CAIR-LA asks city council to issue statement condemning hate speech.
(Oct 03, 2013 – Anaheim, CA )
By Paul Anderson, City News Service
The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Greater Los Angeles Area office today condemned remarks made by an Anaheim activist at a City Council meeting, slurring a Jewish councilman.
William Fitzgerald, a representative of Anaheim’s Home Owners Maintaining their Environment lashed out at City Councilman Jordan Brandman at Monday’s council meeting, comparing him to Nazis and insulting him with a derogatory word for homosexuals.
Fitzgerald also compared the Walt Disney Co. to Nazis.
Brandman drew the frequent City Council critic’s ire for what Fitzgerald said was his attempt to stop public discussion of a recent issue. Fitzgerald said it was “similar to the tactics used by the Nazi government to control the German people, political tactics that preceded the murders of more than six million innocent Jews in the Holocaust.
”Fitzgerald added, “99 percent of the Jewish people are good, hard- working individuals who practice their faith. Unfortunately, less than 1 percent are greedy, scheming, malicious Jews like Jordan Brandman, and some say like the Jewish leadership of the Disney corporation, whose money had Brandman elected.”
Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait interjected at that point in Fitzgerald’s speech to tell him that his criticism would carry greater weight if the “attack points weren’t so mean.
”Fitzgerald went on to say, “What is really ironic is that at a previous council meeting Jordan Brandman was bragging about his mother having relatives who died in the Holocaust. Jordan Brandman is one very sick (homosexual epithet).”
Tait replied, “You have free speech rights, but they’re to a point, and I think that crossed it.”
Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of CAIR-LA, issued a statement condemning Fitzgerald’s remarks.
“A person’s religion or race should never be vilified because of political differences or otherwise,” Ayloush said. “We stand in solidarity with Councilman Brandman and the Jewish community in condemning this hateful and discriminatory act.”
The organization called on city officials to also condemn the remarks.
Brandman told City News Service that he was “heartened” by CAIR’s support.
“I was very heartened that CAIR made the statement that they made,” Brandman said. “They, like the Jewish, like the gay and lesbian community, were just as horrified. They are American, and it was an assault on American values. Hate speech is not free speech.”