Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Latest Update from the Committee to Defend Catherine Wilkerson
2/12/08 Update: Support Grows for Physician Fired for Supporting Human Rights for Palestinians
On Saturday, February 9, the Committee to Defend Catherine Wilkerson (CDCW) issued an urgent action alert regarding the firing of Dr. Wilkerson by the Packard Community Clinic (PCC) of Ann Arbor, Michigan, for her support of human rights for Palestinians. We can report that many people have stepped up to show their solidarity and seek justice for Dr. Wilkerson. In retribution for this, on Sunday, February 10, Dr. Wilkerson was abruptly notified by the PCC management that all of her appointments with patients in the coming week would be reassigned to someone else and she was not to come into the office during business hours.
On the brighter side, in less than three days, the number of signatures on our online petition has gone from zero to more than 150 and in the wake of Dr. Wilkerson's firing two other members of the PCC clinical staff have resigned. Also, several people have informed us that they will be withholding donations to the PCC in protest over Dr. Wilkerson's firing. This includes one regular donor who makes an annual contribution of $5000 to the PCC. While neither Dr. Wilkerson nor the CDCW have encouraged the staff resignations or a funding boycott of the PCC we understand and appreciate these acts of solidarity. It is our earnest hope that the PCC Governing Board will act soon to overturn the decision of management to fire Dr. Wilkerson so everyone can go back to work practicing medicine and so donors can once again contribute to the PCC in good conscience.
If you have not already signed the online petition and written to the PCC Governing Board then please do so today (see more info below). Letters and faxes to the Governing Board are especially important. Also, if you personally know any of the PCC Governing Board or Advisory Board members listed below then please consider making a phone call to them to urge them to offer reinstatement to Dr Wilkerson and the two other clinical staff members who have resigned.
Governing Board
James Frenza, President, Retired Executive
Ray Rion, MD, Medical Director
Kimberly Kratz, MSW, MPH, Executive Director
Duane Newland, Treasurer, Retired Hospital Executive
Fran Lyman, Secretary, Retired Educator
Jerry Walden, MD, Retired Physician/ Founder
Sharon Moore, Retired UAW Official
Jeffrey Sanfield, MD, Physician
Mary Hunter, Nurse
James F. Peggs, MD, Physician
Tom Rieke, Marketing Business Owner
J Paul Dixon, Insurance Executive
Robert Laverty, Retired Hospital Executive
Kim D. Walsh, Alzheimers Association Program Director
Sarah Williams, Lawyer
Bettye Mcdonald, Retired Educator
Advisory Board
Gina Amalfitano, MD
Laverne Jackson Barker
Bonnie Billups, Jr.
Letitia Byrd
Cassie Cammann, MSW
Angelos Constantinides, DO
Molly Dobson
James Dolan
Eugene V. Douvan
Thomas Fleming
Gregory Fox
Carl E. Gingles, DDS
Vicky I. Henry
Rev. Judy Jahnke
Natalie Kellogg
Manfred Marcus, MD
John Martin
Elizabeth Michael
Rev. Kenneth Phifer
James Saalberg
Clifford Sheldon
Alma Walls
Contact the PCC Governing Board
Please contact the Governing Board as soon as possible. A written letter is considered one of the most effective forms of advocacy. You can mail one to the address in the sample letter below and/or send a fax to the Governing Board at (734) 971-8545. You may also leave a phone message at (734) 971-1073 or send an e-mail to info@packardclinic.org. Second, please sign our online petition, which you can find at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepwilkerson/ .
Sample Letter to the Packard Community Clinic Governing Board
Your Address
Your City, State, Zip
Today's Date
Board of Directors
Packard Community Clinic
3174 Packard Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Dear Members of the Governing Board of the Packard Community Clinic:
I am writing to urge you to stop the termination proceedings against Dr. Catherine Wilkerson, MD and, further, to stop the harassment of Dr. Wilkerson by Packard Community Clinic (PCC) Medical Director Ray Rion and Executive Director Kimberly Kratz. It was known when she was hired that Dr. Wilkerson was politically active. Her profile on the clinic web site notes: "she is particularly interested in social and economic determinants of health, gender issues in medicine, and medical ethics. She has been an activist involved in a number of issues related to public health, including the health effects of war and nuclear weapons, and universal health care." The only thing that has changed is that she is now--after successfully fending off a malicious criminal prosecution--being targeted for, on her own time and in her own name only, criticizing racism in the local Jewish community in its support for the apartheid state of Israel. Dr. Wilkerson is the senior and most experienced physician at the PCC and beloved by many of her patients. No good purpose can be served by depriving them of the compassionate care provided by this conscientious physician simply because she has nonviolently exercised her First Amendment rights to speak out against all forms of racism. Please keep Dr. Wilkerson on the staff of the PCC and stop the political harassment of her by PCC management.
Sincerely,
Your Signature
Your Name
On Saturday, February 9, the Committee to Defend Catherine Wilkerson (CDCW) issued an urgent action alert regarding the firing of Dr. Wilkerson by the Packard Community Clinic (PCC) of Ann Arbor, Michigan, for her support of human rights for Palestinians. We can report that many people have stepped up to show their solidarity and seek justice for Dr. Wilkerson. In retribution for this, on Sunday, February 10, Dr. Wilkerson was abruptly notified by the PCC management that all of her appointments with patients in the coming week would be reassigned to someone else and she was not to come into the office during business hours.
On the brighter side, in less than three days, the number of signatures on our online petition has gone from zero to more than 150 and in the wake of Dr. Wilkerson's firing two other members of the PCC clinical staff have resigned. Also, several people have informed us that they will be withholding donations to the PCC in protest over Dr. Wilkerson's firing. This includes one regular donor who makes an annual contribution of $5000 to the PCC. While neither Dr. Wilkerson nor the CDCW have encouraged the staff resignations or a funding boycott of the PCC we understand and appreciate these acts of solidarity. It is our earnest hope that the PCC Governing Board will act soon to overturn the decision of management to fire Dr. Wilkerson so everyone can go back to work practicing medicine and so donors can once again contribute to the PCC in good conscience.
If you have not already signed the online petition and written to the PCC Governing Board then please do so today (see more info below). Letters and faxes to the Governing Board are especially important. Also, if you personally know any of the PCC Governing Board or Advisory Board members listed below then please consider making a phone call to them to urge them to offer reinstatement to Dr Wilkerson and the two other clinical staff members who have resigned.
Governing Board
James Frenza, President, Retired Executive
Ray Rion, MD, Medical Director
Kimberly Kratz, MSW, MPH, Executive Director
Duane Newland, Treasurer, Retired Hospital Executive
Fran Lyman, Secretary, Retired Educator
Jerry Walden, MD, Retired Physician/ Founder
Sharon Moore, Retired UAW Official
Jeffrey Sanfield, MD, Physician
Mary Hunter, Nurse
James F. Peggs, MD, Physician
Tom Rieke, Marketing Business Owner
J Paul Dixon, Insurance Executive
Robert Laverty, Retired Hospital Executive
Kim D. Walsh, Alzheimers Association Program Director
Sarah Williams, Lawyer
Bettye Mcdonald, Retired Educator
Advisory Board
Gina Amalfitano, MD
Laverne Jackson Barker
Bonnie Billups, Jr.
Letitia Byrd
Cassie Cammann, MSW
Angelos Constantinides, DO
Molly Dobson
James Dolan
Eugene V. Douvan
Thomas Fleming
Gregory Fox
Carl E. Gingles, DDS
Vicky I. Henry
Rev. Judy Jahnke
Natalie Kellogg
Manfred Marcus, MD
John Martin
Elizabeth Michael
Rev. Kenneth Phifer
James Saalberg
Clifford Sheldon
Alma Walls
Contact the PCC Governing Board
Please contact the Governing Board as soon as possible. A written letter is considered one of the most effective forms of advocacy. You can mail one to the address in the sample letter below and/or send a fax to the Governing Board at (734) 971-8545. You may also leave a phone message at (734) 971-1073 or send an e-mail to info@packardclinic.org. Second, please sign our online petition, which you can find at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepwilkerson/ .
Sample Letter to the Packard Community Clinic Governing Board
Your Address
Your City, State, Zip
Today's Date
Board of Directors
Packard Community Clinic
3174 Packard Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Dear Members of the Governing Board of the Packard Community Clinic:
I am writing to urge you to stop the termination proceedings against Dr. Catherine Wilkerson, MD and, further, to stop the harassment of Dr. Wilkerson by Packard Community Clinic (PCC) Medical Director Ray Rion and Executive Director Kimberly Kratz. It was known when she was hired that Dr. Wilkerson was politically active. Her profile on the clinic web site notes: "she is particularly interested in social and economic determinants of health, gender issues in medicine, and medical ethics. She has been an activist involved in a number of issues related to public health, including the health effects of war and nuclear weapons, and universal health care." The only thing that has changed is that she is now--after successfully fending off a malicious criminal prosecution--being targeted for, on her own time and in her own name only, criticizing racism in the local Jewish community in its support for the apartheid state of Israel. Dr. Wilkerson is the senior and most experienced physician at the PCC and beloved by many of her patients. No good purpose can be served by depriving them of the compassionate care provided by this conscientious physician simply because she has nonviolently exercised her First Amendment rights to speak out against all forms of racism. Please keep Dr. Wilkerson on the staff of the PCC and stop the political harassment of her by PCC management.
Sincerely,
Your Signature
Your Name
Labels: Catherine Wilkerson, Zionism
// posted by PeaceMonger @ 2/12/2008 09:23:00 PM 0 comments
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Sunday, February 10, 2008
3 Foul Ideas, Even More Foul Together
The story below from Friday's Detroit News brings together three foul ideas: Islamophobia, the Holocaust Industry, and Zionism.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Holocaust Center ends MSU prof's Islam talk
Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
FARMINGTON HILLS -- The Holocaust Memorial Center this week canceled a Feb. 26 appearance by a Michigan State University professor after Muslims expressed concerns that Indrek Wichman and the group that was sponsoring his appearance, The Michigan State University Young Americans for Freedom, are intolerant of Islam.
Wichman was warned by the university in 2006 after he sent an e-mail to members of the Muslim Student Association on campus defaming Islam and urging Muslims to "return to your ancestral homelands."
The Michigan State University Young Americans for Freedom have sponsored campus events such as "Koran Desecration Day," a contest in which students were asked to hunt down illegal immigrants and an initiative that urged the giving of "blankets infected with small pox" to Native American students.
The organization -- which is sanctioned by the university as a student activity, although it is listed as a "hate group" by the Southern Law Poverty Center -- also sponsored a trip to the United States by a nationalist British politician who has publicly denied the Holocaust.
At the event in the Holocaust Memorial Center, Wichman was to speak on the topic of Muslims and free speech.
"At the beginning, I'm sure we did not know all that this was about," said Gail Cohen, a coordinator at the Holocaust Memorial Center.
PM: Oh my, yes, I'm sure you just never, ever suspected that a talk sponsored by the thoroughly racist Zionist Organization of America and YAF on "Muslims and free speech" would be about bashing Islam. I mean, who would have thunk it?
"When we found out what kind of group it was, we said, 'No, no, no!' "
Cohen said that Mark Siegel, of the Zionist Organization of America, brought the Young Americans for Freedom event to the Holocaust Memorial Center. Repeated attempts to reach Siegel were unsuccessful.
Wichman, was not available for comment. Kyle Bristow, chairman of the MSU Young American for Freedom did not return phone calls.
"We welcome the Holocaust Memorial Center's decision not to sponsor anti-Muslim bigotry at a location that symbolizes the grave consequences of hatred and intolerance," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations-Michigan.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Holocaust Center ends MSU prof's Islam talk
Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
FARMINGTON HILLS -- The Holocaust Memorial Center this week canceled a Feb. 26 appearance by a Michigan State University professor after Muslims expressed concerns that Indrek Wichman and the group that was sponsoring his appearance, The Michigan State University Young Americans for Freedom, are intolerant of Islam.
Wichman was warned by the university in 2006 after he sent an e-mail to members of the Muslim Student Association on campus defaming Islam and urging Muslims to "return to your ancestral homelands."
The Michigan State University Young Americans for Freedom have sponsored campus events such as "Koran Desecration Day," a contest in which students were asked to hunt down illegal immigrants and an initiative that urged the giving of "blankets infected with small pox" to Native American students.
The organization -- which is sanctioned by the university as a student activity, although it is listed as a "hate group" by the Southern Law Poverty Center -- also sponsored a trip to the United States by a nationalist British politician who has publicly denied the Holocaust.
At the event in the Holocaust Memorial Center, Wichman was to speak on the topic of Muslims and free speech.
"At the beginning, I'm sure we did not know all that this was about," said Gail Cohen, a coordinator at the Holocaust Memorial Center.
