Letter to the Editor: Toby F. Block

Letter to the editor,

“Weber Alumni Urge Anti-Racist Education” (Sept. 9)

To paraphrase Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I hope for the day when all people will be judged by the content of their character rather than their skin color, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender or choice of life partner. Certainly, I support education that prepares students to be accepting of a wide range of beliefs and values. Yet, I am disturbed by the language in the letter from the Weber alumni, which accepts the tenets of the BLM movement.

While I agree that black lives matter, I am saddened that BLM feels that way only when an African American dies in police custody, but doesn’t seem to mourn the black children killed by rioters, the black officers killed while defending black-owned businesses, or the black families who have lost their livelihoods because of vandalism and looting.

While I agree that we should always strive to do better, I do not see systemic racism in a country, which twice elected a black president, whose congressional representatives and senators include whites, blacks and Asians, as well as Christians, Jews and Muslims.

I hope that Weber alumni, faculty and staff recognize that equal opportunity does not necessarily result in equal result. It is fine to seek out Jews who are not Ashkenazi, but don’t think that Weber is racist if its student body and personnel don’t exactly reflect the distribution of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrachi, black … Jews in the Atlanta area.

My final concern is that many of today’s “woke” people have classified Israel as “evil.” A Jewish-founded school in Baltimore was recently attacked for “tolerating Zionism.” I trust that Weber students, faculty, and staff recognize that, while respecting the Divine Image in others, we must demand their respect for the Divine Image in us.

Toby F. Block, Atlanta