The past few weeks, accusations of anti-Semitism have been lobbed back and forth across campus. Whether it is the Alpha Epsilon Pi scandal or the Bradley Smith Holocaust-denier ad, recent events have shown that the UW Jewish community is far from immune to the ugliness of discrimination and hatred, even in supposedly progressive Madison. In the wake of these controversies, it makes some past comments of District 5 county board candidate Michael Johnson even more disconcerting.
Johnson's comments were brought back to the forefront recently in a post from campus blogger Paul Axel. In his blog ""People and Politics,"" Axel included a series of comments Johnson made on another campus blog, the ""Critical Badger,"" two years ago in the wake of an anti-Semitic shoutout on The Badger Herald's website. The comments are dismissive at best and flat-out offensive at worst.
""I have this feeling that Jews would rather be treated as this oppressed group to justify constantly reaching back to the Holocaust,"" wrote Johnson.
""The funny things (sic) is the Jews seem to be so anxious to be treated poorly, they reach and make comments about blacks or brown people..."" said another comment.
He also brought up his own African-American and American Indian heritage, writing, ""If anyone wants to claim the (sic) be oppressed, I might have a leg up on you...""
An additional comment complained about the frequency of Jewish protestations, saying, ""Is this not like the fifth or sixth time this year a Jewish student has criticized the [Badger Herald] for something printed in their paper??? (sic) It's starting to get out of hand...""
Now it is important to remember that Johnson made these comments two years ago. But nonetheless, it is a poor reflection on him that he made them at all. To be so flippantly dismissive of the hardships the American and international Jewish communities have gone through and still go through is unacceptable and hard to swallow from a man who wants to represent most of the UW student body on the Dane County Board of Supervisors. This mindset is probably best summed up in yet another post of Johnson's: ""Well, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu said ‘Jews must get over this victimization complex, and stop acting like they have a monopoly on suffering'..(sic)""
I contacted Johnson about his comments, and he confirmed making all of them. He expressed regret for writing the comments and recanted the statements and sentiments included within them.
""Those were insensitive comments,"" said Johnson. ""They no longer reflect my views or those of my campaign.""
He went on to explain that he has changed since originally posting the comments online.
""At that time, I was still trying to find myself as an activist and a person,"" he said.
I appreciate that Johnson was willing to admit his responsibility for these comments. However, I do not appreciate him passing these comments off as a result of simply being confused about his identity. Everybody is trying to figure out who they are in their early twenties. Most of us manage to do so without signing our names to anti-Semitic comments online. In addition, while two years may seem like an eternity to most college students, in the grand scheme of life, it is not a long time. For Johnson to claim that he is an entirely different person at age 22 than he was at age 20 is somewhat difficult to believe.
For the sake of full disclosure, Johnson's history of web comments also includes some statements critical of The Daily Cardinal, including calling us a ""church bake sale newsletter,"" which Axel also mentioned in his blog. But we're a newspaper; Johnson is welcome to criticize us––in fact, we'd love to hear any advice he has on how we could improve our product.
But to take such a dismissive attitude toward the concerns of the Jewish community, whether it was two years ago or two days ago, raises serious concerns about Johnson's ability to represent students. It brings into question his ability to handle his constituents' issues with sensitivity and respect. It makes it seem like Johnson could alienate another segment of the student population at any moment.
I do believe that Johnson is genuinely sorry for these comments. However, these comments cannot be unwritten, and they shouldn't be. Johnson should have to answer for these statements at Monday's District 5 debate, as I am sure people will have some serious questions about them. These statements are an indicator of just the sort of judgment Johnson would have as a county supervisor. Politicians should be aware that statements like these will weigh on voters' minds. And when the people of District 5 go to the polls, I won't blame them for doing just that with Michael Johnson.
Todd Stevens is a junior majoring in history and psychology. The District 5 debate between candidates Michael Johnson and Analiese Eicher, sponsored by The Daily Cardinal and ASM's Legislative Affairs Committee, will be held Monday at 7 p.m. in 1101 Humanities. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
