William Kunstler, the late civil rights lawyer, used to brag to his daughters, Emily and Sarah, that he was the only Jew in a youth street gang of Latinos and blacks.
Fueled by the values of his faith, Kunstler later commanded turf far beyond his neighborhood.
“The work that Bill did with the outcasts, the unpopular and the disenfranchised was to be a good Jew, continuing the Jewish tradition of standing up for the underdog,” Emily Kunstler said.
The Kunstler daughters have made a new documentary about their father, “William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe,” capturing his heroism and contradictions through news footage, home movies and personal reflection.
In a recent interview with the Forward, the two offered their take on how his heritage vaulted their father from private practice to public lightning rod. He represented Martin Luther King Jr. and the Chicago Seven, earning a reputation as a rabble-rouser who could carry freedom in his briefcase. He later defended the infamous, including mob kingpin John Gotti, the so-called Central Park Rapist and the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Vanity Fair called him the most hated lawyer in America.
Kunstler’s detour, from the vanguard of perceived righteousness to hand-holder of society’s underbelly, stemmed partly from belonging to a persecuted people, according to the filmmakers. Although he never spoke about antisemitism, his daughters are convinced that it steered his outlook.
The documentary chronicles his joining the 1960s anti-segregation crusade in the South as the first step in his radicalization. But his inclination took root in confronting restricted institutions years earlier. When he graduated from Columbia Law School, few opportunities awaited Jewish attorneys at the prestigious “white shoe” firms, Emily said, so he founded a practice with his brother.
“Being excluded in that way was in a sense liberating,” she continued. “It wasn’t an option to conform in the way it was for non-Jewish lawyers, so it may have been easier for him to make the choice to go south and join the civil rights movement.”
Kunstler grew up in New York City in a secular Jewish household, with German immigrant parents who were eager to assimilate. They celebrated Christmas as well as Jewish holidays.
Questions of faith shadowed him. He became a searcher, his daughters said, a connoisseur of all kinds of ceremonies. He took them to Sikh temples, Muslim mosques, Hindu temples and Catholic churches, “so we could make up our own mind,” Sarah Kunstler said.
The Kunstlers mostly celebrated Jewish holidays with the family of Kunstler’s second wife, Margaret Ratner Kunstler, who was a fellow attorney activist as well as Emily and Sarah’s mother. Margaret pushed Emily and Sarah to embrace Judaism more, and she searched for a local synagogue in Manhattan that did not preach Zionism, her daughters recalled. Meanwhile, their father had found religious sustenance in the Native American belief of the Great Spirit. It was the only theology that he ever seemed to embrace, they said. In 1973, Kunstler, already a polished showman with long hair and a gift for speechifying, arrived in South Dakota to support the American Indian Movement occupying Wounded Knee to demand that the American government honor its treaties.
Kunstler, who had been president of the American Civil Liberties Union, felt that he could achieve more if he was not seen primarily as a Jew, Sarah explained. “In his outward identity as an antiracist person, he really saw himself as a white man of privilege,” she said. “That was his identity. He thought he needed to acknowledge that privilege to fight against racism.”
But Kunstler was often reminded of his ancestry. David Duke, a future Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and Louisiana politician, famously greeted Kunstler at a 1970 New Orleans court appearance, with a sign that read, “Kunstler is a Communist Jew.” Duke wore a Nazi uniform.
When Kunstler took up the case of El Sayyid Nosair, the accused assassin of militant leader Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Jewish Defense Organization picketed outside his brownstone in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan. Protesters called him a self-hating Jew. On camera, Kunstler jokes that there is no Jew he loves more than himself. “He had a sense of humor about the whole thing,” Emily said. “He didn’t understand how the defense of his clients had anything to do with Judaism.”
Bullets arrived in the mail as his clientele leaned toward the notorious. While Emily and Sarah played in another part of the house, Kunstler opened his mail in a separate office in case it exploded. The girls begged him to avoid certain cases and could never understand why he would persist. They surmise in the film that he wanted to believe that even the pariahs were innocent. But the documentary works better as a warts-and-all hug than as a stab at really understanding the man behind the lawyer show.
“Disturbing the Universe” reminds viewers that both Kunstler’s idealism and flamboyance exacted a cost. Kunstler once believed in his heart that the ill-fated prisoners with whom he huddled during the 1971 riots at the Attica Correctional Facility would receive amnesty for their rebellion, according to the movie. That same man later turned into a craver of celebrity, a defender of the indefensible, critics said. He died at age 76 in September 1995, chasing controversy to the end. His client at the time of his passing was Omar Abdel-Rahman, better known as the Blind Sheikh, who was later found guilty of planning the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
The uncomfortable spectacle of a Jew advocating for a sworn enemy of the Jewish people is examined in the film less than it could have been. The Kunstler daughters said they debated beforehand whether to touch more on their father’s relationship to Judaism but were at a loss on how to do it. The issue festered even after they finished the documentary.
