OPINION
Ely
“We need to defeat bad speech with good speech.”
Dr Zuhdi Jasser, American Islamic Forum For Democracy
Dr Jasser, who is a Muslim reformist, made the statement in response to the virulent antisemitism that is flourishing across America and the world.
It’s perplexing that there is a high degree of antisemitism within the black community in America. The question is, why? You would think that a shared history of persecution in both the Jewish and black communities would bring the two communities together. Also, Jews were at the forefront of the civil rights movement.
The 1988 movie Mississippi Burning, starring Gene Hackman, was based on the real-life murder in 1964 of three civil rights workers, two of them Jewish. The KKK was prominent in Mississippi in those days, so Jews and blacks were targets. This seems lost on some in the black community.
In a 1998 survey, Blacks (34% of them) were nearly four times as likely as Whites (9% of them) to give answers that identified them as belonging in the most antisemitic category (those blacks who agreed with at least 6 out of 11 statements that were potentially or clearly antisemitic). Among Blacks with no college education, 43% of them responded as the most antisemitic group (vs. 18% of the general population). This percentage fell to 27% among Blacks with some college education and 18% among Blacks with a four-year college degree (vs. 5% for the general population).
So, the ‘new’ antisemitism dates way back. Charges of Jewish conspiracy, Jews in control of the media, politics, entertainment, the money world — all of that dates back way back. The trope that Jews control the world is prevalent. oYet, as Professor Ilana Horowitz, one of the survey’s reviewers and an assistant professor of Jewish studies at Tulane University, stated, Kanye West has more Instagram followers than there are Jews in America.
The dramatic increase in black antisemitism did not start with the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians. Americans Against Antisemitism (AAA) released a report revealing that 97% of hate crimes against Jews in New York between 2018 and 2022 were committed by other minorities. Of those, 69% of the perpetrators were black.
The BLM movement in 2020 saw violence directed at whites in general, but Jews were specifically targeted, along with Asians. We had orthodox Jews attacked in New York with random one-punch assaults or groups of teenagers engaged in such attacks.
Unfortunately, much of this is fueled by race hustlers in the black community who engage in despicable antisemitic rants which fuel hatred and violence against Jews. Some claim to be religious leaders like Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam. He’s made comments such as, “Fight Satan the arch deceiver [and] the imposter Jews who are worthy of the chastisement of God.”
Professor Cornel West, now a presidential candidate, held up a banner in a recent protest depicting Zionism as a snake. I’m sure he doesn’t influence his students with his rhetoric––students that are already in the anti-colonial, white hatred camp?
Then there’s Kanye West, who’s best mates with Trump and had easy access to the White House, stating the following.
“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
Surveys show that those blacks who commit the most crimes are those in the lowest socio-economic groups, but why are Jews specifically targeted? Well, it’s been the same throughout history. Jews, despite their small numbers, on a per capita basis, have been highly successful in the arts, sciences and business world. In the Middle Ages, they overcame persecution, and one way was to channel their circumstances as successful merchants. Despite Jews often being the victims, they don’t dwell on victimhood. Unfortunately, the focus of many in the black population is on victimhood. Every group has been victimized at some point in history, but ultimately one has to move on.
If blacks resent the success that Jews have, then they should focus on how to become more successful. Amazingly, you have black athletes, some of whom earn more than 100 million dollars, but that doesn’t seem enough. Many blacks are successful in politics, business, music, the legal profession, medicine and many other pursuits, so there is no excuse for playing the victim.
Racism against blacks in America is long gone. However, there has merely been a reversal now: racism directed at whites and specifically at Jews. Apparently, many people are okay with this regression.