Page One

To the Editor: 

I am appalled from Kenneth E. Scudder's playing the “My hate crime is worse than yours,” game, (Forum, Aug. 29). The burning of a church is awful, and is to be condemned. By no means does this make the vandalism of Berkeley Hillel “insignificant.” When a brick was thrown through the Hillel window and the trash cans were defaced with anti-Jewish slogans, the Jewish community was shaken. Students were afraid to be identified as Jewish, greater security precautions were taken. The greater Jewish community was also made a target when someone attempted to burn down a synagogue in Oakland. It would be dangerous and absurd to get caught up in comparing hate crimes and dismissing those who we deem “insignificant.” Let's all be mature adults and deal with hate crimes as crimes against all cultured humanity. By differentiating crimes according to the victim's ethnicity we become no better than the people who commit these crimes. 

Tzurit Buskila 

Berkeley