“It’s a real tragedy in our lives and in our relationship with him that he didn’t share more Judaism with us,” Sarah said. “It wasn’t something he discussed.”
But they are convinced that being Jewish helped mold their father into a force to improve society.
“His Judaism was his lifelong philosophy to fight for social justice,” Emily said. “It was the most important thing to him.”
Ron Dicker is a New York-based freelance writer.
Watch the trailer for “Disturbing the Universe” below:
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As I remember Kunstler, when asked what he thought of the genocide being carried out by Pol Pot's communist Kmer Rouge regime in Cambodia said - I never critisize a socialist county. If he was an adult during th 30's and 40's you can bet he would have been supporting Stalin. He was quite a piece of work!
Fortunately his daughters are obviously busying themselves with making unwatched documentaries so they won't cause as much damage as their father
Give me a break, the guy was an asshole of truly epic proportions.
The absence of any explicit discussion of Kunstler's Jewishness in the film is glaring. To clarify, in the film, Kunstler is accused of "self-hatred" (the word Jew is not used) and he responds that there is "no ONE I love more than myself." There was not even a nod to the role played by American Jews in the civil rights movement. Why is it that the daughters feel comfortable discussing his Jewish identity explicitly in an interview and not on screen? Is the implication that film can't be used to discuss complicated issues? My impression is that their reluctance to integrate it into the film says more about THEIR issues with Jewish identity than their father's.
>I never critisize a socialist county.
Just like Zionists never criticize Israel.
Norman, obviously you have never visited the Knesset.
There have been links drawn by anti-terrorist investigations between Kunstler's case of El Sayyid Nosair, the accused assassin of militant leader Rabbi Meir Kahane, and Osama Bin Ladin and what follows from him. Would Kunstler have supported Bin Ladin? We do not know but his track record with Pol Pot does not bode well. Sad that the Forward honors him with this article. Not only does he advocate "for a sworn enemy of the Jewish people" but he advocates or at least refuses to criticize genocidal murderers and terrorists.
I was waiting in line at McDonald's(6th Ave & W3rd SSt) with my then 4 yr old son. When we got to the front of the line, we were told they were out of Happy Meals(chicken nuggets). Upon hearing this, my son burst into tears, crying aloud at his frustration. In all of McDonald's I heard a lone voice, calling out, "Little boy, Little boy,why are you crying?" I looked toward the voice, and recognized William Kunstler asking. I told him that they were all out of Happy Meals, and looking towards his table with his daughters, said, "I'm Sorry." I told him that it was okay 'cos I was going to go to another Mcdonald's to get his Happy Meal. I've never forgotten that he cared about this strange boy who was crying. Kunstler to the rescue for my son!!! I think Kunstler stood for civil liberties for everyone. He advocates for justice, which is what Judaism stands for ...equal justice for all.
Disagree that Kunstler was an asshole nor do I see that talking about him on this site indicates he's being "honored" here. But keep posting, folks ... a lot of "good stuff" here (i.e., issues to discuss) and on a personally partly restricted day, finding substantive discussions online helps keep me (hoping to be) sane.
P.S. Judy: THANK YOU! [Just now found your post.]
Norman doesn't know anything about the reality of life in Israel. He just assumes that those who criticize Israel are anti-Zionists (like himself) - and hence he doesn't notice the very intense self-criticism of pro-Israel people (people who criticize Israel because they wish her well). Ha-Aretz newspaper, criticizing Israeli society from a leftist perspective, is a newspaper whose very name reveals its Zionist roots. By the way, anti-Zionist people are not "critical" of Israel. If you would feel that my very existence on this earth is absolutely wrong, then obviously your "criticism" of my bad driving skills is just a way of expressing animosity. Improving my driving won't change your hostility, nor would you ever recognize that my driving has changed. On the other hand, Norman's attitude towards Hamas is one of true criticism, because he indeed wishes it well in the struggle against Israel.
About a year after the riot at Attica, I went to a lecture by Kunstler regarding the riot. He stated that since the prisoners didn't have any power it was okay to kill the guards. I question it and was booed. Some champion of justice. I met enough liberals to realize what hypocrites they are.
