Editorials / Opinion

Hateful organization not ideal to teach tolerance

Consider the irony: The city of Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative states that it aims to “challenge institutional racism.” As part of the initiative, the Seattle Police Department has contracted with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which actively promotes the hate and fear of Arab-Americans and American-Muslims through films and lectures at college campuses [“Muslims criticize procedures of police training program,” NWMonday, May 25].

The Center held a public screening two weeks ago on its premises of the controversial Clarion Fund’s latest film, “The Third Jihad.” It screens on college campuses the film “Ever Again,” which blames Europe’s crime problems on its Muslim population, and held a lecture in October 2008 on the UCLA campus asserting that Islamic teachings are inherently evil.

Not quite the ideal organization to teach tolerance to our police force.

— Bilal Aijazi, Bellevue