Arab, Muslim, and Black Social Justice Groups Blamed for Anti-Semitic Flyers on UIC Campus
BY: Nisreen Eadeh/Staff Writer
The University of Illinois Chicago is investigating anti-Semitic flyers found around campus last week. Students have been circulating images of the flyers on social media, and calling for an end to this campus activity.
The flyers say “Ending white privilege starts with ending Jewish privilege.” The figures used to show the Jewish population at the top of a pyramid have the Star of David on their bodies. The flyers also cite Pew Research for information about the income of Jewish Americans, stating that they make up 44% of the top 1%. However, the information is mathematically incorrect.
Four days later, dozens more flyers were found on the campus, but this time they included the hashtags #BlackLivesMatter #WeAreAllMuslim #StandWithPalestine and #IStandWithSteven (a reference to Steven Salaita, the Palestinian American professor who was fired from the University of Illinois for criticizing the Israeli government during the 2014 assault on Gaza).
The new flyers erroneously depict the social justice groups associated with these hashtags as the authors of the flyers, giving way to hateful accusations towards Arab, Muslim, and Black students on campus. None of the students associated with the Chicago chapters of these groups know anything about the origins of the flyers.
Black Lives Matter Chicago denounced the flyers as racist and said they misrepresented the movement. In a statement, Black Lives Matter said these flyers are part of a “disturbing new trend” where people use the language of social justice movements to spread hate. BLM rejected the falsehoods stated in the flyers, and made it clear that a person can support social justice in Palestine without being anti-Semitic.
Statement from BLM: “It is widely known that BLM supports Palestinians in their struggle for liberation. We often compare our similar situations dealing with police violence and State sanctioned oppression. However, being pro Palestine doesn’t make you anti-Semitic and we don’t condone or endorse any anti-Jewish ideology. We demand accountability to the specific governments, systems of oppression, and organizations that carry out injustices and human rights violations.”
Arab American, African American, Muslim American, Jewish Voice for Peace, and other cultural and social organizations have signed a joint statement defending the student activists being accused of anti-Semitism.
In their join statement, the undersigned allege that the “fake posters… use marginalized communities as authors of hate speech to smear them and incite mistrust between them.”
Campuses should be safe spaces for all students – not an open space pitting students of different faiths and races against each other for the amusement of an unknown organization.
