Sunday, April 22, 2007

Fighting the wrong "enemy": Michael Ray Richardson, the basketball coach who was fired for alleged antisemitism, finds another defender

Remember Michael Ray Richardson, the NBA junior league coach who was fired for making what was considered to be antisemitic remarks? I was, in case you don't remember, really sad about that and argued that he needed an education not a firing.

Well turns out that Jonathan Mark of the New York Jewish Week feels similarly, i.e. that Richardson has been unfairly shafted. The New York Times' Harvey Araton took the same position.

In short, the guy is neither a rocket scientist nor an antisemite.

Mark delineates the number of people -- Jews -- who have come to Richardson's defense.

I hope the guy lands on his feet. And I hope Jews learn to differentiate between guys who are real haters [Ahmadinejad], people who use hateful stereotypes for their own advantage [Imus], and dumb jocks [Richardson].

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Which group would you put Jimmy Carter in?

Deborah Lipstadt said...

Hmm, certainly not in the last... and I have no evidence that he belongs in the first.... Does he belong in the second? I am not quite sure.