From the Jewish Journal: The UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs confirmed to the Journal that Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Patrisse Cullors will be giving a pre-recorded speech as the keynote speaker to the school’s June 11 graduation ceremony.* Cullors, who recently resigned from the Black Lives Matter Global Foundation, said during a 2015 panel, “Palestine is our generation’s South Africa. If we don’t step up boldly and courageously to end the imperialist project that’s called Israel, we’re doomed.” She also encouraged people to look into the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and to show support for Rasmea Odeh, who was convicted of two 1969 bombings in Jerusalem and was deported from Chicago to Jordan in 2017 after pleading guilty of failing to disclose her prior conviction when applying for United States citizenship in 2004.
...Judea Pearl, Chancellor’s Professor of Computer Science at UCLA, National Academy of Sciences member and Daniel Pearl Foundation president, told the Journal he asked UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Dean Professor Gary Segura if he would ask Cullors if she would retract her 2015 remarks. Segura said in a statement to the Journal, “Respect for diversity of opinion on matters of public concern is a key tenet of the educational philosophy of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and it’s important to remember that an invitation to speak does not represent an endorsement of all past or future statements by a given speaker. We do not condone racism, sexism, anti-Semitism or any form of bias. The prerecorded commencement message from Patrisse Cullors is one of unity, tolerance and forgiveness. She suggests that a cooperative spirit can help heal old wounds and advance new solutions. I am confident that our graduating students will appreciate her perspective and find inspiration in her call to look forward without judgment in pursuit of a happier, more equitable society.”
...American Jewish Committee Los Angeles Regional Director Richard S. Hirschhaut said in a statement to the Journal, “We recognize the compelling voice that Patrisse Cullors represents to so many in the African American community. At the same time, it is regrettable that Ms. Cullors has used her important platform to denigrate and question the very legitimacy of the State of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. In light of the disturbing spike in violent antisemitism across America in recent weeks, we hope Ms. Cullors’ pre-recorded commencement message is one of unity, perhaps even using her UCLA platform to condemn this scourge of hate that has left many in the American Jewish community feeling isolated and vulnerable. By so doing, she would amplify the unequivocal repudiation of antisemitism declared by Chancellor Gene Block just days ago.” The Journal’s request for comment through Cullors’ website was not returned.
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*Note: Collors is a UCLA graduate (2012) who has been featured by UCLA subsequently in various contexts:
https://ourstoriesourimpact.irle.ucla.edu/patrisse-cullors/
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/file?fid=5e9742e62cfac21b6101c70b
https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2021/patrisse-cullors-fck-white-supremacy-lets-get-free
https://www.arts.ucla.edu/single/boogie-with-patrisse-cullors-in-a-virtual-electric-slide/
https://blueprint.ucla.edu/sketch/black-lives-matter/
https://mobile.twitter.com/UCLA/status/1274448417121423360
As the article above notes, she resigned recently from a BLM-affiliated foundation and there was some controversy about real estate purchases and other matters, but no charges that she had done anything illegal at the foundation: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/27/black-lives-matter-cofounder-patrisse-cullors; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57277777.
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