Jews and the Black Community

Finally had a chance to watch parts 2 and 3 of the PBS show,The Jewish Americans, last night. Fantastic.  From Tin Pan Alley, to the Catskills, to stand up comedians, to WW2, to Jewish soldiers who fought in the war and helped to liberate the concentration camps and the way they felt when they were greeted by the skeletal European Jews they liberated, to Soviet Jewry, to relations with the African American community - it covered a lot of ground.

Jews felt a tremendous sense of betrayal and sadness when they began to be shunned by the black community as the Black Power movement of the late 60s came into being.  After having felt so close to the black American experience, and having marched along side blacks in their demand for equality, risking their own safety in what was, in those days, an extremely antisemitic south - many were stunned to have been rejected.

I was pleased to have been able to find the following clip on YouTube about Julius Lester.  He'd been a radio show host in NY and in 1968 read an antisemitic poem on the air as an illustration of how negative things had become between blacks and Jews after a long and increasingly hostile confrontation between Jewish teachers and the black community of Ocean Hill-Brownsville, NY. Lester was accused of being antisemitic for having read the poem on the air.

In a surprise twist, he later ended up discovering that his great grandfather was a German Jew, and converted to Judaism. Very interesting and moving:

In the place and time where I grew up (Westchester County, NY, 1960s and 70s) blacks were pretty hostile to the Jewish population, considering them to be part of the white community at which they were very angry. The black students were tough - much tougher than we were - and they'd shake us down for money, tease and taunt us.  Everyone seemed to think all Jews had money, and some in Westchester County certainly did, but I wasn't one of them.   

Lester explained that blacks didn't realize that due to the antisemitism of the 1930s and 1940s, (fully half of the white population held deeply antisemitic views at that time) American Jews didn't consider themselves to be part of white America. Blacks somehow didn't know about antisemitism or Jewish suffering, didn't realize that the great majority of the white people marching along with them in support in the 60s were Jews until much later. Or perhaps, they simply couldn't see past the white skin.

Things have changed.  We're all part of the same America now.  Racism and antisemitism have receeded, but some memories hold on.  Some Jews are still upset by past rejection from the black community and some are not at all happy about the current criticism of Israel by some black leaders nor the overt statements of antisemitism from Louis Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson.  From Wikipedia:

Jackson has been criticized for some of the remarks he has made about Jews and Jewish issues. Most infamously, Jackson referred to Jews as "Hymies" and to New York City as "Hymietown" in January 1984 during a conversation with Washington Post reporter Milton Coleman. Jackson at first denied the remarks, then accused Jews of conspiring to defeat him. The Nation of Islam's radical leader Louis Farrakhan, an aggressive anti-Semite, threatened Coleman in a radio broadcast and issuing a public warning to Jews, made in Jackson's presence: "If you harm this brother [Jackson], it will be the last one you harm." Finally, Jackson apologized during a speech before national Jewish leaders in a Manchester, New Hampshire synagogue. Yet Jackson refused to denounce Farrakhan, and continuing suspicions have led to an enduring split between Jackson and many Jews.^[28] Among Jackson's other remarks were that Richard Nixon was less attentive to poverty in the U.S. because "four out of five [of Nixon's top advisors] are German Jews and their priorities are on Europe and Asia"; that he was "sick and tired of hearing about the Holocaust"; and that there are "very few Jewish reporters that have the capacity to be objective about Arab affairs". Jackson has since apologized and was invited to speak in support of Al Gore and Joe Lieberman at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.^[29]

Barack Obama, if he should become president, will shoulder grave responsibilities in many areas. Fostering improved relations between black Americans and Jews will be one of them. For the most part, on an every day basis problems between blacks and Jews are few, and most Jews are still very supportive of the black community. Politics tends to widen polarization and magnify differences. However, if Obama were to win the election, a potential flashpoint focused on Middle East issues could cause problems to worsen. Jews won't sit back and be silent, blacks will be protective of Obama - it has the potential to get ugly.

In any event, hearing Julius Lester sing Sim Shalom was very moving, and his conversion to Judaism is emblematic of a very important principal that I try very hard, but don't always succeed in remembering: Things are not always what they seem. 

This, of course, can be interpreted in more ways than one.