Jill Porter: Anti-hate crusader battles intractable problem
IT CHANGES complexion and ebbs and flows as events unfold. But it's an ineradicable part of the human condition. I'm talking about hatred - ethnic, racial, religious.
IT CHANGES complexion and ebbs and flows as events unfold.
But it's an ineradicable part of the human condition.
I'm talking about hatred - ethnic, racial, religious.
For 30 years, Barry Morrison has battled it through public admonition and private intervention. The regional director of the Anti-Defamation League will be feted at a dinner Tuesday to honor his three decades as a sentry against bigotry.
With either a woman or an African-American man on the verge of potentially becoming president of the United States - and with Rev. Jeremiah Wright's racial histrionics capturing the national stage - I thought it was the perfect time to get Morrison's view of things.
"I think we've come a very long way and made great improvements," he said, citing the presidential candidacies that reflect a more tolerant society.
But the comments of Rev. Wright, he said, "punctuate just how far we have yet to go."
Morrison has seen the profile of prejudice change over the years.
The black-Jewish tensions that were so prominent in his early tenure have eased greatly, and been replaced by intense anti-Latino bias arising from opposition to illegal immigration.
"People don't make distinctions between legal and illegal immigrants," Morrison said. "They have a right to have concerns about people being here illegally, but that doesn't excuse bigotry."
The sign outside Geno's steaks, for instance - "This is America. When ordering, speak English" - may be legal, but "it certainly shows a lack of sensitivity or a flagrant disregard for the sensibilities of immigrants in our community," he said.
Morrison also has seen escalating bias against Muslims in the aftermath of 9/11.
And ADL has had to respond to a new weapon in the arsenal of hatred: the Internet.
It didn't exist when Morrison started his career. Now, there's a staffer whose full-time job is to monitor hate sites.
The ADL's primary mission is to combat anti-Semitism, but it battles all ethnic discrimination and hatred.
Morrison pointed out that Jews now live in a "golden age" in America in which there are no sanctioned barriers to careers or schools or housing or assimilation into society.
But there's been a recent resurgence of neo-Nazi skinheads, he said, and anti-Semitic incidents and attitudes endure.
A 2007 ADL survey revealed, for instance, that 15 percent of Americans believe that Jews have too much power, killed Christ or are more loyal to Israel than America.
And, "globally, anti-Semitism is a growing phenomenon fed by the Middle East conflict," Morrison said.
Morrison declined to talk about Obama's response to Wright because, as the head of a nonprofit, he can't mingle in politics.
But rather than damn and dismiss Wright's comments, Morrison sees them as an opportunity.
"I think it's important that we look beyond the political jockeying that's taking place around his comments to what exactly is the culture of African-American churches, how people express themselves and how we can understand and experience them in that language - their culture, needs, aspirations and frustrations. I don't want to miss the forest for the trees.
"This is not for one minute to legitimize his horrendous comments, there's no equivocating or rationalizing about that.
"But this has presented an opportunity - as many problems do - to dig deeper and understand more."
Not that Morrison shrinks from strong condemnation when necessary.
I've often found him the only leader of a Jewish organization willing to speak out on sensitive issues and sacrosanct individuals when they cross the line.
He's a reliable, courageous voice against hatred, though he acknowledges hate will never be extinguished.
"It's intractable," he said.
"As long as there are human beings and differences among humans - as long as people feel deficient in any way - we'll have prejudice and bigotry."
But just as medical doctors don't give up in the face of incurable disease, he said, neither do those who battle this sickness of the soul.
"We have no choice but to be optimistic that we can still make improvements and see a brighter day ahead," he said. *
E-mail porterj@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5850. For recent columns: