To our friends, professors, classmates and allies:
The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute invited former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson to speak on a panel entitled “Social Media and US Foreign Policy” this coming Monday. The Kahn Institute invited Plame Wilson to speak in early September, as a part of their yearlong lecture series on war.
In September, Plame Wilson retweeted an article entitled “American Jews are Driving America’s Wars.” The article by ex-CIA columnist Philip Giraldi employs some of the oldest expressions of anti-Semitism, namely conspiracy. This anti-Semitic trope works by spreading the myth that Jews control the world and are secretly scheming behind every instance of corruption.
Throughout history, Jews have been positioned in a social hierarchy that has served to deflect anger and hate from the state. The article accuses American Jews of infiltrating politics, controlling the media and questions the ability for Jews to be loyal to America.
The article proposes the removal of Jews from Middle-East foreign policy positions in order to deal with “the dominant involvement of American Jews in foreign policy.” Additionally, Giraldi proposes that Jewish television commentators should be labeled as Jews on the screen “like a warning label on a bottle of rat poison.”
These are the views that Plame Wilson chose to share with her fifty thousand twitter followers. Plame Wilson doubled down after initial pushback and encouraged her followers to “read the entire article and try, just for a moment, to put aside your biases and think clearly.” She also deflected accusations of anti-Semitism by cynically weaponizing the fact that she had a Jewish ancestor.
Only after continuous pushback did Plame Wilson apologize, saying she had skimmed the piece and “missed the gross undercurrents,” which were “problematic AF.” Following her apology, Plame Wilson reached out to the Kahn Institute, saying she would understand completely if they wanted to cancel her lecture.
Instead of canceling, in light of the anti-Semitic myths Plame Wilson perpetuated on social media, the Kahn Institute decided to change her platform to a panel focused on social media and foreign policy.
We as the Smith College Jewish Community Board wholeheartedly condemn Plame Wilson. We are deeply troubled by the Kahn Institute and the College’s ability to reconcile anti-Semitism with any withstanding attributes. The history of the present moment requires clear and public condemnation and recognition of anti-Semitism, which in the case of Plame Wilson’s invitation, has not happened.
While known anti-Semites are being appointed to governmental positions of power and fascists parade as the alt-right resurface nazi slogans in the name of nationalism, it is painfully apparent that anti-Semitism must be stopped.
However, before it can be stopped, it must be understood. Anti-Semitism does not exist in a vacuum, but rather is connected to every other system of oppression. Blatant anti-Semitism relies on the ever constant current of mistrust and hatred of Jews.
The current US administration exemplifies this: the flares of obvious anti-Semitism (read: condoning alt-Right groups is one of many examples) relies on the constant condemnation of the media, which works in tandem with anti-Semitic conspiracy.
We must work to end obvious and inconspicuous hate. As white supremacy requires anti-semitism to exist, standing against anti-Semitism serves to undercut the very basis of white supremacy.
Welcoming an anti-Semite to campus disgusts and disappoints. It is unfortunate that it took a visit from someone who spread anti-Semitic propaganda to over 50,000 viewers for this conversation to surface. We hope that you, the Smith Community, consider the following questions:
Why is the response to an anti-Semite speaking on campus silence? How can we be more cognizant of anti-Semitic rhetoric in our daily lives? How does anti-Semitism fit into systems of oppression at large?
Some of us will be organizing a response at the event. We invite you to join us there, wear black, don’t clap, come with a critical voice and hard questions, and make it clear that we do not cede an inch of ideological ground to anti- Semitism. Some of us will be holding space in the Kosher Kitchen, on the Paradise Road side of Jordan House, before, during and after her talk on Monday for anyone who needs the space to decompress.
Sincerely,
Smith College Jewish Community