PM: Oh my, yes, I'm sure you just never, ever suspected that a talk sponsored by the thoroughly racist Zionist Organization of America and YAF on "Muslims and free speech" would be about bashing Islam. I mean, who would have thunk it?
"When we found out what kind of group it was, we said, 'No, no, no!' "
Cohen said that Mark Siegel, of the Zionist Organization of America, brought the Young Americans for Freedom event to the Holocaust Memorial Center. Repeated attempts to reach Siegel were unsuccessful.
Wichman, was not available for comment. Kyle Bristow, chairman of the MSU Young American for Freedom did not return phone calls.
"We welcome the Holocaust Memorial Center's decision not to sponsor anti-Muslim bigotry at a location that symbolizes the grave consequences of hatred and intolerance," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations-Michigan.
Labels: holocaust, Islam bashing, Zionism
// posted by PeaceMonger @ 2/10/2008 09:31:00 PM 0 comments
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Saturday, February 09, 2008
Help an Anti-Zionist Physician Keep Her Job
Please take action today to help Dr. Catherine Wilkerson fight the Zionist onslaught in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Below is an urgent action alert from the defendwilkerson.org web site. I know Dr. Wilkerson and she is a fine person who deserves our full support.
Urgent Action Alert--Help Save Dr. Wilkerson's Job; Stop the Harassment
Last December, Dr. Catherine Wilkerson dealt a blow to local forces of repression when, after a six-day trial, she was acquitted of the bogus charges brought against her by the University of Michigan and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie. She had hoped then to get on with caring for her patients at the Packard Community Clinic but, if anything, local Zionists and their minions seem more determined than ever to punish her for speaking out against the Jewish apartheid state of Israel and its local backers. The management of the Packard Community Clinic has decided to fire Dr. Wilkerson and on February 4th they set February 15th as her last day of work. Below you will find a statement by Dr. Wilkerson explaining more fully what is happening.
The Committee to Defend Catherine Wilkerson has issued this urgent action alert because we want to encourage the Governing Board of the Packard Community Clinic to stop the firing of Dr. Wilkerson and to stop the harassment of her for engaging in constitutionally-protected free speech activities on her own time and in her own name. Specifically, we are asking supporters of Dr. Wilkerson to do two things. First, please contact the Governing Board as soon as possible. A written letter is considered one of the most effective forms of advocacy. You can mail one to the address in the sample letter below and/or send a fax to the Governing Board at (734) 971-8545. You may also leave a phone message at (734) 971-1073 or send an e-mail to info@packardclinic.org. Second, please sign our online petition, which you can find at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepwilkerson/ . A press conference and a rally in front of the clinic are being contemplated but have not been scheduled at this time pending the Governing Board's response to an appeal by Dr. Wilkerson for a special meeting with the Board.
Sample Letter to the Packard Community Clinic Governing Board
Your Address
Your City, State, Zip
Today's Date
Governing Board
Packard Community Clinic
3174 Packard Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Dear Members of the Governing Board of the Packard Community Clinic:
I am writing to urge you to stop the termination proceedings against Dr. Catherine Wilkerson, MD and, further, to stop the harassment of Dr. Wilkerson by Packard Community Clinic (PCC) Medical Director Ray Rion and Executive Director Kimberly Kratz. It was known when she was hired that Dr. Wilkerson was politically active. Her profile on the clinic web site notes: "she is particularly interested in social and economic determinants of health, gender issues in medicine, and medical ethics. She has been an activist involved in a number of issues related to public health, including the health effects of war and nuclear weapons, and universal health care." The only thing that has changed is that she is now--after successfully fending off a malicious criminal prosecution--being targeted for, on her own time and in her own name only, criticizing racism in the local Jewish community in its support for the apartheid state of Israel. Dr. Wilkerson is the senior and most experienced physician at the PCC and beloved by many of her patients. No good purpose can be served by depriving them of the compassionate care provided by this conscientious physician simply because she has nonviolently exercised her First Amendment rights to speak out against all forms of racism. Please keep Dr. Wilkerson on the staff of the PCC and stop the political harassment of her by PCC management.
Sincerely,
Your Signature
Your Name
Statement of Dr. Catherine Wilkerson Concerning the Termination of Her Employment at the Packard Community Clinic
Despite the exhilarating victory for the First Amendment right to freedom of expression that my acquittal achieved, I remain the target of those who seek to quash that right. Now I am being forced out of my job. For over five-and-a-half years I have worked at Packard Community Clinic, providing medical care to disadvantaged members of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti community. Most of my patients are Black, Latino, Arab, or Asian. My patients overwhelmingly come from the ranks of the working class.
