Movie fans should recognize this line from Cool Hand Luke: “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”
Such a sentiment aptly describes relations between the Black and Jewish communities, as Rodney Muhammad, president of Philadelphia’s NAACP chapter, touched off a new round of recriminations last Friday when he shared a meme that depicted an anti-Semitic cartoon next to photos of Black celebrities who were recently assailed for their own allegedly anti-Semitic comments.
American Jews certainly have issues with the African-American community, and personal experience in part convinces me that Black people have some understandable concerns with Jews. Both groups have their share of bigots – anti-Semitic Blacks and racist Jews. However, some of these issues amount to misconceptions that can be readily cleared up by overcoming “our failure to communicate.”
Muhammad’s post included a caricature of a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke and pressing a large, be-jewelled hand down on a faceless mass of people, according to the Billy Penn website. Similar caricatures trace back to before the Holocaust and were used to depict Jews as a force of greed and oppression.
Next to the image was a quote falsely attributed to French philosopher Voltaire: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”
The post immediately triggered attacks from both Black and Jewish leaders, and the reaction intensified on Tuesday with a conference call in which 13 community leaders urged him to apologize with some of them demanding his resignation. Gov. Tom Wolf was among those who called for Muhammad to quit or be removed, according to NBC10.
Accusations I have heard from African-Americans have been worded in crude ways, such as a “Jew war” and Muhammad’s twisted semantics. There is legitimacy in some of their remarks, but Muhammad’s are not among them. Some African-Americans are probably rigid in their anti-Semitism, but I think most who criticize the Jewish people are plainly misguided and capable of reconsidering their opinions.
The phrase “Jew war” makes it obvious that some Black critics believe we are waging wars in the Middle East at the urging of Jews to protect Israel, and it is young Black people barely out of high school who are among those who risk their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan as their escape from urban slums.
Among the counter-arguments, the most essential one is that the vast majority of Jews probably opposed the invasion of Iraq, perhaps the American government’s most disastrous act in modern times. They need to understand that on average 75 percent of Jews vote for Democratic presidential candidates.
If Jewish voters wanted America’s occupation of Iraq, wouldn’t Jews vote Republican? The vast majority voted for Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Not only that, but most states and congressional districts comprised of sizeable Jewish populations are represented by Democrats. New York and California (with 1.5 million and 1 million Jews, respectively) are represented by Democrats in the Senate. Democrats represent most congressional districts in New York City and its suburbs, Los Angeles and southern Florida.
These choices also mean that most American Jews seek the same kinds of liberal social policies as do Black voters – expanded health-care coverage, better schools, gun control, poverty reduction and environmental protection.
Members of racial minority groups also complain about the money spent on Israel while the federal government ignores the needs of the poor. True, so why is that?
That is because both political parties support Israel and only one party presses anti-poverty policies. The other party routinely blocks liberal legislation and even tries to undo existing social programs. Democrats have limited powers here, particularly when Republicans control the Senate and the White House.
It is absurd when advocates for the Palestinians spread stories that Israelis oppress the Palestinians just as White society oppresses African-Americans. No comparison. The Black community wants justice, extremist Arabs who control much of the agenda want to destroy Israel.
Israel-bashing fuels Jewish anger toward those who level baseless accusations against Israel, which includes some African-Americans as well as other supporters of the Palestinians. Fact-based criticism deserves to be taken seriously, but not sweeping claims unsupported by evidence.
What has enraged some Jews was the May 30 pogrom when protesters rampaged through the heavily Jewish Fairfax neighborhood in Los Angeles where they damaged businesses and vandalized synagogues and other Jewish institutions. Demonstrators acting under Black Lives Matter sponsorship might not have intended the incident to be anti-Semitic, but it amounted to a pogrom.
Violence and looting in general during protests over George Floyd’s death was condemned by most Americans. In Philadelphia, Jews owned some of the damaged businesses.
Then there are the Rodney Muhammads of the world. Black people in America are “not allowed to criticize” the Jews? The First Amendment says different. Besides, Muhammad does not criticize. He demonizes.
One ridiculous mistake was to engage in disputes over the name Black Lives Matter. When others make plays on the name, why bother to argue? All it does is distract from the crucial issues that created it.
These shortcomings are an affront to the way of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and all the other brave activists who readily earned the respect of sympathetic Whites. They kept their eyes on the ball and did not diverge into murky issues.
There are other issues on both sides, but these are the major ones that I can see.
That Muhammad posted the meme on the day that funeral arrangements for U.S. Rep. John R. Lewis commenced was especially shameful. To claim his rights as a citizen, Lewis nearly sacrificed his life 55 years ago when state police clubbed him as he attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala.
Lewis went on to build bridges between people as a civil rights activist and congressman from Atlanta. Rodney Muhammad’s idea of honoring him is to burn bridges.