their religion by totalitarian radicals who are conducting a campaign of hatred against Jews and gays and other minority groups. In their emails, Facebook messages and flyers, SJP threatens to attack my speech by any means necessary. I hope members of the USC community will appeal to university officials to see that civility and order are maintained around this event, and that Students for Justice in Palestine are put on notice that this kind of anti-intellectual and uncivil behavior is unacceptable.”
College Republicans does not ask the USC community to embrace our speaker’s opinions, but we are enforcing our right to freedom of expression by bringing him to speak at USC. Furthermore, we refuse to allow SJP and Progressive Alliance to slander our organization and our speaker. If College Republicans were to distribute fliers with inflammatory and false statements about SJP or Progressive Alliance, there would be a campus-wide outcry against College Republicans. We refuse to tolerate this double standard, and we reserve the right to take all necessary legal action against student organizations which have slandered and continue to slander our organization’s name and Mr. Horowitz.
USC College Republicans Executive Board
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LA Downtown, CA
This is not freedom of speech, it is hate speech. What a shame because true Jews and Israelis don’t even believe in even half what this guy says. Don’t be fooled by College Republicans, this man is a racist and needs to be quieted.
People like this feed off of controversy so I am sure there is some way to shut him up.
This is a well reasoned, powerful letter that stresses some seriously alarming hypocrisy on the part of the USC administration.
I am appalled that USC has repeatedly allowed racists like Horowitz to speak on campus. This tolerance for intolerance counteracts USC’s “pledge” to combat bigotry and hatred, and delegitimizes the university’s desired reputation as a progressive community for a diverse student body. Shame on the administration for allowing this, and shame on the USC College Republicans for embracing this man’s vile, hateful ideas as considerable discourse. Free speech ends when you endanger the rights of others, and that is exactly what Horowitz does for a living.
I find it abhorrent that perhaps the leading apologist for racism and reaction on campuses today will be at one of our local universities. Mr. Horowitz has demonstrated time and time again through his writing, speaking, and associations a propensity for the most vile and unmitigated hate speech.
I applaud the USC student organizations for having the courage to point out who Mr. Horowitz is, and the despicable ideas he represents. We need to encourage this movement to exclude racist reactionaries like Mr. Horowitz and his ilk from being given any platform that remotely legitimizes their poisoned ideology and anti-muslim diatribes. Lest small and reactionary minds clamor about free speech, let’s be clear; hate speech does not constitute free speech.
People like Robert D. Skeels are unapologetic hypocrites. They apparently are perfectly happy to stand by and applaud all manner of speakers on campus, as long as they don’t disagree with him.
Horowitz’ ideas are relevant to this discussion, and attempting to suppress them is UNAMERICAN. Did you guys ever hear of the Constitution? And Mr. Skeels, wrap your small mind around this — just because someone disagrees with you does not mean they are engaging in “hate speech.” What’s more, ALL speech constitutes free speech. Again, I respectfully point you back to the Constitution, which as much as you may wish it to be so, has not yet been amended to exclude the speech of people who rub you the wrong way.
Pathetic.
What’s more, ideas either stand or fall on their own. Let him speak. Let people judge what he has to say with open minds. If his ideas are so wrong, that will be evident, won’t it? What are you so afraid of? That he perhaps has some truth to impart?
Diane, it’s hard to argue that Mr. Horowitz’s career has not been largely built off of stirring up xenophobia and distrust of Muslims.
You’re quite right about the constitution, but this sudden adherence to its most basic tenements seems selective at best. I’m sure the College Republicans would be in a greater bind if firearms were permitted on campus, as the constitution implies. When you enter a university with a diverse student body, you must take these things into consideration, and just like a gun, free speech can be used as a destructive weapon. He should not be nationally censored, but it is irresponsible of USC to allow him to speak on campus. I find it believable that this is happening only because racism against Muslims has risen since September 11. If the speaker were anti-semitic, anti-Christian, we would not be having this debate.
Lefties all say that they’re the ones with the “open minds”….that we need to be “tolerant” of others. In fact, Horowitz used to be a left-wing communist in his college days, and once he matured, he saw how foolish he was. Left-wingers HAVE TO shout down or silence anyone who disagrees with them. They’re like the ignorant oratorical schoolyard bullies who only know the “tip of the iceberg”. Way to many students these days have a HERD MENTALITY & let the big mouths attack others and then speak for their fabricated majority. It’s a shame. USC…Open your limited academic minds & listen to this guy. I, too, was a communist in my student days and I’m ashamed that I got caught up in that Persecutor-Victim-Rescuer “Hero” racket. What a waste of time. And worst of all….I thought I was some kind of Hero! Do yourself a favor & take your fricking blinders off & hear what he has to say. Ignore the statements that he reportedly made or were taken out of context. Agenda driven leftist are well know for lying in order to advance their pathetic cause. They have NO concern or knowledge of the truth. Do you? If you do, listen patiently, & with respect. to BOTH sides.