What is rarely mentioned for one of the reasons that Kunstler began defending such unsavory clients is that the sort of noble civil rights, prisoner, Chicago Seven, radical Indian clients were far and few between in the Reagen & post-reagan era. Kunstler had a private practice and a young family to support -- what was he going to do --co-op closings? It is sad that he traded on hisold reputation to defend such questionable characters. The low point was his "black rage" defense of LIRR kilelr Colin fergueson. Thank Goodness, Feguseon was such a nut that he chose to defend himself.
What ever happened to civil discourse ? Yes,Mr Kunstler said and sad to say did things that I can't support; however,he is dead,so why the name calling and hatred? These comments should not even be published. Just say he was wrong and why,but leave out the "traitor","self hating Jew" and "ass hole"comments. There is a reason why writing a letter is often preferable to an e-mail e.g. any one can push send,but it takes thoughtfulness to express a valid point of view.
If it wasnt for Kunstler and his henchman Kuby, 9/11 wouldnt have happened. The acquittal of El Sayyid Nosair prevented an adequate investigation of the Jersey City Islamist networks which were vital for the planning of 9/11. Instead of owing a debt to Kunstler, maybe his family onws a debt to the widows and children killed by the 9/11 Nineteen
My friends, let's keep this one Forward, thank you.
Adam blamed his wife when G-D confronted him from sinning...read Gen.3. But G-D did not accept his excuse, nor will G-D accept ours.
Regardless of what others do we are to respond in a G-D like manner. We are as G-D calls us a stiffneck people, we do not look down to see were we just walked. We step in it all the time. SIN!
Are you better if you pay evil for evil. Sin is sin, there is no big sin or little sin....one sin brought all of mankind---death. Are lives here are given us to turn, so that we can return to G-D. The path is very narrow and not many take it. The road that leads us in turning again to G-D. G-D'S children are trying to over come evil with good.
You may feel that you have suffered or others have grievous wounds and desire revenge for your self or others. But nevertheless, G-D warns us who avenges is not us. For it is written....Ps. 94...O LORD G-D, to whom vengeance belongeth; O G-D, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
Psalm 94...The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
Our G-D forgives, and G-D knows all thing...he can enter in a man's heart...and mind....to judge. Remember David, had the heart of G-D. but David sinned, a man met his death, by the actions David took to obtain his wife. David, turned form sin and sinnful people read Ps. 101:1-8 were David put sin our of his life and all around him. Be G-D'S children let these people have peace...and repay evil for good.
Like a stopped clock, Kunstler may have been right on occasion, BUT the man casued a LOT more harm than good.
The greatest thing he did, though, was crossing the River Styx to Hell, to be with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg----two other Jews who disgraced our people.
If it makes his daughters feel better to claim what is not entirely correct, who am I to rain on their psychological parade?...but the man caused GREAT damage to society and America
Hymie Zoltsveis, my friend,
It is written the Mercy and Judgments of the LORD...make note: my friend that G-D chose ...."MERCY" to be the word before 'JUDGMENTS".
For it is written...Psalm 101...I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.
I will behave myself wisely-- in-- a *perfect* way. (have any of us done this, this is one that heart belongs to G-D alone) O when wilt thou come unto me? (the breath of the Almighty that gives us our second breath, life above as well as below, the covenant of heaven and earth, night and day.).....Ps. 101....I will walk within my house with a *perfect heart*. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: (TV,eyes and ears the windows to your heart and mind) ....I hate the work of them that TURN ASIDE; it shall not cleave to me. ( what do all of us have cleave to, what sin, or sinners)
A forward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.
whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and proud heart will not I suffer.
Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a "perfect way," he shall I serve me.
He that wortheth deceit shll not dwell within my house: he that elleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.
In the next chapter of Psalm...102 is a pray for the afficted when one is over whelmed...... Sins of mankind upon the face of this earth and what mankind does in the name of G-D.
This is David writting this for us----TODAY.
For it is written.....This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. Note: WHICH SHALL BE CREATED SHALL PRAISE THE LORD.
For it is written....Job 33 The Spirit of G-D made me(below, flesh, death) but the breath of the Almighty gives me life.(above, a child is given Us(G-D) to us a son is brought forth Ps.2 the declared decree, for us to be created again in the mirror image of our G-D. Man. Man was made both male and female. G-D asks of all of us...."SET ME AS A SEAL UPON YOUR HEART". We when we put sin out like David will cry Father Saviour, my Redeemer. we will then walk with G-D, as our fathers before us Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.