Skiaddict – I would suggest that if you do not know the facts, you should not comment because others may use your incorrect information as fact. I have heard just the opposite. That the problem is if you have a capital case and the defendant is Jewish, and he is convicted, it is a problem because we cannot condemn another Jew outside of bais din. I do not know which it is for sure but I would not make a definitive statement about it.
Secondly, Grand Jury is entirely different from regular jury. Excuses like “I hate blacks, muslims, police etc…” do not work because you are not deciding on guilt or innocence, only whether the case should go to trial. I know this because I just served recently. I had the two week service, which is every day as opposed to the longer duration which meets only twice a week. The first thing they said is that they do not care if you are biased so don’t even bother with that excuse. I tried to explain that I am a small business owner and the only person in the company and could not just close for two weeks. You know what I was told? “You will just need to make other arrangements”. The bottom line is, unless you cannot speak/understand English or you are a primary caregiver (that you have small kids at home), you will probably not be able to get out of it. I’m not sure if they care that you will miss school. The only positive I can mention is that there is a lot of free time when you serve. You may only hear an hour of actual testimony all day because it depends on when they can bring in the witnesses.
Anyhow, the best of luck, I hope you can work around it