On October 1st, Killah Priest and Jewish rapper Remedy, both members of the Wu Tang-affiliated Killa Beez, performed a concert hosted by the Carnegie Mellon University’s Hillel organization. The concert was aimed at healing the widening rifts between the various ethic and religious communities on Carnegie Mellon’s campus. The event was co-sponsored by a slate of Jewish and Israel-identified groups, including AEPi, AEPhi, Tartans for Israel, Panthers for Israel, Hasbara Fellowships, ZOA, and Chabad House on Campus, as well as SALSA, a Hispanic cultural group, and SPIRIT, an African-American cultural group.
A long series of missteps and misunderstandings has led to the current level of racial tension on CMU’s campus.
While these factors have long existed below the radar, the most recent troubles began in April of 2004, when CMU’s campus erupted after an ethnic slur was printed in the April Fools issue of the school’s student newspaper. The newspaper, “The Tartan,” a 2005 Pacemaker Award Finalist, has a longstanding tradition of publishing an April Fools issue under the title “The Natrat.” The comic was printed in a parody of the nationally syndicated comic strip “Pearls Before Swine.” Art from the professional strip was matched with original text, in which one character tells another “I was just out driving and hit a nigger on his bike.” The second replies, “Only one?”
The reaction to the comic proved virulent, sparking a wave of allegations and demonstrations against the paper. In the ensuing campaign, some saw a legitimate mobilization against an insensitive editorial board. Others thought freedom of speech concerns were being ignored.
Tensions were still high in February of 2005 when SPIRIT, with participation from other local organizations and funding from a Carnegie Mellon academic department, invited Malik Zulu Shabazz, the infamously anti-Semitic leader of the New Black Panther Party, to speak at CMU. A divisive and highly controversial figure, Shabazz and has been quoted by the ADL as urging followers to: “Kill every goddamn Zionist in Israel! Goddamn little babies, goddamn old ladies! Blow up Zionist supermarkets!” In July 2004, he disrupted an interfaith vigil in Washington, D.C.
The decision to bring Shabazz to campus caused a tremendous stir. In the weeks prior to Shabazz’ appearance, a divided CMU Student Senate voted against funding the event, citing opposition to the allocation of student moneys to fund “hate speech.” As the date drew near, rallies were held to protest Shabazz’ impending visit. Once again, the campus was split between those furious over the content of the message, and those concerned with protecting the right to deliver it.
The end result was an even more divided campus atmosphere. In subsequent town hall meetings and group talks, finger pointing often took precedent over accountability.
The Killah Priest/Remedy concert was aimed at helping to heal these wounds. Joshua Mann, a Hillel member, said, “This event will be the first step in teaching everyone to look past our differences and embrace our similarities, because there are many more similarities than differences between us.”
Will the concert heal the rifts? Time may tell. Mann hopes so. He says, “Many people don’t know about the many similarities of between the Jewish, Black and Latino communities and well as the unique relationship between Israel…and other countries throughout the world.”
