ADL denounces Mayor Clevenger’s anti-Semitic slurs

marionvillemoST. LOUIS (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is deeply disturbed that the mayor of Marionville, Missouri has publicly stated that he “kind of” agrees with the virulently anti-Semitic views of Frazier Glenn Miller, the man charged in the shooting deaths of three people outside two Jewish institutions in Overland Park, Kansas.

In interviews with local media, Mayor Don Clevenger said he once called Mr. Miller, a white supremacist, his friend and indicated that he agrees with some of his hateful anti-Semitic views.  Corporations “are running this country, and pretty much destroying us,” the mayor was quoted by Missouri’s KOLR-TV as saying.  “The industries that I talk about are run by Jews.”

Mayor Clevenger also reportedly told Springfield, Missouri’s ABC affiliate KSPR-TV that, “There some things that are going on in this country that are destroying us. We’ve got a false economy and it’s, some of those corporations are run by Jews because the names are there.  The fact that the Federal Reserve prints up phony money and freely hands it out, I think that’s completely wrong. The people that run the Federal Reserve, they’re Jewish.”

Karen Aroesty, ADL St. Louis Regional Director, issued the following statement:

We were deeply disturbed and dismayed by the comments attributed to Marionville Mayor Don Clevenger.  His remarks play into classic anti-Semitic stereotypes about supposed Jewish greed, Jewish “control” of money and the Federal Reserve, and Jewish “control” of the government.

But whether or not he considers Miller a friend, for someone who serves as an elected representative to spew such classic anti-Semitic canards is profoundly offensive.  Such virulent expressions of anti-Semitism also call into question his ability fairly to serve as a local community leader.  This is exactly the kind of conspiratorial anti-Semitism and racism that can lead to acts of violence and intimidation against Jews.

In the aftermath of the shootings in Missouri, community leaders should be the first to speak out against anti-Semitism and to make clear that the actions of Frazier Glenn Miller are not only abhorrent and despicable, but completely unacceptable in a civil society.

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