These are the people within our own borders who suffer most from the wars and occupations being perpetrated, funded, and otherwise enabled by the US. These are the people whose brothers and sisters disproportionately wind up as cannon fodder. These are the people who struggle everyday to obtain the necessities of life and whose fundamental human right to health care is denied, while billions of dollars flow to wage these wars and occupations.
The wars and occupations currently waged or backed by the US have killed, maimed and sickened millions of Iraqis, Afghans, Palestinians, Haitians and Filipinos. How can a doctor turn a blind eye to this suffering and injustice? How can a doctor, of all people, not take a stand?
It is likely that a good many of those who obtain care at Packard Community Clinic agree with that analysis. The same is true, no doubt, for many of the clinic workers and for many of the clinic's supporters in the community. Yet, Medical Director Ray Rion and Executive Director Kimberly Kratz have deemed me "not a good fit for the clinic."
Months before the trial and the not-guilty verdict, the wheels to force me out had been set in motion. In early October, the Ray Rion called me in for a chat. I was not a good fit for the clinic, he claimed, because of my political activities. He cited the publicity surrounding the approaching criminal trial, my Palestinian human rights activities, and his desire for the clinic to "piddle to the middle." A few people had threatened not to donate money to the clinic. A local doctor threatened not to refer patients to the clinic. Who were these people? What kind of people threaten to withhold their money and not to refer patients in need of medical care to a clinic that is known to provide excellent care and to take all comers?
We talked, for the first time, about the case against me. He disputed my assertion that I had an obligation to help a person in need of medical attention, stating that in Michigan there is no duty to treat. We would have to wait and see how the trial turned out before he would know how that issue would affect my employment. But my Palestinian human rights activities were also a problem. Among those activities was my affiliation with Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, a group that has stood vigil in front of Beth Israel Congregation for several years, silently holding signs protesting Israeli oppression of Palestinians. He wanted to know why I did that. I answered as I always have, "I do it as an act of solidarity with Palestinians."
I do it because more than four million Palestinian refugees live exile after being violently expelled from their homes by Jewish forces in 1948 and 1967. I do it because another four million or so Palestinians live under brutal Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. I do it for the more than one million Palestinians who live as second-class citizens in Israel. I do it because Israel's oppression of Palestinians is enabled by the American Zionist community and billions of US-taxpayer dollars that go to support Israel every year. I do it because Beth Israel is a political as well as a religious institution. As Rabbi Dobrusin wrote in the Ann Arbor News in January 2007: "Beth Israel Congregation affirms without any hesitation or equivocation the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state." I do it because the flag of Israel hangs in the synagogue and because the Rabbi Dobrusin uses his influence to defend Israel I do it because I believe that there is no more appropriate time to think about right and wrong than when worshiping. I do it as an act of solidarity, knowing as I stand there being assaulted with slurs and obscene gestures and swerving automobiles by those heading inside to worship God, that the harassment we endure in front of the synagogue does not even rise to the level of the tiniest smidgen of what Palestinians endure every day and have for decades. I do it to remind those who pass by of the plight of an oppressed people, whose oppression is facilitated by all of us who do not take a stand against it. At least I used to do it. After much soul-searching over the next few days after that meeting last October, I informed the medical director that I had decided to stop participating in the vigil. While I was already facing a criminal trial I didn't want to lose my job, too.
When the jury found me not guilty, I hoped my boss would no longer threaten me with termination. But three weeks after my victory, he presented me with a contract requiring me to "refrain from conduct, both at work and outside of work, which tends to reflect negatively on the reputation and public image of Employer, which may negatively affect the ability of Employer to retain current patients, attract new patients or attract donations, or which may otherwise in the judgment of Employer's Medical Director reflect poorly upon the public image of Employee or Employer."
When in the course of my attempting to negotiate with the Medical and Executive Directors of the clinic, I protested the vague and restrictive clause. I asked for more specific language and for guidance about what kinds of activities would constitute violation of the contract. They repeatedly criticized my political activities, and finally, the executive director terminated the negotiations, declaring that it was clear that my continued employment would not work, and that we should proceed with determining the terms of my severance.