I am in full support of this letter because even though there are multiple sides and perspectives concerning issues of race, gender, religion, etc. what we hear and see in mainstream media is NOT multi-faceted, not to mention the amount of funding these speakers (like Anne Coulter) get to come speak at campuses is outrageous. I know that students have a right to speak on behalf of these issues of race, gender, and religion that both affect them both personally and as a community.
Consider this: What kind of “debate” happens in Muslim countries? All you see are “men” marching in the streets with their FISTS in the air, chanting HATEFUL, ANGRY slogans. Their women (which are just pieces of property) stay at home & obey their every word…all out of FEAR.
Do you liberals/left-wingers/so-called “progressives” truly ADMIRE this FEARFUL lifestyle? How could you? This entire debate is originally between 2 brothers: Isaac & Ishmael, who had the same father, Abraham. Listen & reason with one of Isaac’s decendants (Mr. Horowitz). Then see how the emotional hate, anger, & rage of the Muslim’s (Ishmael) reacts. Watch the false, hateful accusations & threats fly…from Ishmael’s followers. Pathetic, isn’t it? Especially when you want to LEARN about BOTH sides of the conflict….in a UNIVERSITY!
The statements and views attributed to me are utterly false. The signers of the malicious and slanderous statement against me may be ignorant of what I have said and written but that’s pretty hard to believe. This is a vicious attack on me, on the College Republicans and on the principle of free speech. That this kind of attack should come from USC professors is disgraceful and merely demonstrates the pathetic intellectual levels of discourse which are apparently tolerated at this university.
As a student not biased to once side or the other, I wouldn’t have known David Horowitz existed or that he was speaking unless groups on campus didn’t make a huge stink about him speaking. If their goals were to not let his message spread, it was a pretty poor job. By bringing attention to him speaking, you get me interested in what he has to say.
And his responses to criticism seem a lot more intelligent than the attacks against him (a few bullet points that seem to be out of context if anything don’t do much for me).
Miles writes, “I am appalled that USC has repeatedly allowed racists like Horowitz to speak on campus.”
Miles, could you tell me what “race” Islam is?
This is not a trick question.
Islam is a religion, not a race.
It is a religion founded by a warrior named Mohammed. He killed, raped, pillaged the Arabian Peninsula until only Muslims lived there. His exploits and his words to his followers to follow his example accounts for Islam’s numbers and geographic reach.
Tell me how Islam is a race instead of a religion of war? You’re either seriously confused or a huckster for Islam.
I’d like to invite people who don’t know much about David Horowitz (like Chris) to do a little research. I promise, it doesn’t take much to discover that he is, in fact, a racist. He is not interested in holding academic debates, instead, he is a man who speaks out of hate and who wishes to incite anger in others. These are quotes taken directly from David Horowitz articles:
“There Is No One Group That Benefited Exclusively From [the] Fruits [of slavery]
The claim for reparations is premised on the false assumption that only whites have benefited from slavery. If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well, including the descendants of slaves. The GNP of black America is so large that it makes the African-American community the 10th most prosperous “nation” in the world. American blacks on average enjoy per capita incomes in the range of twenty to fifty times that of blacks living in any of the African nations from which they were kidnapped” (”Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks – and Racist Too” – FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, January 03, 2001)
This quote suggests that black Americans today should be grateful for their ancestor’s enslavement because, today, they are benefiting from the wealth that came out of slavery. The quote also says that African Americans are much better off than Africans. The implication seems to be that African Americans should be happy that their ancestors were kidnapped and systematically oppressed, because otherwise, they’d still be in Africa.
“What About The Debt Blacks Owe To America?
Slavery existed for thousands of years before the Atlantic slave trade was born, and in all societies. But in the thousand years of its existence, there never was an anti-slavery movement until white Christians – Englishmen and Americans — created one. If not for the anti-slavery attitudes and military power of white Englishmen and Americans, the slave trade would not have been brought to an end. If not for the sacrifices of white soldiers and a white American president who gave his life to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, blacks in America would still be slaves. If not for the dedication of Americans of all ethnicities and colors to a society based on the principle that all men are created equal, blacks in America would not enjoy the highest standard of living of blacks anywhere in the world, and indeed one of the highest standards of living of any people in the world. They would not enjoy the greatest freedoms and the most thoroughly protected individual rights anywhere. Where is the gratitude of black America and its leaders for those gifts? ” (”Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks – and Racist Too” – FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, January 03, 2001)
Most of this paragraph is terribly offensive. But my first response is: since when are human rights a gift? And since when should a people who had to struggle and fight FOR THEIR OWN FREEDOM (the civil rights movement was all about SELF-DETERMINATION) give thanks to their oppressors for “awarding” them something that should be intrinsically theirs?
