Activist Blasts Elorza for Lack of Concern for Anti-Jewish Hate Crimes
Monday, November 28, 2016
“In just five months this year, Rhode Island suffered three highly publicized hate crimes perpetrated against the Jewish Community. Two of those took place in Providence, proper. Yet Mayor Elorza showed virtually no public reaction. That should be read as showing no leadership,” said Jewish activist and former Congressional candidate H. Russell Taub.
On November 22, Elorza signed an “executive order creating the Muslim-American Advisory Board as part of an ongoing One Providence initiative aimed at protecting and serving every resident of the city regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, religion, or disability.”
Taub says the lack of action against Jewish hate crimes show bias by the Providence mayor.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“At the minimum that’s a double standard in Mr. Elorza’s behavior towards the two great religions. Is it also a needless use of scarce City funds to support a largely symbolic Commission? Could it be a signal of real bias which will be on display later in even starker terms?”
There have not been any reported anti-Muslim crimes reported in Providence.
Taub is a two-time Republican candidate for Congress in the 1st Congressional candidate. Taub's comments were issued in a letter released on Sunday.
READ THE FULL LETTER:
Residents of Providence should be concerned over the double standard in the performance of their Mayor. In just five months this year, Rhode Island suffered three highly publicized hate crimes perpetrated against the Jewish Community. Two of those took place in Providence, proper. Yet Mayor Elorza showed virtually no public reaction. That should be read as showing no leadership!
Early this year Brown University was festooned with crude swastikas and even cruder Anti-Semitic slogans. What support did Jewish residents receive as a result? Deafening silence, from both the University and the City. Later that spring a similar outrage was brought down on the synagogue and community center of Ohawe Shalom, in Providence. As you would expect, the Jewish Defense League spoke out. They strongly condemned the cowardly and hate-fueled defacing of sacred grounds. Many would also have expected a similar public statement from their City Government. Once again the Mayor’s silence was his message.
Following the national election earlier this month Mayor Elorza immediately swung into action, however. He responded to one off-handed comment made by then Candidate Trump on the subject of vetting Muslim visitors to America. Those comments, of course, were amplified for months by a breathless Media intent on stopping the Republican. Nonetheless, they were a hyperbole uttered as campaign rhetoric. In that way the perceived threat to Muslims had no comparison to the actual hate crimes committed against Jews. Yet it was more than enough to prompt His Honor to create a Muslim Advisory Council for Providence and give it jurisdictional authority.
At the minimum that’s a double standard in Mr. Elorza’s behavior towards the two great religions. Is it also a needless use of scarce City funds to support a largely symbolic Commission? Could it be a signal of real bias which will be on display later in even starker terms?
H. Russell Taub
2016 Former Republican U.S. Congressional Candidate
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