Martin "Marty" Peretz Removed from Speaking List at Harvard Celebration After Comments About Muslims

There is a controversy of sorts brewing on the campus of Harvard University. Former Harvard professor Martin "Marty" H. Peretz's name seems to have been taken off the list of speakers at the university's 50th anniversary celebration of the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies. Why? That could be due to a recent blog post he penned in which he wrote that "Muslim life is cheap."According to the Harvard Crimson Tide newspaper, the Social Studies Director of Studies Anya Bernstein could not confirm that Peretz will not be speaking at Saturday’s event. She added that Peretz will be recognized in some fashion at the celebration.

But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse. Source: The New Republic

He has since apologized for his remark saying that Muslims do not deserve the protection under the First Amendment, but reaffirmed his belief in the cheapness of Muslim life. According to the Crimson Tide, it is ironic that on the eve of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur—"the Day of Atonement"—Peretz asked for forgiveness for his “sin of wild and wounding language” over the past year. Simon L. Sternin, an alumni who organized a petition against Peretz, said his apology rings hollow.  He said Peretz has a history of making  bigoted and racist comments against blacks, Latinos, Arabs, and Muslims.

We have become so touchy-feely about matters concerning race and religion in this country that having a rational debate is virtually non-existent, especially with bigoted statements from people like Marty Peretz. America was built with the blood and sweat of so many people, from all walks of life, it is a sad commentary that we cannot get along. Have we learned nothing from the civil rights unrest that occurred in the United States in the 1960s or the Great Trail of Tears?