It’s time to take a critical look at SU and the Remembrance Program

Content Warning: This story contains mentions of antisemitic language.

Recently a member of the 2022-23 Remembrance Scholar cohort discovered that Eric and Jason Coker, who died in the terrorist attack of Pan Am Flight 103 and have been recognized and honored as part of Syracuse University’s Remembrance Scholars Program for 34 years, used antisemitic language in written correspondence with their family in 1988, the same year as the attack. Jason Coker was a student at Syracuse University and a staffer for The Daily Orange and Eric Coker attended Rochester University.

Eric Coker drew a swastika on a Bat Mitzvah card addressed to his mother for mother’s day. In a Christmas card to his family, Jason Coker wrote, “What’s happened to all those cards that just read ‘Merry Christmas’- maybe the Israelites burn them all during Chanheka (sic).” The family of Jason and Eric Coker sent the letters to the collection years ago. While two SU students have represented the twins annually since the attack, it took years to find and acknowledge the hate speech in the Cokers’ letters.

SU’s statement in response to the recent discovery did not do nearly enough to denounce the magnitude of the hate speech found in the letters. The statement, which read, “They were imperfect people, as we all were, who made mistakes,” fails to recognize what a swastika, and all antisemitism, actually means. The swastika is a symbol that represents racism and hatred toward several different cultures. It represents the mass genocide of six million Jewish people.

Drawing a swastika and using blatant antisemitic language was not a “mistake.” It was purposeful. Saying the Coker twins’ actions were “mistakes” is inaccurate and harmful. The Cokers’ letters are being preserved on campus, in SU’s Special Collections Research Center. Students, especially Remembrance Scholars, deserve to be informed about any hateful speech on campus to its full extent.

Remembrance scholars may no longer feel comfortable representing two people who were clearly antisemitic. The university should also acknowledge that other students who died on Pan Am Flight 103 could have had hateful biases of their own, and that Remembrance Scholars, especially those from marginalized communities, may feel uncomfortable representing students who they know very little about.

The Remembrance Program also fails to fully address the islamophobic reaction to the Pan Am Flight 103 attack. Following the explosion, media outlets and law enforcement immediately put suspicion on Khalid Naziir Jafaar, a 21-year-old Muslim student and passenger who died in the attack. The public harassed Khalid’s family, making them grieve the death of their son while the country called them terrorists.

The Remembrance Scholar Program’s mission is to “look back and act forward,” but it’s stuck in the past. It should remember the 270 passengers that passed away on the Pan Am flight rather than focus on 35 students who not everyone can personally connect with.

These antisemitic letters have been sitting in the SU archives for a long time, and would have remained there if someone didn’t find them. This is unacceptable. History can not be hidden and SU has a responsibility to the students to be transparent about the past.

The Daily Orange also has a complicated history, and has often been a source of harm on SU’s campus. Jason Coker’s actions contribute to that past. We condemn these actions, and acknowledge that we can never change them. But we will continue to tell important and inclusive stories and serve as a voice for all members of the university as well as the greater city of Syracuse.

DISCLAIMER: Emily Steinberger, Cori Dill, Ofentse Mokoka and Mira Berenbaum are members of the Remembrance Scholars program as well as past and present staffers of The Daily Orange. They attended the editorial board meeting to inform and advise the staff on the program.

The Daily Orange Editorial Board serves as the voice of the organization and aims to contribute the perspectives of students to discussions that concern Syracuse University and the greater Syracuse community. The editorial board’s stances are determined by a majority of its members. You can read more about the editorial board here. Are you interested in pitching a topic for the editorial board to discuss? Email [email protected].