Why I BANNED A Subscriber from Let's Address This

My commitment to human rights doesn't come with an asterisk, and I ask you to embrace the same principle

Earlier this week I wrote an important piece on antisemitism in Tennessee. A state funded adoption agency in Tennessee denied a Jewish-American couple the ability to adopt a child, specifically because they were Jewish. You can read the full piece here.

In response, I received a disturbing and lengthy note from a long-time reader, upset that I spoke up for Jewish Americans. Below is my detailed response to his bigotry. I additionally unsubscribed him from Let’s Address This and permanently banned his email from this page. Human rights is not a buffet where we get to pick and choose which humans get rights. Every human being innately deserves full rights, and anything less than that is unacceptable. Let’s Address This.

In response to my article on a Jewish couple denied the ability to adopt based on their religious identity, I received a note from a reader indicating he was disappointed in me for my article. Confused as to what could possibly have disappointed him, I replied asking for clarity. What follows is my response, slightly edited, dismantling his email piece by piece.

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Qasim: I need you to take a seat because class is in session and I am about to dismantle your ignorance and bigotry. And, you’ve convinced me to share this message publicly to ensure anyone else as misinformed as you knows where I stand. In short, your antisemitism is not welcomed, excused, or tolerated. In response to my article citing Constitutional law to condemn the discrimination of two Jewish Americans in Tennessee, you wrote:

Stated simply, Some people are actually suffering right now. Black people. Palestinian people. Cuban people. Venezuelan people. Haitian people. Lebanese people. Iranian people. Poor and average American people.

Qasim: I have loudly condemned the violence each of these groups face, elevated their humanity, represented many of them in legal battles as a human rights lawyer, and personally fundraised hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure they, and other marginalized groups, have access to the humanity every person deserves. I have additionally donated tens of thousands of my own hard-earned dollars to elevate these marginalized communities, among others. And this advocacy hasn’t spanned a few months or even a few years—but at least a quarter of a century. My entire adult life. Why you felt the need to lecture me on the substantive work I’ve done for decades, and continue to do every day, is beyond me. But if all you wrote was an empty lecture to attack my ego, I would have let it go. Instead, you continued headfirst into antisemitism. That I cannot let go. You continued:

This piece reads like donor-safe moral theater. The state-sanctioned machinery of exclusion appears for a moment, then disappears under soft constitutional uplift.

Qasim: How would you know what “donor-safe moral theater” looks like? You are not a donor to my human rights advocacy. If you were, you would know that I have built this platform to uphold universal human rights. You would know that we do not make exceptions and we don’t place asterisks on anyone’s humanity. Dehumanization of Jewish people is indefensible and unacceptable. And I make zero excuses for condemning antisemitism or theocratic rule. What this Jewish family is experiencing in Tennessee is antisemitic. Calling it out is the bare minimum. If that offends you, then you are exhibiting the exact behaviors of ignorance and bigotry I am working to eradicate from society. You yet continued:

In this moment, a piece centering Jewish persecution passively supports the genocide being carried out in the name of Jewish people by Israel, the self-defined Jewish Zionist state.

Qasim: The Israeli government’s genocide against Palestinians is not being “carried out in the name of Jewish people” and it is indefensible to make such a claim. Corrupt politicians, the military-industrial complex, and war criminals are carrying out this genocide. Moreover, to conflate the dehumanizing discrimination of Jewish people in the United States with the genocide the Israeli government is committing on Palestinians is not only foolish, it is also dangerous and morally reprehensible. In fact, the only morally consistent standard is to condemn the dehumanization of people in every part of the world because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And none of us are free until all of us are free. I center the critical need to counter Jewish persecution in this piece, because Jewish persecution has no place in our society. This is not a controversial statement, or at least not to people who center justice and humanity. And finally you conclude:

Those forces remain unnamed. That is the plot. I supported you because you said you opposed it. You had an opportunity to pair compassion with accountability coessentially here. You lost it, and you lost me. [end of email]

If you supported me and thought I would excuse your hatred of Jewish people, I am glad to disabuse you of your ignorant and bigoted notion. You are offended that I express compassion for Jewish people and their humanity, and refuse to blame Jews for the actions of the Israeli government. If that’s what it takes to “lose you,” then I’m eternally grateful to have “lost you.” In truth, I never want such cruel, calloused, and confused people to think they have any sway over me, or to think they were ever my supporters. Meanwhile, my Jewish neighbors have been the staunchest allies for justice in condemning the Israeli government’s and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s unjust actions.

Finally, let me make this point clear: Many questions enter my mind when I advocate for the human rights of any marginalized community. For example:

• Do I have my facts right?

• Am I citing the right law?

• Is this the correct legal precedent?

• Am I using correct terminology?

• Does my argument make logical sense?

• Did I present it in an easy to understand manner? And more.

The one question that has never, and will never, enter my mind is, “will this make donors happy?” My readers donate and support me not necessarily because they agree with every argument I make—but because they know my standard of absolute justice is not for sale. Because they know my fact based conclusions are not influenced by whether it will “get me more donors” or not.

My human rights advocacy is built on absolute justice. And my affirmation of human dignity of people of all faiths and no faith does not come with an asterisk. If me defending the equal humanity of Jewish people, or of any people, costs me support from those who demand selective outrage, then that is not a loss—it is the price of integrity, and I will pay it every time.

I answer to the demands of justice—not the comfort of the crowd—and I will continue to defend the full humanity of all people, whether that earns me applause or costs me everything.

Class dismissed.

Qasim