No one should have to forfeit her constitutional right to freedom of expression to keep a job. It was not a fair contract and I believe that it was presented to me, on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, for the purpose of strong-arming me out the door. I believe that we could have negotiated a fair contract if both parties had negotiated in good faith. If it were not true, as I believe, that my termination is the culmination of months of efforts to force me out, they would have done so. But the saddest part of this story to me is that the needs and desires of so many of my patients to continue their relationships with me don't seem to matter.
Urgent Action Alert--Help Save Dr. Wilkerson's Job; Stop the Harassment
Last December, Dr. Catherine Wilkerson dealt a blow to local forces of repression when, after a six-day trial, she was acquitted of the bogus charges brought against her by the University of Michigan and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie. She had hoped then to get on with caring for her patients at the Packard Community Clinic but, if anything, local Zionists and their minions seem more determined than ever to punish her for speaking out against the Jewish apartheid state of Israel and its local backers. The management of the Packard Community Clinic has decided to fire Dr. Wilkerson and on February 4th they set February 15th as her last day of work. Below you will find a statement by Dr. Wilkerson explaining more fully what is happening.
The Committee to Defend Catherine Wilkerson has issued this urgent action alert because we want to encourage the Governing Board of the Packard Community Clinic to stop the firing of Dr. Wilkerson and to stop the harassment of her for engaging in constitutionally-protected free speech activities on her own time and in her own name. Specifically, we are asking supporters of Dr. Wilkerson to do two things. First, please contact the Governing Board as soon as possible. A written letter is considered one of the most effective forms of advocacy. You can mail one to the address in the sample letter below and/or send a fax to the Governing Board at (734) 971-8545. You may also leave a phone message at (734) 971-1073 or send an e-mail to info@packardclinic.org. Second, please sign our online petition, which you can find at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepwilkerson/ . A press conference and a rally in front of the clinic are being contemplated but have not been scheduled at this time pending the Governing Board's response to an appeal by Dr. Wilkerson for a special meeting with the Board.
Sample Letter to the Packard Community Clinic Governing Board
Your Address
Your City, State, Zip
Today's Date
Governing Board
Packard Community Clinic
3174 Packard Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Dear Members of the Governing Board of the Packard Community Clinic:
I am writing to urge you to stop the termination proceedings against Dr. Catherine Wilkerson, MD and, further, to stop the harassment of Dr. Wilkerson by Packard Community Clinic (PCC) Medical Director Ray Rion and Executive Director Kimberly Kratz. It was known when she was hired that Dr. Wilkerson was politically active. Her profile on the clinic web site notes: "she is particularly interested in social and economic determinants of health, gender issues in medicine, and medical ethics. She has been an activist involved in a number of issues related to public health, including the health effects of war and nuclear weapons, and universal health care." The only thing that has changed is that she is now--after successfully fending off a malicious criminal prosecution--being targeted for, on her own time and in her own name only, criticizing racism in the local Jewish community in its support for the apartheid state of Israel. Dr. Wilkerson is the senior and most experienced physician at the PCC and beloved by many of her patients. No good purpose can be served by depriving them of the compassionate care provided by this conscientious physician simply because she has nonviolently exercised her First Amendment rights to speak out against all forms of racism. Please keep Dr. Wilkerson on the staff of the PCC and stop the political harassment of her by PCC management.
Sincerely,
Your Signature
Your Name
Statement of Dr. Catherine Wilkerson Concerning the Termination of Her Employment at the Packard Community Clinic
Despite the exhilarating victory for the First Amendment right to freedom of expression that my acquittal achieved, I remain the target of those who seek to quash that right. Now I am being forced out of my job. For over five-and-a-half years I have worked at Packard Community Clinic, providing medical care to disadvantaged members of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti community. Most of my patients are Black, Latino, Arab, or Asian. My patients overwhelmingly come from the ranks of the working class.
These are the people within our own borders who suffer most from the wars and occupations being perpetrated, funded, and otherwise enabled by the US. These are the people whose brothers and sisters disproportionately wind up as cannon fodder. These are the people who struggle everyday to obtain the necessities of life and whose fundamental human right to health care is denied, while billions of dollars flow to wage these wars and occupations.
The wars and occupations currently waged or backed by the US have killed, maimed and sickened millions of Iraqis, Afghans, Palestinians, Haitians and Filipinos. How can a doctor turn a blind eye to this suffering and injustice? How can a doctor, of all people, not take a stand?
