Iowa Professor Uses Hate Group Visit as Teachable Moment

Date: August 4, 2009

Iowa State University professor and past participant of ADL's Echoes and Reflections for Scholars, Warren Blumenfeld, recently submitted a Letter to the Editor that was published in the Iowa State Daily and the Ames (Iowa) Tribune in reaction to an upcoming visit by Kansas-based hate group Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) to his hometown.

Using the scheduled protests as a teachable moment, his commentary provided information on the historical links between the stereotypes of Jewish people and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Marge Phelps, a member of WBC, responded to Blumenfeld with a personal note and a copy of a Letter to the Editor that she had distributed to the Ames Tribune.  Her commentary was never posted by the newspaper because it violated their policy against promoting hate speech.  Instead the newspaper countered with their own response.  Knowing the ADL tracks WBC activity, Dr. Blumenfeld shared his letter (pdf) and Ms. Phelps's response with the Plains States office.  If you are interested in learning more about the response, please contact us.

On July 24th, the WBC was met by 350 peaceful protesters from Iowa and the demonstration was over in about 45 minutes.