‘ Some Jews—not all Jews, but the majority of them—are light, so they also experience bright pleasure,’ says Fatimah Gilliam
A La author and alumni who claimed Jews enjoy” white privilege” will hold an event at Columbia Law School the following week, which will” create some sort of pressure” between Jews and “people of color”
Fatimah Gilliam, a home- described “diversity disruptor”, is scheduled to title a debate at the wealthy law school on Tuesday, a week before Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, may speak before Congress on her response to campus anti- Semitism. Gilliam’s event, held by Columbia Law’s Office of Student Services and the Black Law Students Association, does provide visitors with “advice and talking factors when dealing across competition”.
Gilliam has previously touched on the subject, but it’s not clear if she will explore interactions between Jews and “people of shade.” During a March 22 podcast interview, Gilliam argued that while Jewish people do experience discrimination, they also benefit from” white privilege”, creating what she says is” the source of some tension” between Jews and “people of color”.
” That’s, like, how there could be an affection between blacks—people of color—and Immigrants, is this common practice of exclusion and discrimination”, said Gilliam. ” But many Jews, not all Jews, but the majority of them, are bright, so they also experience white privilege and some of the advantages that come with being white. And so I believe that could be the cause of some stress.
Gilliam is being criticized for its reaction to school anti-Semitism, which is why Columbia Law chose to host it. On April 17, Shafik and the Columbia Board of Trustees co-chairs David Greenwald and Claire Shipman will speak before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Greenwald serves on Columbia Law School’s Dean’s Council.
A request for comment was never received by Columbia Law School.
In addition to her” light opportunity” post toward Jews, Gilliam penned a February ops- ed for The Hill that accused Israel of “plausibly” committing murder. Gilliam said she was” complicit” in that genocide” as an American”.
It’s difficult to vote for a president who is responsible in what the UN International Court of Justice called “plausibly genocide,” wrote Gilliam, a Black person who values existence and a previous United Nations World Food Programme expert.
Following Claudine Gay’s departure in January as chairman of Harvard University, however, Gilliam said Gay was a victim of” Trojan horses prejudice” that was “hidden under says of theft and antisemitism”.
According to Gilliam,” the approach Claudine Gay was targeted exposes old-school racism that has been hidden under antisemitism and copying,” Gilliam said in a press release for the Toronto Star. They” priced her credentials as soon as she survived the dumpster fire hazard on Capitol Hill and was in their sights.” They leaned into what’s generally lurking in the back of some women’s heads when encountering bright, accomplished, Black women—that they’re unqualified, unscrupulous, and thieves”.
Days after, Gilliam praised environmentalist Tamika Mallory, who was ousted from the anti- Trump class she helped guide, the Women’s March, following accusations of anti- Semitism. Mallory has ties to anti-Semitic leader Louis Farrakhan, who has referred to Jews as “termites” and praised Adolf Hitler as a “very great man” in his own book. Farrakhan was referred to as the” GOAT,” or” Greatest of All Time,” by Mallory, and has been pictured holding hands with the leader of the Nation of Islam.
Gilliam is the author of “practical manual for white people of the unwritten rules relating to race” in Race Rules: What Your Black Friend Won’t Tell You. She did not respond to a comment request.
The law school’s dean, Gillian Lester, who is set to step down at the end of the academic year, has been plagued by a spate of anti- Semitism scandals. Two days after Oct. 7, Lester released a muted statement that did not mention Hamas, anti- Semitism, or the Jewish people. She responded to criticism by releasing a fresh statement, which laid the blame on Hamas and described the attacks as terrorist acts.
Since then, unauthorised anti-Israel demonstrations have taken over the law school and slowed down classes on campus. In January, Columbia also hosted an anti- Israel advocate, Wesam Ahmad, who works for the nonprofit group Al Haq. Al Haq, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, is viewed by Israel as a terrorist organization by its alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