It is likely that a good many of those who obtain care at Packard Community Clinic agree with that analysis. The same is true, no doubt, for many of the clinic workers and for many of the clinic's supporters in the community. Yet, Medical Director Ray Rion and Executive Director Kimberly Kratz have deemed me "not a good fit for the clinic."
Months before the trial and the not-guilty verdict, the wheels to force me out had been set in motion. In early October, the Ray Rion called me in for a chat. I was not a good fit for the clinic, he claimed, because of my political activities. He cited the publicity surrounding the approaching criminal trial, my Palestinian human rights activities, and his desire for the clinic to "piddle to the middle." A few people had threatened not to donate money to the clinic. A local doctor threatened not to refer patients to the clinic. Who were these people? What kind of people threaten to withhold their money and not to refer patients in need of medical care to a clinic that is known to provide excellent care and to take all comers?
We talked, for the first time, about the case against me. He disputed my assertion that I had an obligation to help a person in need of medical attention, stating that in Michigan there is no duty to treat. We would have to wait and see how the trial turned out before he would know how that issue would affect my employment. But my Palestinian human rights activities were also a problem. Among those activities was my affiliation with Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, a group that has stood vigil in front of Beth Israel Congregation for several years, silently holding signs protesting Israeli oppression of Palestinians. He wanted to know why I did that. I answered as I always have, "I do it as an act of solidarity with Palestinians."
I do it because more than four million Palestinian refugees live exile after being violently expelled from their homes by Jewish forces in 1948 and 1967. I do it because another four million or so Palestinians live under brutal Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. I do it for the more than one million Palestinians who live as second-class citizens in Israel. I do it because Israel's oppression of Palestinians is enabled by the American Zionist community and billions of US-taxpayer dollars that go to support Israel every year. I do it because Beth Israel is a political as well as a religious institution. As Rabbi Dobrusin wrote in the Ann Arbor News in January 2007: "Beth Israel Congregation affirms without any hesitation or equivocation the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state." I do it because the flag of Israel hangs in the synagogue and because the Rabbi Dobrusin uses his influence to defend Israel I do it because I believe that there is no more appropriate time to think about right and wrong than when worshiping. I do it as an act of solidarity, knowing as I stand there being assaulted with slurs and obscene gestures and swerving automobiles by those heading inside to worship God, that the harassment we endure in front of the synagogue does not even rise to the level of the tiniest smidgen of what Palestinians endure every day and have for decades. I do it to remind those who pass by of the plight of an oppressed people, whose oppression is facilitated by all of us who do not take a stand against it. At least I used to do it. After much soul-searching over the next few days after that meeting last October, I informed the medical director that I had decided to stop participating in the vigil. While I was already facing a criminal trial I didn't want to lose my job, too.
When the jury found me not guilty, I hoped my boss would no longer threaten me with termination. But three weeks after my victory, he presented me with a contract requiring me to "refrain from conduct, both at work and outside of work, which tends to reflect negatively on the reputation and public image of Employer, which may negatively affect the ability of Employer to retain current patients, attract new patients or attract donations, or which may otherwise in the judgment of Employer's Medical Director reflect poorly upon the public image of Employee or Employer."
When in the course of my attempting to negotiate with the Medical and Executive Directors of the clinic, I protested the vague and restrictive clause. I asked for more specific language and for guidance about what kinds of activities would constitute violation of the contract. They repeatedly criticized my political activities, and finally, the executive director terminated the negotiations, declaring that it was clear that my continued employment would not work, and that we should proceed with determining the terms of my severance.
No one should have to forfeit her constitutional right to freedom of expression to keep a job. It was not a fair contract and I believe that it was presented to me, on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, for the purpose of strong-arming me out the door. I believe that we could have negotiated a fair contract if both parties had negotiated in good faith. If it were not true, as I believe, that my termination is the culmination of months of efforts to force me out, they would have done so. But the saddest part of this story to me is that the needs and desires of so many of my patients to continue their relationships with me don't seem to matter.
Labels: Beth Israel, Catherine Wilkerson, free speech, Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, Zionism
// posted by PeaceMonger @ 2/09/2008 10:56:00 PM 0 comments
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Wednesday, February 06, 2008
AJC's Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion
Except for two minor references to it in a post on another subject, I didn't really write much about the American Jewish Committee's annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, the results of which were released last December. And I'm not really going to write much about the survey today but I will provide links below to two important analyses of the survey results.
