Published: 21 July 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
IN RECENT WEEKS, we have witnessed several anti-Semitic statements and postings by prominent black athletes and entertainers like DeSean Jackson, Stephen Jackson, Nick Cannon and Ice Cube. (All but Ice Cube have since apologised.)
These have unfolded in the shadow of an outpouring of diverse support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which has undertaken arguably the most significant struggle for racial justice of the past half century.
In fact, those spouting anti-Jewish rhetoric — as they employ ugly, well-worn, anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and power in the financial system and Hollywood, or about Jewish conspiracies for world domination — have often done so by suggesting that Jews, in particular, are responsible for the oppression of Blacks.
This has left many to wonder if we can find a way to talk simultaneously about both anti-Semitism and anti-Black racism.
We can — and we must.
What these recent incidents obscure all too easily is that, though they occupy largely contrasting positions in American life, the Jewish and Black communities are not as different from one another as they may seem.
African Americans, like NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Zach Banner, have strongly condemned the recent expressions of anti-Semitism in these very terms.
FULL STORY: Far more unites Black and Jewish Americans than divides them (CNN)
Retired NBA great Charles Barkley calls out Black celebrities for anti-Semitism (Times of Israel)
‘Y’all want racial equality. We all do. I don’t understand how insulting another group helps our cause,’ he says after several athletes, stars post anti-Jewish conspiracy theories
May his memory be a blessing: 4 lessons we can learn from civil rights hero John Lewis (JTA)
Despite recent anti-Semitic comments, Jews and Black people have long been allies (CNN)
Jews and slavery: the myths and the truth (Jewish Chronicle)
Widespread concern over anti-black racism has led some to regurgitate an old lie: that Jews were dominant in the slave trade
Photo: Bishop James Shannon, Rabbi Abraham Heschel, Dr. Martin Luther King and Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery on February 6, 1968