The article goes on. Sometimes the language is not straight forward in its racism, but if you analyze it and deconstruct what Horowitz is saying, the message is clear.
I also think it is worth while mentioning that a number of students were not allowed into the event, though there were empty seats in the room. The students who were not allowed into the building were notified before the event took place that they would not be allowed in – and every single one of these students had Arab sounding names. At the event, one republican student stated that these students were denied entry because of safety precautions. The implication was clear: if you have an Arab sounding last name, you are a threat (a potential terrorist?). An obvious example of racial profiling.
Quotes by David Horowitz:
-“What happens to a black man in America? You slit your wife’s throat from ear to ear and you get acquitted,” in reference to O.J. Simpson and part of a larger argument about African-Americans and crime; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JLoX0ugB4g
-“Students should stay away from “women’s studies, black studies, cultural studies, whiteness studies, post-colonial studies, all those studies [sic]” because they are “dangerous” for students’ minds.” -April 6 edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200604280004?detectqt=false&
-Called USC Students for Justice in Palestine: “organization is a supporter of genocide against the Jewish state and of the Hamas terrorists and of the general terrorist jihad against Israel and the United States” – From his blog November 3, 2009: http://newsrealblog.com/2009/11/03/the-islamic-war-on-freedom-at-usc/
“If blacks are oppressed in America, why isn’t there a black exodus? Why do all those black Haitians want to come here? To be oppressed?” -http://archive.salon.com/news/col/horo/1999/08/16/naacp/
-“Blacks are the human shield of the Democratic Party” –on Glenn Beckhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scRf_7L5-9I
ANYONE WANT MORE QUOTES?
And Ali- thank you for your insightful comment. Horowitz is RACIST towards blacks, and ISLAMOPHOBIC towards Muslims. You are correct, Islam is not a race.
Laila,
You’re right. Horowitz had no reason to be concerned about people with Arab sounding names being in the same room with him. After all Arabs/Muslims are extraordinarily tolerant and compassionate people. Just ask them:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/10/uk-muslim-protesters-threaten-geert-wilders-well-have-his-head.html
Lalia,
Did you knw that Saudi Arabia outlawed slavery in 1962? That is right. Not until 1962 did Saudi Arabia pass legislation on slavery.
Did you know Mohammed practiced and encouraged his followers to enslave non-Muslims? It’s true. It’s right there in the Koran for you to read.
Read what Tripoli’s Envoy said to Thomas Jefferson about slavery. This is from negoations surrounding the Barbary Coast Wars:
In March 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli’s envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman (or Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring “concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury”, the ambassador replied:
It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every muslim who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy’s ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once. [2] [3]
Jefferson reported the conversation to Secretary of State John Jay, who submitted the Ambassador’s comments and offer to Congress. Jefferson argued that paying tribute would encourage more attacks.
[...] for the campus Left’s attempt to marginalize David Horowitz’s most recent speech. A letter to the editor at the Daily Trojan from various leftist campus groups and professors had these smears: Horowitz [...]
Lalia,
You must be kidding us, right? It is a safe bet Horowitz has received dozens of death threats from Muslims. It is a fact that Muslims have killled, and continue to kill, those who speak out against Islam. Your outrage –real or feigned– is either purposely naive or simply stupid. Horowtiz deserves to use common sense in deciding who is allowed into his lectures based on the history of death threats against him.
Here is exactly what many Muslims would like to do to Horowtiz if given the chance:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/10/uk-muslim-protesters-threaten-geert-wilders-well-have-his-head.html
And as far as slavery goes, Islam’s history of slavery makes the West’s history look practically benign. This is not to excuse the West’s history with slavery, but just to say Islam’s history is far worse. In fact there are still a handful of Islamic countries that still allow slavery.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_9_54/ai_85410331/
What’s next Republicans? I guess the next logical organization representative for you to bring on campus would be from KKK.
What next democrats? I guess the next logical organization for you to bring on campus would be from Al Qaeda.
Two Jacks? That’s just weird.. I didn’t even post that last one.