Do Not Reward Bigotry with Dialogue

Here's more on the continued refusal of Governor Blagojevich to ask for the resignation of a Hate Crime commissioner who refused to disavow hateful, anti-Semitic remarks, and claims she herself is the victim. (earlier post here). This opinion piece does not mention the governor. Five members of the commission resigned in the aftermath of the hateful remarks. The Tribune, Voice of the People, "No dialogue with Farrakhahn's bigotry":

But those who are not members of the Nation of Islam are free to say that dialogue with a bigot is simply wrong, both morally and tactically. That the bigot comes from a group itself targeted for hatred is not a mitigating circumstance.....

Another consideration: As divisive as Farrakhan has been, African-American and Jewish relations have continued moving ahead. For Jews the balancing act is to denounce bigotry (regardless of its source or target) while not allowing Farrakhan to monopolize and therefore jeopardize the larger arena of African-American and Jewish relations.

In the aftermath of Farrakhan's Feb. 26 diatribe against "false, wicked Jews," now is not the time to reward bigotry with dialogue, an activity that presupposes mutual respect.

Exactly right.