He's a Jew. That was qualification enough, it seems, for Jack Nusan Porter to speak at the "Conversation on Black-Jewish Unity," sponsored by the Black Students Association (BSA) last Wednesday.

BSA needed a Jew, after all, to share a stage with Minister Don Muhammad, the Nation of Islam leader in Boston, and to give a Jewish perspective on the issue. BSA could have asked Hillel to recommend one. Instead, they picked Porter on their own.

He must have seemed to fit the bill perfectly. Now in real estate, Porter is a former academic who once held positions at Boston University and Harvard. He's a self-described "historian f Jewish history" and "expert on Black-Jewish relations". And he's the child of Holocaust survivors.

But unlike Muhammad, who represents the Nation of Islam, Porter has no standing and no constituency in Boston's Jewish community. Porter doesn't speak for Jews. It was no surprise, therefore, that Hillel declined to co-sponsor the event.

That the BSA chose Porter, however, reflects a belief that an individual's racial or ethnic affiliation qualifies him or her to speak as an expert on matters pertaining to the group. It is this belief that increasingly dominates discussions of race and ethnicity at Harvard. And it is this belief that explains why the "Conversation on Black-Jewish Unity" was a farce.

Porter talked mostly about himself and very little about the real issues--affirmative action, the conflict in the Middle East and the two groups' divergent economic fortunes, among others--that have driven a wedge between the Jewish and Black communities in the last 20 years.

He spoke about the many Black friends he had while growing up in the Milwaukee ghetto after World War II and the close Black-Jewish cooperation that existed during the civil rights movement.

Porter blamed Jews for the deterioration in Black-Jewish relations. He said Jews tend to be "dominating and arrogant" in their relationships with other people and groups--and they should stop it. More than anyone else, Jews are "so afraid of peace...and friendship". That's why Porter fears Jews more than the Nation of Islam, he said.

Only in the question-and-answer session did Porter address The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, Vol. 1, a Nation of Islam book that argues that Jews--more than any other group--played a disproportionate role in the slave trade.

In a page-long op-ed piece in The New York Times last July, Henry Louis Gates Jr., chair of Harvard's Afro-American Studies Department, called the book the "bible" of a new Black anti-Semitism. Gates wrote that the book is "one of the most sophisticated instances of hate literature yet compiled" and an example off "demagoguery and pseudo-scholarship". The Secret Relationship has also been criticized by Jewish groups.

Muhammad has responded by publicly attacking Gates and trying to refute charges of anti-Semitism. "There are people who would call someone anti-Semitic for dropping a kosher sandwich on the floor," Muhammad told The Boston Globe.

At the "Conversation," Porter did say--extremely politely--that the book is anti-Semitic. Not that it really matters, though. He asked Muhammad to "be more sensitive" to Jews and--no joke--to "do a better job" with the second volume. "I hope [saying] this doesn't harm our relationship too much," Porter said to Muhammad.

In any case, Porter said, "I'm not going to let a book destroy [our] relationship. No way, because I remember a time when Jews and Blacks loved each other, and I still love Black people, and I want more Jews to say that. And I want Blacks to listen to Jews...and to say I love you too as a brother".

The solution, Porter said, is simply to "be a human being and treat everyone equally". He proposed singing Jewish and civil rights songs following the discussion.

Right.