By John Lindstrom
Publisher
Posted: April 25, 2019 2:27 PM

Things happen that cause one to wonder. Anyone working in politics and government who then tries to explain what happens in politics and government to hapless civilians understand that concept since they are inevitably riddled with questions about "why do they do that," "what do you mean," "are you kidding," and "isn't that kinda stupid?"

However, something happened during a Senate committee meeting this week that left this reporter wondering, "Why?" Specifically, why wouldn't someone honor a Holocaust survivor?

It took place during the Senate Oversight Committee meeting. The panel was listening to and questioning Attorney General Dana Nessel on her newly formed hate crimes unit.

Hate crimes and dealing with hate crimes is kind of a vexed issue, since it is both a logical concept (most people probably would say if an innocent person were, for example, beat up because they are black or Jewish or gay or for whatever reason the perpetrator should face extra punishment) but also one that raises cautions (former Sen. Dan Cooper in the 1970s said everyone is allowed to be a bigot in their own home, and that is true: while ideally one should not be a bigot a person can be so long as the person does not act out that bigotry harming someone else).

Plus, the question has become fraught in today's hyper-partisan atmosphere. When Michigan's hate crime law, the Ethnic Intimidation Act, passed now a generation ago there wasn't much controversy. Enhanced penalties for crimes committed against specific individuals – for example, child sex abuse – is and was not a new idea and the state was still dealing with the murder of Vincent Chin (killed by two autoworkers during a recession because they thought he was Japanese) so lawmakers recognized the law was appropriate.

However, today in many ways we no longer see people as having different opinions than ours, they are our blood enemies to be opposed and defeated at every moment.

So it was clear the Republican majority on the committee wasn't immediately taking Ms. Nessel's arguments about the hate crimes unit at face value. Thus it is these days.

It was also clear in the audience there were people both supporting and opposing the hate crimes unit. Several opponents were seated in the row before this reporter, nodding and saying, "that's right" when some tough questions were thrown at Ms. Nessel.

It is critical to this story to know the day of the hearing was the state's Holocaust Remembrance Day. Ms. Nessel referenced that and how her family in Europe had suffered during the Holocaust. And when she finished testifying, Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) introduced Rene Lichtman.

Mr. Lichtman, now in his early 80s, survived the Holocaust in France, hiding with his mother as so many were forced to do. His father was killed, many other members of his family were killed in concentration camps in Poland.

That day's discussion was very important, Mr. Lichtman said, because "hate speech leads to, can lead to hate crimes." Not necessarily by the person uttering the hate speech, he said, but by someone hearing it and acting on it.

The Nuremberg Trials were about hate crimes, Mr. Lichtman said. "People were murdered. They didn't commit any crimes, they were murdered because they were Jews, gypsies, Bolsheviks."

He acknowledged, "I don't care if someone hates me as a Jew, if they think that," but "hate speech makes me very worried."

When Mr. Lichtman finished, committee chair Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) asked the committee and audience to applaud Mr. Lichtman. And virtually everyone in the committee room did so.

Virtually all of them applauded. The men sitting in front of this reporter pointedly did not applaud. They pointedly sat with their hands in their laps.

Having to ask questions of Mr. McBroom, this reporter was not able to ask the men why they did not recognize Mr. Lichtman. At 81 or 82 he is one of the youngest survivors now of the Holocaust. This reporter has known other survivors, now gone. He has friends born in displaced persons camps after their parents were liberated from the death and concentration camps.

Those who have lived our history, be it the civil rights movement, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the women and gay movements, or the Holocaust are all aging. One day the veterans of the 2016 election will be old. Why would you not want to hear their stories? Why would you not want to acknowledge them?

It causes one to wonder.