What people said about the anti-Semitic Valentine's Day card
News of an anti-Semitic Valentine's Day card that trivializes the Holocaust sparked outrage on the campus of Central Michigan University and drew international condemnation.
Throughout the week, members of the CMU community commented about the nature of hate speech and the card controversy.
"We are deeply disappointed by last night’s situation with a Valentine card containing an inappropriate sentiment that was produced during a student organization meeting. This is not who we are as a campus community. Such hurtful, offensive language, while protected by the First Amendment, is unacceptable and is not consistent with our values and standards." - CMU President George Ross
“Middle school was the first time I experienced blatant hate speech. 'Stupid Jew' is what he called me for wearing my ‘Happy Hanukkah’ button. During difficult times such as this, when hate speech has been made clear on our campus, we must choose to embrace our identities and the identities of others, and fight back with resistance, positivity and strength. I realized that while I could advertise it, however, that meant I could also choose to hide it. That part of me, my Jewish identity, such a big part of who I am, I could just tuck it away. How would anybody know? That is my privilege. It is my privilege to hide this identity about myself. As I grew up, I realized that many, many people could not hide their identities as they so choose." - Hillel at CMU President Hadley Platek.
"We have shown that we will not stand for hate speech on our campus, and that we will resist whenever one of us feels threatened in this dark time of our nation's history." - Steven Keene, vice president of Hillel at CMU.
"We in no way condone this type of rhetoric or anti-Semitism. We apologize for any offense, and want students to know that we do not tolerate this sort of behavior." - CMU College Republicans statement.
"I don't walk on campus at night feeling safe, because every time I'm anywhere near Main Street, I get 'Hey f****t' screamed out the window, or 'What's up d***?' or any other number of slurs thrown my way." – senior Randi Bennet speaking at the anti-hate speech rally Thursday, Feb. 9.
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