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Columnist to Detroit Athletic Club: Remove the Swastikas

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Deadline Detroit Columnist Allan Lengel says it's time for the Detroit Athletic Club (DAC) to remove ceramic tiles in its grill room that have swastikas on them. The DAC's building, designed by a Jewish architect, Detroit legend Albert Kahn, went up in 1915, when the swastika was simply a Hindu symbol generally associated with good fortune.

Lengel, whose attempts at getting comment from the club yielded "no comments" all around, says it's time for the 128-year-old social club to get rid of the swastikas:

The Detroit Athletic Club on Madison Avenue in downtown Detroit needs to get rid of swastika tiles on the floor of the Grill Room on the first floor. As a Jew, I find them offensive, and I hope others would too -- members or nonmembers, regardless of religion or race. Early this year, prominent Detroit attorney and Dr Jack Kevorkian legal counsel Jeffrey Fieger accused the club of bias saying he was "saddened by the continuation of bigotry" when the DAC rejected his application. Read the rest of Lengel's column at Deadline Detroit.

·Lengel: Time for the Detroit Athletic Club to Remove its Swastikas [Deadline Detroit]
·Detroit Athletic Club [Detroit Historical Society]
·Fieger claims snub by Detroit Athletic Club [Detroit Free Press]