Friday, May 23, 2008

J Street: Apology Accepted!

Ever since the early 1990's, there has been one definitive J Street -- the dining facility located in George Washington University's Marvin Center. This had gone undisputed...until recent times.

Earlier this year, The Nation magazine started a blog called J Street. They described J Street this way:
That mythical street between I and K represents all that should be in the nation's capital but isn't: voices marginalized or ignored, ideas too radical or unpopular for the mainstream, movements elided or dismissed.
Wrong, Nation! That place full of voices marginalized -- it's the GW student center. Get with the program.

Well, that's not all. A month or so ago an organization called J Street formed. It's a progressive online advocacy organization representing "Americans for Middle East Peace and Security." I don't object to that mission. I object to the blatant stealing of well-renowned J Street brand. They even took the Wikipedia entry for J Street.

On their website, they explain:
J Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.
Well, unless that political arm is outstretched--holding a salad and an over-priced soda--every member of the GW community should outraged about this issue. Well, until yesterday.

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to run into J Street's Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami at a political gathering. After exchanging pleasantries about world peace, I cut to the chase: "I'm here to demand your apology."

I explained the issue, and secured an admission that they indeed were aware of the esteemed GW dining facility before going forward with their organizational name. (Very honorable of him to own up to that fact.) Then, I re-stated that an apology was in order. He apologized. We then lined up in Clinton-Rabin-Afarat peace accord formation (suitable, given his group's mission), and secured the apology to the entire GW community via photo. Here it is:

Because of this honorable gesture, I officially say on behalf of the GW community: Apology accepted!

Next up: The Nation...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

we need to stop the imposters. what other imposters are out there?