November 14, 2003I - was nine years old when "Gentleman's Agreement" won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1947. I was 24 when Gregory Peck won the 1962 Best Actor statuette for his role in "To Kill a Mockingbird". Both pictures dealt with the subtle and not so subtle bigotry that pervaded American society. It was a bitter joke when Groucho Marx wisecracked that he would not join any club that would let him in. We like to pretend that those days have been put behind us. There has been some progress. Restrictive covenants in real estate are no longer enforceable. Discrimination in employment is prohibited by law. Overt bigotry may only be socially acceptable in restricted circles, but it crawls out into the light from time to time with a wink and a nudge and a "know what I mean."

Anti-Semitism, anti-Catholic bigotry, anti-Black stereotypes, and the labeling of all Moslems as a perfidious enemy are all faces on the same coin. It is a coin that finds a home in many pockets and at all the points from left to right on the ideological spectrum. It is evidenced in the transparent hypocrisy of a religious leader who pledges his undying support for Israel while proclaiming that God will not hear the prayer of a Jew. It is expressed in the assumption that Americans whose ancestors were forcibly transported from Africa are unable to compete and any success that they achieve is the result of favorable treatment or quotas. Indeed it is wrapped in accusations of Anti-Christian bigotry whenever the First Amendment is invoked to protect against state imposed religious expression.

We hide it behind code words and slogans. Imprecations against supposed Jewish domination of the media have become attacks on the "liberal media". It briefly sees the light when every TV special on welfare is illustrated by images of an urban Black single mother when the majority of those on the dole are white Americans who live in the rural areas of every state. When the suggestion is made that every Jew owes allegiance to Israel before loyalty to his native country it is the coin of bigotry that is being spent. When one candidates Jewish wife, another's Jewish grandfather, a third's Jewish father are equated with a fourth's Orthodox faith as part of the political discourse it is that same coin rolling across the floor.

In America we are free to speak the most hateful thoughts, to utter the most harmful words, to cast the debased coin of bigotry upon the tables in the stalls of the political market place. In America we are free to pick up that coin, put it in our pockets, pass it on, and continue it in circulation. We are also free to leave it there and walk away rejecting the gentleman's agreement it still represents.