Panel discusses community solutions to prejudice

"In diversity lies the best education, and in education, lies the acceptance of diversity." This was one of the many messages echoed Nov. 19, when a program called "Justice for All?" took place in Barnum Hall.

The event, sponsored Tufts Hillel, the Africana Center and several other organizations, was a forum designed to bring together blacks and Jews in discussion of racism and anti-Semitism in the criminal justice system. The program encompassed the importance of cross-cultural education, and featured judges from all levels of the United States justice system.

"Blacks and Jews in Conversation" is a program that began in the 1990s in New York. It was created based on the need to have voices of reason and rationality in the frequent struggle between blacks and Jews. The program aims to move these two distinct groups away from confrontation, and towards coexistence, and it to schools and universities across the nation to educate students and faculty.

On the stage sat five people: Jeffrey Ross of the ADL, who served as the moderator, Shannon Taylor, and Justices Deborah A. Dowling, Milton Tingling, and Harold Baer.

The discussion began with an explanation of the role of police officers and of the District Attorney's Office in today's justice system. Dowling explained that her job forces her to exercise discretion at all times, and it is this power that puts her on the firing line.

After this brief introduction, the conversation quickly turned to the Tufts community. The audience was asked whether students had ever witnessed or experienced racist or anti-Semitic acts on campus. Approximately two-thirds of the room raised their hand.

Students spoke about ethnic slurs that had been spray-painted onto the cannon, as well as hate graffiti that was written last year in dorms and in bathrooms. Yet, when the panel asked if anyone ever did anything about these incidents, the auditorium was silent.

"This lack of action makes students desensitized to the issue and without doing something about the problem, there is no hope for racism and anti-Semitism to disappear," Tingling said.

Dowling agreed. "Tufts is an incredible academic institution that prides itself on its selective students, diversity, and its ability to be vocal, students are the best of the best, yet when awful things like this happen, it is very disconcerting to inject this sort of thing into such a bright environment," she said.

The message of the judges was that students have a responsibility to act, said junior Richard Kalman, one of the event's organizers. "The judges stressed a community solution to a community problem, and in the future we need to implement solutions that take into consideration the opinions of students all across campus, and not just senators, or members of any one student organization," he said.

The panel emphasized that change is necessary, but that students cannot do it on their own, and that the administration's involvement is paramount.

"Communities must work together to combat and educate about racism, anti-Semitism and all forms of prejudice on campus," Rabbi Summit said. "No one group can go this alone."

Summit commended the conversation that has been taking place on campus between Blacks and Jews over the past few years.

Many viewed the program as a success, and some even expressed desires to see it used towards other minority relations.

"I think that a program like this is important because it emphasizes the need for dialogue between different members of the community," Hillel President Erika Robbins said. "Even though this case was geared towards dialogue between Blacks and Jews, I think that that fact is arbitrary; it is necessary between Blacks and Asians, Jews and Latinos, Arabs and Latinos, and every combination of ethnicity, race and religion that is present."

Organizers were pleased with the turnout, Robbins said, though many felt that there was a lack of an administrators present. Veronica Carter, Dean of Judicial Affairs, was the one administrator in attendance.

The program came to Tufts through Taylor, who graduated from the University in 1976. Taylor acknowledges that Tufts was never as diverse as it is now, and that it is imperative in today's world for different people to further their understandings and find common ground.

Rabbi Summit appeared optimistic on the prospect of continuing such a program. "We continue to work to educate on these issues and on the other, we work to build an atmosphere on campus where racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and all forms of prejudice are examined, challenged and condemned from within our community," he said.