Tabloid degrades minorities

Many students waiting in line to see Ralph Nader Wednesday night got a nasty surprise when a local white supremacist distributed tabloids promoting anti-Semitism.

Kirksville resident Alex Linder, founder of the anti-Semitic Vanguard News Network, produced and distributed "The Aryan Alternative" to the unsuspecting students. Linder said he already had left about 50 copies of the tabloid in various campus locations, including the library, a magazine rack outside the Center of Student Involvement and a Student Union men's bathroom. He also said he posted the 12-page paper on several parked cars outside a Kirksville High School performance of "Fiddler on the Roof."

Senior Benjamin Kort, president of University Hillel, the campus Jewish group, said Linder and his organization have mentioned University Hillel in the paper. Kort said he is not necessarily afraid of Linder but said he is uneasy about what could result from the ideas he promotes.

"My main concern is that it will lead to inciting words, which could lead to action," Kort said.

In a front-page letter, Linder offers free bundles of the tabloid for distribution. Kort said he hopes students will not pursue the offer.

"I would hope that students would ignore it and not take part in it," Kort said. "Even if you don't agree with a certain religion or think it is wrong for them to believe in that way, it is still their right to believe that, and you shouldn't take action against it."

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks and litigates hate groups across the country, placed Linder on a list of 40 people to watch because he also produces a racist Web site.

Dawn McKee, the choreographer of the KHS production, said anti-Semitic tabloids were placed on parked cars Nov. 19 and 20.

"Friday there were a little bit, but not much," McKee said. "Then the man came back and put them on every car on Saturday night."

McKee said she thinks the show's subject drew anti-Semitic attention. "Fiddler on the Roof" deals with Jewish persecution in Russia at the turn of the last century.

"This wouldn't have happened if the students were doing 'The Sound of

Music' or 'Oklahoma,'" McKee said.

McKee said school employees learned about the anti-Semitic paper distribution before the intermission on the second night. She said someone made an announcement to the audience during the break while some students removed the papers. McKee said someone called the police, but nothing could be done because the man responsible had not broken the law.

Sherri Palmer, associate professor of psychology, is Jewish and helped with the play as a cultural consultant. She said that although their words are offensive, anti-Semitists are protected under the First Amendment.

"It just kind of shows us that people have a right to say even ugly things," Palmer said. "And I support that right as well. It's uncomfortable, but I have to support the right to say it."

Palmer said the high school students involved in the play were upset that their play was used as a forum for anti-Semitic reactions.

"They said that they were going to have a bonfire with [the papers], that the kids were all excited about it, and they had it all ready," Palmer said. "It turned out the police took most of the fliers, so they didn't have that many, and there wasn't enough to constitute a bonfire."

Palmer said some students saw the man responsible for the tabloids while removing them from windshields.

"One of the students said the scary thing is that he seemed just like a normal guy doing it," Palmer said. "And I was just thinking, 'Is this like a neighbor of mine or someone that I'm standing next to in line at Wal-Mart?' It was very creepy."

Although she has faced forms of persecution all of her life, Palmer said she had not felt openly victimized in Kirksville until now. She said that although negative racial sentiments may be rare, racism still is a problem.

"I think the only way you can say racism is not a problem is if you haven't seen it right in your face or you're not noticing it," Palmer said. "It just tends to be insidious and subtle, but I think it would just be lying to say that there is not racism in town and on campus."