African American

I think it was someone on the board who was talking about the anti-Semitism as a result of the synagogue shooting, and I started thinking of all of the things I'd heard about Jewish people in power and in control, and some of the worse things Farrakhan has said, and I decided to take a second look at the facts. what I found was a few things.

1.) The name-calling that Farrakhan engaged in was blatantly anti-Semitic.
2.) The assertions that Jews financed the slave trade have been proven false.
3.) There were some Jewish slumlords in New York and Chicago. Fact. But that's like saying there are some black criminals. Fact. It is anti-Semitic when you extrapolate. All slumlords are Jewish, or all Jewish landlords are slumlords. So you have to be aware of that line between fact and stereotyping.
4.) There were Jewish individuals in the entertainment industry who exploited black talent. Fact. It is anti-Semitic to extrapolate. EVERYBODY was exploiting us. Their religion doesn't matter.

I've spent the last 24 hours doing a lot of reading about this. Last night I went to bed with the apple pie fantasy that the relationship between blacks and Jews has historically been positive. And it hasn't been. There have been good things and bad things, wins and losses, collaborations and dissonances.

But I guess this is getting muddled. Let me try the chronology again.

A few months ago, I jumped on a woman who wouldn't say that being racist was a dealbreaker. In my mind, if someone you knew was a racist, you should confront them, and it might be necessary to end the relationship.

And then the synagogue shootings happened and I was reading about anti-Semitism. I thought about my prejudices. That Jews controlled the entertainment and media industries. And I did some research into them. And found out that there are definitely some wealthy Jewish people out there! 19 of Forbes top 40 Billionaires are Jewish. And what did this do to my prejudices? It didn't seem to help. So I googled around and finally found something that put things in perspective. I was taking facts and extrapolating. Some Jews are on the list. But not half and not all. So you can't say that Jews control everything. But more importantly, you can't say that all Jews do X or all Jews think X, based on 19 people. Or even if there are 140 Jews on Forbes' top 400 list. What about the other 260? Are you checking out their religion??? Nope. Thought not.

So, armed with this new perspective, I then confronted my views on Louis Farrakhan. I wouldn't say that i idolized him. But I tolerated him. And I came to realize that this made me a hypocrite. How could I condemn someone for accepting racist friends but still tolerate Farrakhan? Nope. Not acceptable.

That's where I was yesterday.

Today I find myself in a different space, and I think that as I continue to explore this, and I will, I'll have a more comprehensive view of this complicated dance between blacks and Jews that dates back over 100 years. And it is complicated. There have been Jewish people who did business with us at a time when other whites would not. Sometimes those business relationships were good, sometimes they were not. There have been Jewish people who were part of the entertainment world who hired black performers at a time when other whites would not. Sometimes the relationship was mutually beneficial, and sometimes it was exploitative. Al Jolson was Jewish. The Gershwin brothers who wrote Porgy and Bess could be said to have been exploiting black culture. There were Jewish people involved in the NAACP, the Urban League and SNCC. They were active participants, so they would have some influence.

It's complicated.

But what I have really come away with is that it is very, very important not to tar an entire group of people with the knowledge of the actions of a few. Money and power can lead to exploitation, and the religion of those involved is really irrelevant.

Above all, anti-Semitism in the black community is a problem. A big problem. For those with no college education, over 40% are aggressively anti-Semitic. Compared to 16% of all Americans.

I wanted to take a step toward ridding myself of a demon. I actually slept well last night. Tonight, not so sure. But I think I will put it together, and once I have it all in a coherent thought, I will write it down.