Here's one comment though: Jim Lobe writes, "US Jews appear to have become more opposed ... to the US carrying out a military attack against Iran's nuclear facilities" but I think it is important note that there is good reason to believe that something else is driving this apparent decline in support. With the rise in awareness that the US invasion of Iraq was in no small part orchestrated by and for Israel and American Jews, particularly the neocons (who are not all Jewish), has come a concerted effort at spin control.
In the case of Iran, in 2006, Israeli and US Jewish leaders clearly told Bush to soft pedal the association between American military operations against Iran (present and future) with Israel. They didn't tell him not to attack Iran on behalf of Israel, they just told him not to be so darn obvious about it. As the Jewish Daily Forward reported: When asked how he thinks Jewish groups should pursue the Iran issue, [Israeli Prime Minister] Olmert reportedly implied that he would prefer a low profile ..." Such psychological operations are known as hasbara--the Zionist war on truth.
Here's one comment though: Jim Lobe writes, "US Jews appear to have become more opposed ... to the US carrying out a military attack against Iran's nuclear facilities" but I think it is important note that there is good reason to believe that something else is driving this apparent decline in support. With the rise in awareness that the US invasion of Iraq was in no small part orchestrated by and for Israel and American Jews, particularly the neocons (who are not all Jewish), has come a concerted effort at spin control.
In the case of Iran, in 2006, Israeli and US Jewish leaders clearly told Bush to soft pedal the association between American military operations against Iran (present and future) with Israel. They didn't tell him not to attack Iran on behalf of Israel, they just told him not to be so darn obvious about it. As the Jewish Daily Forward reported: When asked how he thinks Jewish groups should pursue the Iran issue, [Israeli Prime Minister] Olmert reportedly implied that he would prefer a low profile ..." Such psychological operations are known as hasbara--the Zionist war on truth.
- "US Jews tilt rightwards on Israel" by Jim Lobe
- "American Jews on War and Peace: What Do the Polls Tell Us and Not Tell Us?" by James Petras
Labels: Iran, Iraq, Israel, US politics
// posted by PeaceMonger @ 2/06/2008 07:11:00 PM 0 comments
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Saturday, February 02, 2008
Palestine Awareness Week at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) is sponsoring Palestine Awareness Week, a five-day presentation of different aspects of Palestinian issues, from February 11th through February 15th. Event topics include Introducing Palestine, Exploring the Structure of Israel's Occupation, The Cultural Resistance of Palestinian Film, Aspects of Apartheid: South Africa and Israel, and Visions of Peace. Speakers include Thomas Abowd (WSU professor), Neve Gordon (visiting associate professor), Rima Hassouneh (UM professor), Tirtza Even (UM School of Art), Hani Bawardi (UM-Dearborn professor), and Ali Abunimah (prominent Palestinian academic). The overall purpose of the events are to further educate the campus body about a variety of issues concerning Palestine and Palestinians.Monday, Feb 11th, 7:30pm, 100 Hutchins Hall
Introducing Palestine - Thomas Abowd
Tuesday, Feb 12th, 8pm, 100 Hutchins Hall
From Colonization to Separation, Exploring the Structure of Israel's Occupation - Neve Gordon
Wednesday, Feb 13th, 7:30pm, 100 Hutchins Hall
The Cultural Resistance of Palestinian Film - Rima Hassouneh and Tirtza Even
Thursday, Feb 14th, 7:30pm, 100 Hutchins Hall
Aspects of Apartheid: South Africa and Israel - Hani Bawardi
Friday, Feb 15th, 5pm, 214 Hutchins Hall
Visions of Peace - Ali Abunimah
Also on Friday, 8:30pm, Koessler Room, Michigan League -
Words of Struggle - a poetry slam promoting Palestine awareness and civil rights, in honor of Black History Month.
Co-sponsored by:
Human Rights Through Education
Physicians for Human Rights
Anti-War Action
Students for Multiculturalism
Student World Assembly
Middle Eastern Law Students Association
Iraqi Students Association
Muslim Students Association
umsafe.org
umich.edu/~umsafe
Labels: Palestine, resistance, University of Michigan, Zionism
// posted by PeaceMonger @ 2/02/2008 02:57:00 PM 0 comments
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