Protest supports Arab-American journalist

Students and supporters protested outside the administration building at Wayne State University on Dec. 10 demanding the reinstatement of the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award.

WW photo

Thomas is a world-renowned investigative journalist and WSU alumni. Her name was stripped from the award on Dec. 3 because of her staunch anti-Zionist position and her willingness to challenge the United States’ and Israel’s actions regarding Palestine.

WSU used Thomas’ anti-Zionist comments that she made as a keynote speaker at a diversity conference in Dearborn, Mich., on Dec. 2 as a pretext to strip her name from the award. Thomas was fired in May from Hearst News Service for her support of Palestine.

Thomas, a UPI news service reporter for 57 years, was the first woman to be an officer of the National Press Club; the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association; and a fearless White House correspondent who covered every president since Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1998 the White House Press Corps honored her with the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award.

“They should put her name back on it. Her name is what made that award. She’s one of our most notable alumni,” said Ali F. Beydoun, president of the Arab-American Student Union at WSU. The ASU sponsored the protest.

WSU has a large Arab American and Muslim student population, reflecting metro Detroit’s large Middle Eastern population.

Dozens came out to support Thomas and to protest the administration’s actions. Chanting “One, two, three, four, reinstate the Helen Thomas award!” and “Helen Thomas, great alumni, stripped of award because of lies!” protesters spoke to the media, signed petitions and informed passersby of the administration’s actions.

The protest was supported by the Palestine Cultural Office, the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice and others.

The National Arab American Journalists Association, an organization with 250 members in the U.S., issued a statement Dec. 3 supporting Thomas and denouncing WSU’s cancellation of the Helen Thomas Award as a move undermining free speech.

The NAAJA called the university’s move “a cowardly act surrendering to racist hate” and part of a growing anti-Arab sentiment within the U.S. media. “The voices of American Arabs will not be silenced,” said the NAAJA, which will discuss how to fight the attacks on Thomas at its March 4-6 national convention in Dearborn, Mich.