Indiana is no stranger to hate—what with Ron Artest and all—but Bloomington is different. Or so we thought.
Indiana is no stranger to hate—the KKK flourished here after World War I, and then there's Ron Artest—but Bloomington is a different story. Or was a different story until last week.…
Article comments
26 - Pete Blackwell
Yes, possibly an anti-Muslim X-tremist. He's radical, dude.
27 - ironheel
I live in Bloomington, and am currently writing a story on these events for a local paper.
1. As pointed out above, Mr. Zacharias is not a student, but rather a scholarship coordinator for the Honors College. The IDS added his department (against his wishes) when they ran the letter, prompting some problems for him at work. He was forced to write a follow-up letter absolving the Honors College of any connection. I think it's reprehensible that his job should be endangered because he expressed a contrary opinion.
2. The main point of Mr. Zacharias' letter was that the accounts of the incident (as published in local papers) made it seem suspicious that a member of the mosque was passing by with a jug of water when the fire was set. Many other rational people in the community had a similar response. This is not due to some crazy right-wing anti-Muslim hysteria, but because of very sloppy journalism. The accounts in the IDS and the Bloomington Herald-Times both used vague language when describing the event, and neither mentioned that the man had just arrived and was preparing for the ritual washing before prayer -- which required him to fill a jug with water and head to the bathroom. Mr. Childers, outreach coordinator of the mosque, settled this point on a local radio show on 15 July. You can listen to the show here (http://www.indiana.edu/~wfiu/noon.htm); according to my notes, it's at about 32 minutes in.
28 - Pete Blackwell
Ironheel,
Thanks for the additional info. I think the fact that Zacharias is an adult and not a student makes what he said a whole lot worse.
If the facts are as you state, I too have a problem with his job being threatened. Can you cite a source that proves that it was?
My guess is that officials at Hutton believed that he intended to write the letter as a representative of Hutton (not knowing that the IDS included that affiliation against his wishes). If, once that fact was cleared up, his job was still in jeopardy, then I have a big problem with that.
However, if Hutton officials thought he was using his affiliation with the college to help legitimate his own opinions, they had every right to demand a retraction or clarification.
If I worked at AT&T and wrote a letter to the New York Times about how much I hate Brent Bozell (for example), and signed it, Pete Blackwell, AT&T...well, they'd have every reason to fire me.
Anyway, as I stated in my original post, his theory rests half on ignorance and the other half on intolerance. I never said he "crazy right-wing."
29 - ironheel
Let's just say that I don't have a source willing to go on the record about Mr. Zacharias' job being threatened. I did speak with several University (and Honors College) employees, but all of them asked me not to quote them in my article.
Suffice it to say he was "encouraged" to write the follow-up letter -- which, by the way, did not back down from his original thoughts, but focused on separating his opinion from official Honors College position. I think the fact he was not required to retract his views is evidence that the University came to the right decision eventually.
Additionally, my "crazy right-wing anti-Muslim" comment was not directed at anything on this page, but rather at other comments that have appeared. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear. And while I agree that ignorance makes up a part of his response, I don't think he is solely responsible for that ignorance -- I think local reporting has to be better at getting the facts out there.
If you want to put Mr. Zacharias' letter into perspective, you should check out the Freepers' comments on this event. I don't think ignorance would explain (let alone excuse) some of the comments there.
30 - Pete Blackwell
Iron, I could definitely see that Hutton would "encourage" him to write the clarification because the original letter certainly gave the impression that he was the one putting his association with the college forward.
I am, by the way, all too aware of the Free Republic thread on this topic (in fact, I posted on it as "parenthetical" and had an at first heated but eventually civil exchange with one of the members).
I agree that local coverage has been poor. Notice that I didn't cite the Herald-Times as a source (partially because they have a subscription-only website) and had to go to some national AP copy instead.
May I ask for whom you are writing this article? Is it a blog, or are you pitching it to print media?
31 - Hoosier
Pete,
What's your opinion on Zacharias now that he's been accused of the hate crime at the Jewish center?