Posted on 05/01/2018 7:57:11 PM PDT by SJackson
Why are positive messages of black empowerment tainted by antisemitic tropes? And why do they portray Jews, themselves reviled by white supremacists, as the ultimate symbol of whiteness? BY
Amiri Baraka. Louis Farrakhan. Kwame Ture. Leonard Jeffries. Tony Martin. Joy Karega. Tamika Mallory. Each one of them has a message of strength and empowerment for African-Americans that uses Jews or Israel as a contrasting example of corruption and evil. But responding to such rhetoric is complicated, in part because their messages also position Jews as the quintessential symbol of whiteness, racism and oppression. This can be particularly problematic when issues erupt on college and university campuses.
In a recent controversy, Kwame Zulu Shabazz, an interim professor in the African Studies department at Knox College in Illinois, took to Twitter to condemn Jewish profit-mongers and explain that contemporary Jews have malign intent toward others in the Middle East because the “brutal” God of the Hebrew Bible commanded Jews to commit genocide. While this type of rhetoric would not be out of place at a gathering of white supremacists, Shabazz has garnered support from both students and faculty who support his black nationalist views and dismiss any negative reaction to his views as an inconsequential reaction of coddled white students.
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According to an article in The Knox Student, Shabazz concurs with this assessment.
“Jews have aspired to whiteness, integrating into the white category,” he explained. “I’m writing as a black person who is a victim of white supremacy, of which Jews are a part of that group.”
In relation to his tweets, Shabazz explained, “There are currently a subset of Jewish students on this campus who are very hurt and I respect that. And I tell my white students this in classes: whenever a white student feels uncomfortable about something, you can get a fleeting sense, a very fleeting, superficial sense of what it’s like to be black in America.”
This type of incident has recurred for decades, and the pattern is, unfortunately, familiar. A black academic, public intellectual, or activist makes some sort of oral or written comment depicting Jews or Israel as white oppressors, often in terms that evoke historic antisemitic tropes or imagery and sometimes included as part of a message of empowerment. Spokespeople and organizations in the Jewish community react to what they see as the antisemitic content of the comment, and the generator of the comment (along with his or her supporters) then responds in one or more of the following ways:
• Denial of antisemitic effect or intent (sometimes accompanied by an apology, whether sincere or pro forma).
• Justification of the comment because Jews or Israel are white oppressors.
• Approbation of the original comment, even if it might be antisemitic, because it is “the truth.”
Jews in the mainstream speak out forcefully against the statement. Right-wing commentators are unabashedly condemnatory, while progressives are likely to hedge (“speaking as a liberal who supports affirmative action and understands the serious problems of structural racism, I oppose the recent statements of...). Others on the more progressive Left wish to rid themselves of the distraction of antisemitism by citing the more pressing need of communities of color. Admonitions to Jews of “check your privilege” and warnings not to make this issue about antisemitism inevitably follow.
On campuses, progressive students and students of color rally to the side of the accused. Some progressive Jewish students and faculty, loath to be pulled into the melee (even if they agree with the charges of antisemitism) because they do not want to be seen as opposing a left-wing coalition, disappear from the discourse. Those who do speak out can be subject to harassment and worse; in the case of Knox College, a crude and offensive graphic was slipped under the office door of the few Jewish professors who spoke out against the antisemitic content of Shabazz’s tweets.
Why are positive messages of black empowerment tainted by anti-Jewish and antisemitic tropes? And why do they portray Jews, who are themselves reviled by white supremacists, as the ultimate symbol of whiteness?
Shabazz and others use the negative aspects of black life in the United States as the central paradigm for measuring discrimination, prejudice and oppression. Consequently, any detail that contradicts this approved pattern must be deleted, ignored, explained away, or denied. And university and college officials are often reluctant to condemn the offending statements because they are afraid of provoking charges of racism and insensitivity to black issues and concerns. Legitimate Jewish concerns are often downplayed or ignored.
American Jews, although the majority are defined and identify as white, clearly do not fit neatly into the category of white oppressors for historical and contemporary reasons. The fact of the Holocaust, although it has been described dismissively in other instances as “white-on-white crime,” is that Jews were persecuted on the basis of race. White supremacists’ opposition to Jews is also based on the concept of Jews as a separate race. Thus, to force the example of American Jews – and, similarly, Israel – to follow the outlines of his explanatory paradigm, Shabazz and others are forced to resort to conspiracy theories, specious arguments, crude stereotypes and denial of basic factual information.
