HAL NETKIN--ACTIVIST
Post Office Box 3465
Van Nuys, CA 91407
June 7, 2001
Rabbi May
Museum Of Tolerance
9786 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Dear Rabbi May:
Thank you for returning my telephone call on Monday, June 4, 2001.
It is very disturbing to me that as a representative of the Museum of Tolerance, you do not call on Antonio Villaraigosa, the politician who characterizes himself as the champion of anti-hate, to condemn La Voz de Aztlan, one of several vicious anti-Semitic organizations that puts hateful rhetoric on their website such as is seen in the attached article. The absurd explanation that I got from David Lehrer of the Anti-Defamation League as to why Villaraigosa refuses to condemn La Voz de Aztlan, is that it would appear to the public that it is self serving to him because that hate organization also makes disparaging remarks about Mr. Villaraigosa himself. As I see it, there should be no conditions not to condemn any organization as anti-Semitic as La Voz de Aztlan. It appears as though Mr. Villaraigosa is trying please your Museum of Tolerance and the Jewish community, and at the same time wishes to maintain his political status with anti-Semitic Raza groups, no matter the cost or the hate he must be allied with.
On May 31 at the debate at the Museum of Tolerance, when asked by KNX NewsRadio reporter Frank Mottek if he still held to the belief as he did when he attended UCLA, of a separate Chicano republic, Mr. Villaraigosa refused to answer the question. Instead he turned his focus on me (not by name), saying something to the effect that I was in need of tolerance training and reminded the audience that he put together $18 million (no doubt California's tax payers' money) to the Museum of Tolerance. More...
Since you and Mr. Villaraigosa see fit to condemn non-Latino organizations which you believe are anti-Semitic but you don't condemn anti-Semitic Latino organizations such as those Mr. Villaraigosa is or has been allied with, I can only conclude that tolerance at the Museum of Tolerance can be bought for the right price.
As a Jew myself, I am outraged at the lightness you give to this matter. Since, in our telephone conversation, you did not want to discuss Mr. Villaraigosa's ties to anti-Semitic Raza organizations saying to me "I don't want to go there," and terminating our telephone conversation in the most rude manner, I feel compelled to make your "selective" tolerance a public issue starting with the posting of this letter on the MayorNo website.
Sincerely,
Hal Netkin
CC: David Lehrer, Antonio Villaraigosa.
