I just got this link in email: SFSU cites Jewish émigré for ‘hate speech’ (May 31, 2002), and read the story — it appears that a 50 year old Jewish-lady SFSU student is being charged under a hate crime statute, based on evidence that she told pro-Palestinian counterdemonstrators to “fuck their camels”, and called on the Arabic word for “bitch”.
I’ve Googled this and don’t yet have confirmation, but it meshes with the earlier news reports that had a pro-Israeli student offered to the DA to be possibly charged with hate crimes based on what amounts to ethnic abuse.
I’m not in possession of all the facts (but the media reports are congruent); I’m not a lawyer, and I’m sure some lawyers will pick this up and go into depth with it.
But if the facts are what they appear to be, this is beyond absurd. I’ll go back to my earlier comment, which is that there is a wide gulf between passionate, even heated speech – which I’m pretty sure the comments above are – and threatened and actual violence – which I’m absolutely sure they aren’t. It frightens me a bit that this distinction is somehow not clear to the eminient administrators of the University.
The only reason in the world that I can imagine for the SFSU administration to pick this one women out of what were doubtless dozens of people screaming imprecations is that she is Jewish, and that by referring her to the District Attorney they can maintain exactly the impression of fairness that they find so important.
The facts will come out in the next few days. Message to President Corrigan: I sure hope the task force you have empanelled comes up with something profound this summer. I know Ill be watching. Why is it that my expectations are so low?
Note (6/8/02): I mistakenly typed “UCSF” for “SFSU” and just got caught. My apologies to the medical students.