May 12, 2020

ALL NATIONALISTS ARE THE SAME:

Where Black Nationalism Meets White SupremacyAs Louis Farrakhan turns 87 today, his influence across the spectrum of hate remains strong (JACK R. FISCHEL, MAY 11, 2020, The Tablet)

Not since the 1930s has anti-Semitism been so threatening to the American Jewish community. Incidents, such as the shooting at Pittsburg's Tree of Life synagogue and the Chabad in Poway, California, have made Jews vulnerable to attacks by white extremists, while attacks in Monsey and Jersey City have highlighted the danger posed by the inflammatory language of black nationalist anti-Semitism. In a survey taken by the American Jewish Committee in October 2019, 31% of Jewish respondents reported having taken steps to hide their Jewish identity in public, and 25% stated that they avoided Jewish sites. The AJC survey was taken before the attacks in Jersey City and Monsey. [...]

Perhaps the most potent link between white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and black nationalists can be found in the person of Farrakhan, the charismatic 86-year-old head of the Nation of Islam (NOI). In the three decades since he succeeded the late Elijah Muhammad as the leader of the black nationalist sect, Farrakhan has become a powerful force in the African American community by way of his speeches, rallies, and social networking, where he reaches a wide audience even among the black middle and upper class. Farrakhan is regularly pictured with prominent African American entertainers and has his own place of honor in the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the Washington Mall. He is also perhaps the most dangerous anti-Semite in America since Father Charles Coughlin who has consistently attacked Jews as the "children of the devil," "bloodsuckers," and assorted other vile and disparaging descriptions.

Farrakhan has accused Jews of spreading marijuana into black communities so as to feminize the black man, and worshipping in the synagogue of Satan. He often refers to the Jews as "lying, murderous Zionists," whom he accuses of being behind the Sept. 11 attacks. Farrakhan's messages of hate directed toward Jews and Israel reaches large number of his followers on his websites, and through the NOI Press, which publishes the libelous Protocols of the Elders of Zion as well as the The Secret History Between Blacks and Jews, which falsely asserts that Jews dominated the slave trade. In fact, the role of Jews in the Atlantic slave trade, according to scholars, was minimal. Yet Farrakhan remains one of the most important leaders of black America in the 21st century. Despite his ongoing anti-Semitic rhetoric, oddly enough, few black mainstream leaders openly challenge Farrakhan's bigotry.

The NOI is not the only black nationalist group that promotes the language of conspiratorial anti-Semitism. The Black Hebrew Israelites claim that they are the descendants of the Israelites of the Old Testament and are the true Jewish people. Founded in 1886, the movement over time splintered into factions which included a form of black nationalism that promoted its message through street preachers, who often employ provocation as a strategy to advance its doctrine that black people are the real "chosen people."

The Black Hebrew Israelites depict Jews as usurpers of God's will, a "devilish people" who have prevented the black man from realizing his true destiny. Although not a sect that engages directly in mass violence, its promotion of confrontation toward law enforcement, Jews, and white people in general, has resonated among segments of black America. In the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket shooting that ended in the death of six people, including a police officer, law enforcement found that the two suspects, David N. Anderson and Francine Graham, appeared to have been connected to the Black Hebrew Israelites. Subsequently the police found that Anderson had posted anti-Semitic and anti-police messages on internet forums. A New York Times investigation into the two shooters cited a neighbor who related hearing Anderson shouting that his religion was the only true religion, and that Catholicism and Judaism were false religions. The Southern Poverty Law Center has stated that, in 2019, "144 Black Hebrew Israelite organizations were listed as hate groups because of their anti-Semitic and anti-white beliefs."

The New Black Panther Party (NBPP), another leading fount of black nationalist anti-Semitism, is not the successor to the original Black Panther Party. Nevertheless, the NBPP owes much of its anti-Semitic beliefs to the original Black Panthers, and to the Nation of Islam. The NBPP contends that the primary perpetrators responsible forthe exploitation of black people is the white race, and that Jews, in particular, wield a disproportionate amount of power over political and economic affairs--as well as over law enforcement, which consistently engages in acts of violence against the black community. The NBPP has also promoted The Synagogue of Satan, a book written by an editor of the NOI's Final Call, a publication that includes Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories, alleging that the world is being manipulated and corrupted by satanic powers led by Jewish elites.

The NBPP shares the same message of hatred toward Israel as does the NOI, accusing "Zionist leaders" of "robbing the gold mines of Africa" and having the "blood of Palestinians on their hands." In a 2002 rally in front of the B'nai Brith building in Washington, D.C., spokesmen for the party led chants of "death to Israel," and "kill every goddam Zionist in Israel." Elsewhere, the vituperative language of the Panther party, in calling for the destruction of Israel, declares that the "State of Israel has no right to exist." The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has labeled the NBPP the most extreme organized racist and anti-Semitic group in the United States.

Only the "nation" they belong to differs, but the idea of "nations" is mutually supporting.

Posted by at May 12, 2020 12:00 AM

  

« AMERICA HELD HOSTAGE, DAY...: | Main | WHO GETS TO BREAK IT TO THE INTEGRALISTS?: »