ADL Ignores Bias Toward Persons With Disabilities

ADL Ignores Bias Toward Persons With Disabilities

The reluctance of the National ADL to officially recognize the Armenian
genocide is not an anomaly. (Michael Levenson, "For longtime ADL leader, a rare
reversal of course," Boston Globe, August 22, 2007) For several years I asked
the ADL locally and nationally to address serious institutionalized
discrimination against persons with disabilities. The ADL ignores the abuses as
they did with the Armenian genocide.
The ADL acts as journalists and politicians do. They consider issues raised
by wealthy and politically connected persons. Instead of focusing on abuses of
vulnerable persons, journalists, politicians and the ADL help wealthy
individuals who are members of politically connected groups. Those who need the
help the least get special privileges due to their identity not according to
their need.

Roy Bercaw, Editor, ENOUGH ROOM

For longtime ADL leader, a rare reversal of course
By Michael Levenson,
Boston Globe Staff
August 22, 2007

He has stood up to Mel Gibson, Jimmy Carter, Louis Farrakhan, and the president
of Iran. But Abraham H. Foxman, the director of the Anti-Defamation League,
backed down yesterday after a standoff with Armenian-Americans in Watertown drew
the attention of some of the nation's most prominent Jewish leaders.

Foxman, a Holocaust survivor, reversed course and acknowledged that the
slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide. The change
stunned those who have followed Foxman's 42-year career at the ADL, where he has
rarely bowed to critics.

Jewish leaders said Foxman, who has made it his life's mission to fight
anti-Semitism and injustice, had little choice but to acknowledge the Armenian
genocide. Elie Wiesel, the famous Jewish author, had already endorsed the
position, and this week counseled Foxman to follow his lead.

"This issue resonated so deeply with the Jewish community that he simply could
not resist the pressures from below," said Harvard Law School Professor Alan M.
Dershowitz, a self-described Foxman fan. "He had to listen to the people, and
the people spoke in a loud and clear voice. The people said: 'Truth first.
Politics second.' "

Last week, Foxman fired Andrew H. Tarsy, the ADL's New England director, after
Tarsy defied the national group's policy and agreed to call the Armenian
massacre genocide. Foxman said he worried that using the term genocide could
alienate Turkey, a rare Muslim ally of Israel. In a letter, Foxman wrote, "No
organization can or should tolerate such an act of open defiance."
[...]
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.