ADL must make an unequivocal statement

IN THE Sept. 22 editorial "A good place for Blue Cross" it is suggested that the Anti-Defamation League made a statement last month that acknowledged the Armenian Genocide. What exactly was this statement and where was it made?

The fact is that the ADL's formal statement of August 2007 about this tragedy declared that the "consequences" "were indeed tantamount to genocide." This carefully crafted statement is not an unequivocal acknowledgement of genocide.

The ADL also has actively lobbied Congress for years to prevent passage of a symbolic resolution that would simply recognize the genocide and name it as such.

Why should Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts support a program that is run by an organization that offends some of Blue Cross's very subscribers? If the ADL cannot forthrightly acknowledge one of the worst hate crimes ever committed and refrain from working against the recognition of this, it cannot legitimately run an anti-bias program, and should certainly not receive assistance from Blue Cross.

There are other successful anti-bias programs in many local communities, such as the Not in Our Town campaign, that do not have the polarizing effect of the ADL connection. Blue Cross would do well to sponsor and support one of these programs instead.

KATHRYN ESKANDARIAN
Bedford