Helen Thomas Statue Campaign Stirs Controversy
The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn has launched a fund-raising drive to pay for a statue of legendary journalist Helen Thomas that concerns some in the Jewish community.
Thomas, a former White House correspondent and native Detroiter born to Lebanese immigrants, was forced to quit her job at Hearst Newspapers last month after saying Israelis should “get the hell out of Palestine.” She apologized.
On Tuesday, the museum started a 45-day campaign to raise the remaining $10,000 for the roughly $30,000 statue. Some in the Jewish community are wary of honoring Thomas.
“I just hope that the support for this memorial is there despite her anti-Israel and anti-Semitic views and not because of them,” said Richard Nodel, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council.
Anan Ameri, director of the museum, said she disagrees with her comments, but Thomas “spent her life … doing a lot of good things.”
Remarks put Thomas’ legacy in dispute in metro Detroit
Some Jewish leaders are pushing Wayne State to take Thomas’ name off an annual diversity award.
The clashing views of Thomas — a native Detroiter known for her White House reporting — are playing out in metro Detroit’s Arab-American and Jewish communities. Both sides acknowledge that Thomas is a noted journalist, but differ in how she should be remembered.
The Dearborn-based Arab American National Museum has launched an online fund-raiser at www.kickstarter.com to get $10,000 to finish a sculpture of Thomas, 89, who was born to immigrants from Lebanon. The project started about a year ago, well before Thomas resigned in June amid a storm of controversy after she made critical remarks about Israel.
Susan Tinsley McElhinney, a Virginia-based sculptor and ex-news photographer, is making the statue with financial help from the museum. The total cost of the statue is $25,000-$30,000, said Anan Ameri, the museum’s director.
Ameri said it’s important to recognize Thomas’ accomplishments for women and journalists.
“She contributed a lot,” Ameri said. Thomas “opened many, many doors for women in this country.”
“Helen Thomas is a very significant journalist,” Ameri added. “And it’s the mission of this museum to document and preserve the contributions of Arab Americans.”
Thomas resigned last month after she told a rabbi on camera that people in Israel should leave and “go home” to “Poland, Germany and America, and everywhere else,” a YouTube clip shows.
Those comments have prompted Jewish leaders in metro Detroit to ask Wayne State University to take Thomas’ name off the Spirit of Diversity in the Media award, established 10 years ago to honor journalists and diversity. Wayne State reiterated Wednesday that it is keeping her name on the award even though it “strongly condemns the wholly inappropriate comments” by Thomas.
In a letter published last week in the Detroit Jewish News, Betsy Kelman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, blasted Wayne State for not removing Thomas’ name from the award. Kelman said that Wayne State is being “politically expedient” because “it knows the demographics of its students and alumni.” Kelman added that the award “tarnishes the name of Wayne State University and is an embarrassment.”
Kelman also brought up Thomas’ ethnic background, writing: “As a Lebanese woman, we knew where her allegiance was.”
Others in the Jewish community said Kelman’s letter went too far, given that Thomas is American-born, saying her ancestry is irrelevant.
Kelman said Wednesday that the statue “will be a painful reminder of the huge chasm between the communities and just how far apart we still are in some areas.”
Arthur Horwitz, publisher of the Detroit Jewish News, also opposes having a diversity award with Thomas’ name on it, but he said he has no problems with the statue given that Thomas is a journalistic icon.
“If I were in the Arab-American community, I’d want to celebrate the unique career that Helen Thomas had,” Horwitz said.
Ameri said that “we disagree with” the comments that Thomas made about Israel, which were “uncalled for.” But “it was unfair to scratch a whole history … because of a statement she made.”
Suehaila Amen, 31, of Dearborn agrees.
“We still stand behind her for all the work she’s done,” Amen said. “She is still an icon, a legend when it comes to journalism.”
Thomas, considered a trailblazer for female journalists, covered 10 U.S. presidents.
“No one has been able to do what Helen Thomas has been able to do,” Amen said.
Niraj Warikoo
Detroit Free Press