Louise Wolfe’s letter of Dec. 28 expressing outrage at Robert Azzi’s article calling for a boycott of the New England Patriots contains serious errors that must be corrected.
She states that “because of this recent change, [Trump declaring that the Jewish religion constitutes a nationality] they will finally have a way of appealing for U.S. government enforcement.” As the deputy director of the N.H. Human Rights Commission for 13 years and the state liaison with the U.S. Office for Civil Rights in Education for 17, I can tell you that religion has been a protected category since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Students and employees of the Jewish faith have had and continue to have state and federal protections against discrimination. The only thing Trump did was determine that in addition to religion, those of the Jewish faith now can file discrimination complaints under national origin.
As for the BDS movement, one of its founding principles is not to target people but rather corporations that support the oppression and discrimination of Palestinians in their homeland. I appreciate Wolfe’s outrage. I just wish she would have her facts correct and she would channel it to the cessation of oppression of all people. As she says, discrimination and bigotry are never okay, inclusive of Palestinians.
SUSAN McKEVITT
Bradford