Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David M. Shribman, who grew up in Swampscott, will return to the North Shore next month to speak in Marblehead about tolerance, civil discourse and antisemitism in modern America.
Shribman will appear at Marblehead High School on May 6 for a presentation called “Portrayals of Antisemitism,” where he’ll be joined in conversation by David Meyer.
The program, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the MHS auditorium, is sponsored by the Marblehead Task Force Against Discrimination, Marblehead Public Schools, the Marblehead Ministerial Association and the Marblehead Police Department.
For decades, Shribman has covered American politics and public life for some of the country’s leading newspapers. He served as executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 2003 to 2019 and writes a nationally syndicated column in the United States while also contributing a column on American affairs for Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail.
He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for his coverage of Washington and the American political scene. As executive editor, he also led the Post-Gazette’s coverage of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre, which was later recognized with a Pulitzer Prize.
Though the topic of his remarks is still evolving, Shribman said he plans to reflect on the changing tone of American public life since he began reporting 50 years ago.
“When I started reporting, there were codes of civility that were unwritten but devoutly followed,” Shribman said. “You didn’t swear in public. You didn’t demean your opponent.”
He noted that even fierce political rivals often adhered to those norms.
“Even the biggest partisans Tip O’Neill and Gerald Ford hewed to that code, unwritten but unviolated,” he said.
Today, he said, that restraint has largely disappeared.
“And now, it’s no holds barred. We hear threats about destroying another civilization,” Shribman said.
Shribman, who lived in Swampscott from 1955 to 1972 and graduated from Swampscott High, said the erosion of civility has also affected how Americans discuss religion.
“The restraint that people have about talking about other people’s religion has been severed,” he said.
Reflecting on the rise in antisemitism, Shribman said the issue has become both more visible and more openly expressed.
“The coarseness of dialogue has made things that were unacceptable to be said — or thought — to be thought,” he said.
He said the increase in incidents has made the topic urgent for many communities.
“There’s been an astonishing increase in incidents,” he said.
Shribman believes open discussion remains essential.
“The more people see this phenomenon, the more they will deplore it,” he said. “That’s the hope.”
Shribman framed the moment as part of a long pattern in American history, in which the country repeatedly faces tests of its ideals.
“A country like ours is always in danger of abandoning its founding ideas and fondest hopes,” he said. We are always at a turning point. I’m hoping that 21st-century America is at a turning point and won’t turn toward hatred.”
Shribman said returning to the North Shore also brings personal memories. Growing up in Swampscott, he has attended more than 60 Thanksgiving football games between Swampscott and Marblehead.
“I’m always rooting on the wrong side,” he said.