Analysts must continue to explain that while threats to Jews can be expressed through religious, ethnic and racial hatred that share characteristics with classic elements of racism, the more dangerous elements of antisemitism are the fantastical conspiracy theories, canards about disproportionate power and influence in government and the corporate world, and allegations that Jews reap financial gain through cheating others. Any individual who employs such theories should understand that Jews must combat these falsehoods because they have resulted in existential threats in the past, and no amount of security, affluence and comfort that contemporary Jews might experience – whether they live in Israel, the United States, France, or any country in the world – can erase that difficult, paradigm-shattering truth.
Be careful of the Lurk, who keeps on trying to edge people towards a specifically armed conflict. We need this on FR like we need a hole in the head.
I think Jews and whites have to be prepared for the hatred being organized against them.
For me I have four large shepherd breed dogs at home. I have car guns and CCW guns. My car guns are 30 round capacity and I have a grocery bag full of loaded magazines. At home I have various guns dispersed around the house. I won’t be caught off guard for more than a few seconds and then all hell would break loose.
There’s never a reason to wonder “WHY” about anything pertaining to the hate filled scum referenced in this article.
HATE FILLED SCUM IS “WHY”, NOTHING ELSE, NOTHING MORE.
If there is a comeback in America, it won’t be from people like the way you are now. You’re getting all ready for a gunbattle when the Lord plainly said not to fear those who can kill the body and do no more, but to fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.
If the giant government that we got now thanks to the incessant demands of the left wanted to sit on all ammo, it could. It certainly amassed an impressive quantity during the Obama years. I smell vain bravado. This is not the hill to try to die on.
America and Christian spirituality is like fish and water. That’s how America spawned. Lose the water, and it doesn’t matter if everyone is a piranha — the school will die.
Have I given any indication that I need to be EDGED towards such a conflict?
Oh, you are dashing that way already? Read my warning, above.
Bite me. It’s harder to be the one white in a huge room filled with blacks than the one black in a room filled with whites. (To the author not to you, SJ)
Who probably makes 100K a year. I wish I could be so “oppressed”.
Read your post and thought I’d had a blackout, and written it!...then I saw that there was no mention of tripwires.
Ya gotta be down wid da struggle in da hood.
I.e. assertion not germane. A tribal minded people isn’t going to live the way rugged individualists want to live.
I think it has to do with Soviet propaganda which always tried to foment clashes between Jews, whites and blacks, plus the muslim element from Malcolm X and Co. Some Jewish leftists insist that they’re NOT white, probably because having spent so much time in college, they know which way the wind is blowing.
I’ve done it, but in black churches of the more theologically orthodox persuasion.
The worst thing was hearing Donald Trump being used over and over as whipping boy, as though nobody there could be allowed to think about him in any other fashion. I eventually moved on.
In Europe, “race” means German, French, English. Over here, it refers to skin color.
The bulk of black-on crime isn’t on whites. It’s on blacks themselves. Y’all are busy building tripwires in places that blacks rarely go, unless they’re so called Uncle Toms who won’t give you trouble.
Blacks enraged at whites — blacks mostly burn down their own neighborhoods.
I never dash, but away. However, I’m more than just a firm BELIEVER in “NEVER AGAIN”, I’m prepared as best I can be. “NEVER AGAIN” does not mean triumph over evil, or even survival, it means never again WITHOUT A FIGHT, as sheep to slaughter. The Five Books of Moses, G-D’s Law, given to the Jewish people, to be adhered to without deviation to the right, or to the left, states specifically, that if someone is on there way to kill you, or your family, you are OBLIGATED to kill them FIRST. You might consider me a FUNDAMENTALIST, but I believe in that...so I keep the powder dry, and my self defense tools in good repair, and at hand...but I’ve been at war, so I’m never ever LOOKING for a fight, but if it’s going to be, let it be in my time, and be done with it.
There is MUCH EVIL in our society that needs to be excised, not tolerated, or ignored. Ya shake hands with the Devil, he don’t NEVER let go. I thought every RedNeck knew that?
Keep the Faith.
Um, why don’t you give us chapter and verse.
The Christian will at least attempt to stop the attacker before slaying him. That’s what propelled Christianity above Judaism as it is known now. Forgiveness where possible allowed societies to thrive better.
And.. your ideas about what a redneck should be (I say Jesus was the prime redneck) have given redneck a bad name.
I’m gonna send you a complimentary package of “Light Humor”, when it arrives, I want you to gobble it right down. Then drink a little water to wash it down.
BTW, back in the 60s I was the only white person at an all black party on a Saturday night in Philadelphia. I was there with an Army buddy of mine. Tell you what, THAT was an eye opener!
Are you saying you were just kidding? Doing that about the bible is weird at best.
The whole “white” thing is racist. I am now triggered for real by these forms. Everyone else gets a geographical description of their ancestry. We get a pasty color. How can you say that Irish, Israelis, Kazakhs, Armenians, Italians, Egyptians, etc are all the same?
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