-Caveat Lector- >Subject: BLACK ANTI-SEMITISM: IT'S REAL By ERIC FETTMAN > >NEW YORK POST --- OP-ED --- NOVEMBER 10, 1999 > >BLACK ANTI-SEMITISM: IT'S REAL >By ERIC FETTMAN > > JESSE Jackson came to town the other day to speak at Yeshiva University, >which was hosting a daylong conference on economic cooperation between >blacks and Jews. That he received a standing ovation was startling, as much >because of his past history with the Jewish community as for his actual >remarks that day. > >In calling for a resumption of the historic black-Jewish alliance of the >early civil-rights movement, Jackson took great pains to dismiss what has >remained a constant irritant in relations between the two communities. >Black >anti-Semitism, he claimed, "hardly exists" - unlike the dogma of Nazism, >Jackson contended, "there is no black philosophical anti-Semitic ideology." > >His bizarre argument continued: Anti-Semitic statements espoused by blacks >are strictly "personal," because hatred of Jews can only exist within the >context of anti-Semitism as "a worldview, [a] theology and a form of >idolatry." > >Asked about the rantings of Louis Farrakhan, Khalid Muhammad and Leonard >Jeffries, Jackson insisted that the attention paid them "is almost an >insult >because it disrespects our capacity to think and also ignores the structure >of our institutions." > >Actually, it does nothing of the kind. Sadly, anti-Semitism has long been >widespread in the black community: As far back as 1948, James Baldwin was >writing that "Georgia has the Negro [as a target of hatred]; Harlem has the >Jew." Few black leaders today will admit that black anti-Semitism exists - >or even disassociate from those who practice it. Instead, like Jackson, >most >angrily denounce those who raise the issue. > >"Anytime a black or Jewish group says something out of anger" - note: >anger, >not hatred - "the media takes it and runs with it and that becomes the >definition of who we are at that moment," Jackson told the Jewish Week's >Adam Dickter. > >Jackson himself tried to turn the tables on his critics back in 1984, when >he was quoted (by a black reporter) as having privately referred to Jews as >"Hymies" and New York as "Hymietown." For two weeks, he denied even having >made the remarks; finally he admitted it, offered a limp apology but >complained that he was "being taken advantage of." > >Black anti-Semitism remains a problem today because too many people who >indulge in its vitriol have risen to positions of leadership in the black >community. Their status and influence have not suffered one iota because of >the hatred they've spewed. On the contrary - Al Sharpton, who has labeled >Hasidim as "diamond dealers" and denounced the Jewish owner of Freddy's >Fashion Mart as "a white interloper" (while leading picketers who screamed >out their hatred of "bloodsucking Jews") is now courted by presidential >candidates. > >As for Louis Farrakhan, Jackson contends that his is "not the prevailing >view among black people." But that didn't stop the Congressional Black >Caucus from forging a "sacred covenant" with Farrakhan, citing his >"prestige" in the black community. According to the noted black academic >Henry Louis Gates Jr., Farrakhan's screed "The Secret Relationship Between >Blacks and Jews," which accuses Jews of dominating the African slave trade >"may well be one of the most influential books published in the black >community." In fact, adds Gates - one of the few prominent blacks willing >to >attack the subject head-on - anti-Semitism has become "a weapon in the >tragic battle of who will speak for black America." > >And yet people like Jackson remain reluctant to acknowledge that people >like >Farrakhan or Leonard Jeffries or rap artists or even Michael Jackson >(remember his "Sue me, Jew me, kike me" lyrics?) can be guilty of >anti-Semitism. > >Back in 1995, in the wake of the Freddy's Fashion Mart massacre, Jackson >was >asked about Sharpton's "interloper" remarks. "There is so much pain in >black >America," he said - not just refusing to hold the Rev to task for his >racial >language, but calling concern over it "a journalistic attempt to make a >long >story short." > >As Joyce Purnick lamented in a New York Times column, Jackson may have >denounced hate, but he would "not say who expressed the hate or what they >said." > >The sad part is that attempts at reconciliation remain, by and large, a >one-way street. Not a single black group co-sponsored the conference on >black-Jewish economic cooperation at which Jackson spoke. > >Michael Meyers, whose outspoken and courageous voice shares this space, >noted to the Long Island Jewish World that "the only group that's >interested >in black-Jewish relations is the Jews, not the blacks," adding: "I don't >see >the point in black-Jewish dialogue when Jews are sitting down with blacks >whose friends are their enemies." > >Happily, black-Jewish relations in New York have improved greatly since the >dark days of the Crown Heights riots. But the problem remains, and it won't >be solved if only people on one side genuinely reach out for rapprochement >while those on the other side stick their heads in the sand and refuse to >confront some basic realities. > >Copyright 1999 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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