Apparently Lani is a self-hating pro-Palestinian Jew that blames Israel before the Arabs, as well as a man hating feminazi.
Here's some more drivel from her:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner_qa/default.jsp?story=n.QA.0412w
Collecting voices for tolerance
Though the horrors are still fresh, people may one day forget the terror of the Holocaust. As founder and director of the Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project from 1981 to 1997, Lani Silver helped guard against that by interviewing 1,400 local survivors, ensuring their experiences would not be lost. Silver talks about the importance of oral histories, the problems in the Middle East and her current fight against racism.
Dan Evans: You started doing Holocaust interviews in 1981?
Lani Silver: Correct.
Q: Why?
A: I was hired to teach at San Francisco State in 1974, and was teaching political science and women's studies. In 1981, I was in Jerusalem and went to the first Holocaust survivors conference. For four or five days, I sat at a table and interviewed 50 survivors. It changed my life, in part because none of them had their stories recorded before. I wrote to 200 magazines and asked them if they wanted a story about this. After I got my 200th rejection, I started the project.
Q: Why are oral histories important?
A: To memorialize the people who perished, for one. Also, I feel that survivors look 10 years younger after they tell their stories. Historians need what we can provide. We give portraits of lost villages, names of SS members, information that is not available anymore. We're historians. We are capturing this for the future.
Q: How reliable are your subjects' memories?
A: I think they are incredibly reliable.
Q: Why do you think so?
A: When you've seen a baby thrown in the air and bayoneted, you just don't forget.
Q: You worked with Steven Spielberg on his oral history project. How did that come about?
A: The phone rang. I was having a hard time raising money, and payroll was due in three days. I was very sad that night. The phone call was from Steven Spielberg's office, who told me they were starting a project like mine. They asked me to be their first consultant.
It was the most important phone call of my life. Within one minute, I knew my life's work was complete. We were successful in getting the oral histories from people living in San Francisco and in a couple of other places, but nowhere else.
Q: That happened in 1995?
A: Yes, it was about seven years ago. Now, Spielberg has completed 53,000 oral histories. The Holocaust is hard to face. Holocaust work is hard work. When Spielberg came along it was a miracle, because every survivor that wanted to could tell his or her story.
Q: What have you been doing since 1995?
A: Three years ago, I heard of the death of James Byrd Jr. , who was dragged through Jasper, Texas. Last year, I was asked by the Byrd family to help run the oral history project. We've done 100 interviews with San Francisco eighth-graders and San Francisco State students. We're asking people to tell about the impact of racism on their lives.
Q: You're asking the same thing of both middle schoolers and college students?
A: Yes.
Q: Are you finding similar responses?
A: Yes. Most people tell similar stories. Name calling, the ways people are raised, things of that sort. Racism is the biggest problem in the world. If everyone did one hour a week, or a month, to end racism, we could bring peace to the Middle East.
Q: How does creating an oral history combat racism?
A: It provides information to scholars who study it. We're starting to show the mechanism of racism, how it works. When people talk about their lives, it shows what they're going through and how they react. If people think more about it, they'll be more inspired to do something.
For example, I'll say to my students at the end of a class: How can we end racism? At first, people say there is nothing we can do. So, I respond, for five minutes, pretend you're the president. Time and time again, people get excited, and they list so many good ideas. This last set of students suggested a workshop on racism, offering extra credit for going. We could have people apologize to people they've offended, they say, we could think before we act. We could make signs that say "No to Racism," we could make better laws, or write more letters to the editor.
Q: Will that really work?
A: We have to try. We have to end racism and genocide. If it can happen, it can happen here. Nothing makes me happier than being a native San Franciscan.
Q: But there's still a problem here. What do you make of that?
A: There are still problems with racism, but San Francisco is the leading city in the world for combating it.
Q: What is San Francisco doing that other cities aren't?
A: We always vote more. We vote against the machine. We're a courageous group. We don't want to be told how to vote. We're liberal and open-minded.
Q: If you're conservative, does that makes you a racist?
A: That's a great question. It's more likely, yes. There is a difference between liberals and conservatives. Conservatives probably aren't working as hard as others to end racism. You need to be working harder. This is a hard-working city.
Q: That sounds like a pretty harsh, and maybe unfair, statement to me.
A: I'm not tying conservatism to racism. But if you're conservative you're less likely to be fighting for social justice. San Franciscans are the most politically active people in the world. We stand up for human rights here. If anyone is going to do anything about the genocide in Borneo, for instance, it would be San Franciscans.
Q: What do you think of the anti-Israeli protesters at Berkeley equating the actions against Palestinians to the Holocaust?
A: I hate that. I hate the equation of Israel to Hitler. I think that both sides are out of control. I love Israel and I have always been for Palestinian rights, and for a Palestinian state. I think that Ariel Sharon's settlement policies are monstrous. On the other side, I would like the Arab leaders to say that terrorists will not be met by 70 virgins.
Q: Are the policies of Yasser Arafat monstrous as well?
A: Oh yes. He is speaking about peace on one hand, and we're finding his invoices for bomb-making equipment on the other. I'm very depressed. Israel needs to give up the settlements in the West Bank, or there will never be peace.
Q: Is anti-Semitism increasing?
A: Yes. It's a hard time for Jewish community activists now. It's hard when I wake up every morning and see a newspaper basically saying, "F*** Jews." The protests, the suicide bombings, everything. Every Jew I know except Sharon is wonderful. Something like 73 percent of the Jews in Israel said they want to give up the settlements. They need to find a leader that will do what they want. Right-wing leaders do not listen to their constituents.