Uncommon Ground:
In a recent issue of Reform Judaism magazine, Coretta Scott
King, the widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King,
Jr., and the current president of the Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Center for Nonviolent Social Change, condemned Black
anti-Semitism and the growing rift that it is causing between
the Black and Jewish communities:
Jewish Americans provided strong support and often
encouraged sacrifices for the cause of racial equality during
the civil rights movement. They suffered threats, beatings,
and jailing alongside their Black brothers and sisters.... As
far as I am concerned, any African-American who betrays this
noble heritage of solidarity to wallow in the vile shadows of
anti-Semitism is a puppet of the Klan and other hate groups
who spout the same venom. Both preach a toxic creed of
bigotry, intolerance, and prejudice. Both depend on ignorance
and fear for their survival.
But when organizations like the Black African Holocaust
Council spew the anti-Semitic propaganda of white supremacy,
altering it only in their removal of all anti-Black
components, they can no longer be classified as mere
"puppet[s]." By regurgitating the hate speech and conspiracy
theories of Neo-Nazis, these groups are knowingly feeding
"tried-and-true" anti-Semitism to their supporters. And as
ludicrous as these theories may appear to most, for those
individuals who view themselves as victims and who wish to pin
the blame on someone else, they are all too appealing.
It is offensive that fifty years after the liberation of
Europe from the Nazis, Americans must still confront neo-Nazi
propaganda, neo-Nazi beliefs, from fellow Americans. That some
African-Americans -- themselves the objects of so much mean
prejudice and oppression -- would now become the vehicle for
expressions of ignorance that are racist, anti-democratic, and
pernicious at their core exceeds offensiveness; it is an
outrage.
The extremism highlighted by this report presents to all
Americans opposed to racism and bigotry a sizeable
responsibility: to be ever-vigilant as to the dangers that
arise when haters unite.
The
original plaintext version
of this file is available via
ftp.
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Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
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The Black African Holocaust Council
and Other Links Between
Black and White Extremists
Conclusion