Louis Farrakhan

[qwlauren35]

When I was in my 20's and 30's, going to hear Louis Farrakhan speak was a big deal. His was the voice of power and possibility. And the voice of the worst anti-semitism in our community. It never occurred to me that I was allowing his vitriol to affect me. That a part of me thought that some of what he was saying might be true, that maybe there was a conspiracy, that maybe the Jews financed the slave trade, that maybe Jews controlled the media.

With the attack on the synagogue today, I am re-thinking the reality of my own anti-Semitism. And it's there. Farrakhan planted seeds of hatred and intolerance, and I did not reject them. I did not reject HIM.

I remember when Obama distanced himself from his preacher. I did not understand it at the time. But I see it now. If you have to put someone else down in order to build up your people, something is wrong. If you have to put whites down in order to build blacks up, something is wrong. If you have to put Jews down in order to build blacks up, something is wrong. Not all whites are racist. Not all Jews are rich, and they definitely don't control everything.

Today, I am rejecting Louis Farrakhan. It is very hard, and very necessary. I think he has probably done a lot of damage. i have no idea how many people like me heard his ugliness, and said "there may be a grain of truth", instead of rejecting it, recognizing it as twisted and ugly and WRONG.

Maybe I am the only one here that ever looked up to Farrakhan. If so, more power to you all for rejecting him. But if you got sucked in the way I did, please examine whether you could have been poisoned.

[GWC58]

1. This took courage and I

you, sir.

[laserhaas]

2. In similar fashion, I was an indoctrinated, RWNJ, Christian

Then my eyes opened wide, at age 44, when I learned I was Jewish (my believed Grandmother was actually my step-grandmother).

Now I'm as liberal as it gets; and a Jew when everyone hates them - or a Palestinian when Israel hates Palestine.

I'm a mutt, I'm a mutt

[irisblue]

3. Respect for you 👏👏👏

[MrScorpio]

4. I rejected him a long time ago

Welcome to the club.

[Fatemah2774]

5. My family was part of the Nation of Islam

And after the death of Elijah Muhammad our family who had rejected the racism in part, accepted and became more mainstream Muslims with his son Warith Deen Muhammad.

I too have rejected Farrakhan and his ilk of racism, black supremacy and anti semitism. So I stand with you and thank you for sharing.

[rogue emissary]

6. A heartfelt recommend.

[JudyM]

7. What specifically caused the shift in your perspective, if you're don't mind sharing that?

First time you could views Jews with compassion because of being savaged instead of in the assumed position of control?
Some aspect of the news coverage of the incident?

[qwlauren35]

8. It's complicated.

I think it was someone on the board who was talking about the anti-Semitism as a result of the synagogue shooting, and I started thinking of all of the things I'd heard about Jewish people in power and in control, and some of the worse things Farrakhan has said, and I decided to take a second look at the facts. what I found was a few things.

1.) The name-calling that Farrakhan engaged in was blatantly anti-Semitic.
2.) The assertions that Jews financed the slave trade have been proven false.
3.) There were some Jewish slumlords in New York and Chicago. Fact. But that's like saying there are some black criminals. Fact. It is anti-Semitic when you extrapolate. All slumlords are Jewish, or all Jewish landlords are slumlords. So you have to be aware of that line between fact and stereotyping.
4.) There were Jewish individuals in the entertainment industry who exploited black talent. Fact. It is anti-Semitic to extrapolate. EVERYBODY was exploiting us. Their religion doesn't matter.

I've spent the last 24 hours doing a lot of reading about this. Last night I went to bed with the apple pie fantasy that the relationship between blacks and Jews has historically been positive. And it hasn't been. There have been good things and bad things, wins and losses, collaborations and dissonances.

But I guess this is getting muddled. Let me try the chronology again.

A few months ago, I jumped on a woman who wouldn't say that being racist was a dealbreaker. In my mind, if someone you knew was a racist, you should confront them, and it might be necessary to end the relationship.

And then the synagogue shootings happened and I was reading about anti-Semitism. I thought about my prejudices. That Jews controlled the entertainment and media industries. And I did some research into them. And found out that there are definitely some wealthy Jewish people out there! 19 of Forbes top 40 Billionaires are Jewish. And what did this do to my prejudices? It didn't seem to help. So I googled around and finally found something that put things in perspective. I was taking facts and extrapolating. Some Jews are on the list. But not half and not all. So you can't say that Jews control everything. But more importantly, you can't say that all Jews do X or all Jews think X, based on 19 people. Or even if there are 140 Jews on Forbes' top 400 list. What about the other 260? Are you checking out their religion??? Nope. Thought not.

So, armed with this new perspective, I then confronted my views on Louis Farrakhan. I wouldn't say that i idolized him. But I tolerated him. And I came to realize that this made me a hypocrite. How could I condemn someone for accepting racist friends but still tolerate Farrakhan? Nope. Not acceptable.

That's where I was yesterday.

Today I find myself in a different space, and I think that as I continue to explore this, and I will, I'll have a more comprehensive view of this complicated dance between blacks and Jews that dates back over 100 years. And it is complicated. There have been Jewish people who did business with us at a time when other whites would not. Sometimes those business relationships were good, sometimes they were not. There have been Jewish people who were part of the entertainment world who hired black performers at a time when other whites would not. Sometimes the relationship was mutually beneficial, and sometimes it was exploitative. Al Jolson was Jewish. The Gershwin brothers who wrote Porgy and Bess could be said to have been exploiting black culture. There were Jewish people involved in the NAACP, the Urban League and SNCC. They were active participants, so they would have some influence.

It's complicated.

But what I have really come away with is that it is very, very important not to tar an entire group of people with the knowledge of the actions of a few. Money and power can lead to exploitation, and the religion of those involved is really irrelevant.

Above all, anti-Semitism in the black community is a problem. A big problem. For those with no college education, over 40% are aggressively anti-Semitic. Compared to 16% of all Americans.

I wanted to take a step toward ridding myself of a demon. I actually slept well last night. Tonight, not so sure. But I think I will put it together, and once I have it all in a coherent thought, I will write it down.