Temple Beth Israel in Eugene is hosting a nationally-renowned speaker Sunday to discuss the rise in anti-Semitism and white nationalism.
Temple Beth Israel, or TBI, has twice been the target of neo-Nazis. In 1994 a man with an assault rifle fired ten rounds at the temple. In 2002, rocks etched with Swastikas were thrown through the stained glass windows. In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, TBI invited civil rights strategist Eric K. Ward to speak at the synagogue.
Ward: “White nationalism is an emerging movement that doesn’t seek to exploit people of color, it seeks to get rid of them altogether. White supremacy is a system of exploitation; white nationalism is a movement that seeks ethnic cleansing in the United States.”
Ward is Executive Director of Western States Center. The Portland nonprofit aims to achieve racial, gender and economic justice. Ward’s talk, “Skin in the Game: Anti-Semitism and the Struggle for an Inclusive Democracy” begins at 10:00 am Sunday at TBI in South Eugene.