Protest supports Arab-American journalist
By
Workers World Detroit bureau
Published Dec 18, 2010 10:55 AM
Students and supporters protested outside the administration building at Wayne
State University on Dec. 10 demanding the reinstatement of the Helen Thomas
Spirit of Diversity Award.
Thomas is a world-renowned investigative journalist and WSU alumni. Her name
was stripped from the award on Dec. 3 because of her staunch anti-Zionist
position and her willingness to challenge the United States’ and
Israel’s actions regarding Palestine.
WSU used Thomas’ anti-Zionist comments that she made as a keynote speaker
at a diversity conference in Dearborn, Mich., on Dec. 2 as a pretext to strip
her name from the award. Thomas was fired in May from Hearst News Service for
her support of Palestine.
Thomas, a UPI news service reporter for 57 years, was the first woman to be an
officer of the National Press Club; the first female member and president of
the White House Correspondents’ Association; and a fearless White House
correspondent who covered every president since Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1998
the White House Press Corps honored her with the Helen Thomas Lifetime
Achievement Award.
“They should put her name back on it. Her name is what made that award.
She’s one of our most notable alumni,” said Ali F. Beydoun,
president of the Arab-American Student Union at WSU. The ASU sponsored the
protest.
WSU has a large Arab American and Muslim student population, reflecting metro
Detroit’s large Middle Eastern population.
Dozens came out to support Thomas and to protest the administration’s
actions. Chanting “One, two, three, four, reinstate the Helen Thomas
award!” and “Helen Thomas, great alumni, stripped of award because
of lies!” protesters spoke to the media, signed petitions and informed
passersby of the administration’s actions.
The protest was supported by the Palestine Cultural Office, the Michigan
Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice and others.
The National Arab American Journalists Association, an organization with 250
members in the U.S., issued a statement Dec. 3 supporting Thomas and denouncing
WSU’s cancellation of the Helen Thomas Award as a move undermining free
speech.
The NAAJA called the university’s move “a cowardly act surrendering
to racist hate” and part of a growing anti-Arab sentiment within the U.S.
media. “The voices of American Arabs will not be silenced,” said
the NAAJA, which will discuss how to fight the attacks on Thomas at its March
4-6 national convention in Dearborn, Mich.
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