RJC calls for apology from South Carolina GOP leaders: Penny-pinching Jew image was ignorant and insensitive
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 By: RJC Press Office
Washington, D.C. (October 20, 2009) -- RJC Executive Director Matthew Brooks issued the following
statement today:
Edwin O. Merwin Jr., chairman of the Bamberg County (SC)
Republican Party and James S. Ulmer Jr., chairman of the Orangeburg County (SC) Republican Party wrote an opinion piece published in The Times & Democrat newspaper on Sunday in which they attempted to support Sen. James DeMint of South Carolina, who is a good man and good friend of the Jewish community. Unbelievably, they drew on an old and malignant stereotype of Jews as penny-pinchers
in their attempt to praise DeMint's efforts to look out for his constituents.
It is difficult to comprehend how men in positions of
leadership in a state Republican Party could demonstrate such ignorance and insensitivity in the year 2009.
From the way the article is written, Merwin and Ulmer
apparently believed that the image of the Jew as penny-pincher was a praise of Jewish frugality. In fact it dates back to the centuries of anti-Jewish
persecution in Europe, when Jews were forbidden to own land or conduct any business other than money-lending, which was closed to Christians by Church law. It is an image of a kind and of a time with forcing Jews to wear a badge on their clothing or enclosing them in ghettos, cutting them off from religious, social, and economic freedom.
We call on Mr. Merwin and Mr. Ulmer to apologize to the
Jewish community and to educate themselves about the history of the image they used in their article.
The Republican Party has long fought hatred and prejudice and
has reached out to minority communities, including the Jewish community, with a message of respect, freedom, and opportunity. This week Mr. Merwin and Mr.Ulmer have done a tremendous disservice to their party.