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Entrance to Louisiana College in Pineville, LA. Photo by Billy Hathorn/Creative Commons (AP) — Jewish people are protected by a law against racial discrimination in employment decisions, a federal magistrate judge has concluded in siding with a football coach suing a private Baptist college in Louisiana.
The nation’s highest court hasn’t defined what “race” means under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, U.S. Magistrate Mark Hornsby said in a court filing Friday. But he concluded that Jewish citizens have been treated as a racial or ethnic group entitled to the law’s protection against employment discrimination.
“Modern sociologists and anthropologists, especially with advancements in DNA studies, debate whether Judaism is a people, a religion, or both. There is no doubt, however, that many people have and continue to view being Jewish as a racial identity,” Hornsby wrote. Joshua Bonadona. Courtesy photo The magistrate issued his findings in a civil case football coach Joshua Bonadona filed against Louisiana College in February. Bonadona claims the college’s president, Rick Brewer, refused to approve his hiring because of what he allegedly called the applicant’s “Jewish blood.”
The magistrate recommends allowing Bonandona to continue pursuing his claim that the Pineville college racially discriminated against him because of his Jewish heritage.
An attorney for the college argued for dismissing the claim, saying Jewish ancestry doesn’t qualify as a protected “race” under federal law. Hornsby rejected this.
“America is no stranger to anti-Semitism, which is often rooted in prejudice against a person based on his heritage/ethnicity without regard to the person’s particular religious beliefs,” the magistrate wrote. “Jewish citizens have been excluded from certain clubs or neighborhoods, and they have been denied jobs and other opportunities based on the fact that they were Jewish, with no particular concern as to a given individual’s religious leanings.”
The college can ask a district court judge to review Hornsby’s recommendation before the court adopts it.
Bonadona’s attorney, James Bullman, said he hasn’t found another case in which a court has ruled that Jews are racially protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“This is precedent-setting,” he said.David Barkey, senior counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, […]