Protest at CSUN Debate

I wish to comment on Scott Harris’ opinions regarding the Jewish Defense League’s protest against the appearance of racist David Duke at Cal State Northridge. In his column of Sept. 26 (“Everybody Had an Opinion on Duke Debate”), Harris described me as a “longtime rabble-rouser” and criticized JDL’s protest as “idiotic.”

Harris owes it to his readers to inform them about his own activist credentials. When has he ever taken a stand where he had to risk violent attacks against him or have a pompous liberal columnist call him names for doing what he believes in? I am willing to bet that he has never risked anything in his life as a lethargic member of the Fourth Estate.

Evidently this “longtime rabble-rouser” is important enough for Harris to follow my every move. Hours before the protest at CSUN, Harris was monitoring my comments on a popular radio talk show. When he heard that I intended to embarrass Duke by reminding him of his many nights parading around in his bedsheets, Harris thought it novel enough to trail me around the campus courtyard. Pretending to be a legitimate reporter, Harris asked me where the people with the klan garb were. However, as he stated in his article, Harris already knew what my intentions were; he heard me say on the radio that only if we could gain admission to the auditorium would JDL do its shtick.

Harris also misled his readers by stating that the police led another JDL member, Mike Canale, and me to safety after Canale was attacked by stick-wielding, self-avowed communists. Observer Harris knows the truth; neither he nor the police rescued anyone on the scene (not that it was requested, but it nevertheless should have been performed).

If the Jewish Defense League’s support of Proposition 209 and / or my right to free speech and expression is “idiotic” to Harris, then is this not a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

IRV RUBIN

Los Angeles