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Why Blacks Flirt
With Anti-Semitism

In

BENJAMIN GINSBURG SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH TIMES

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2/28/94)

he Jewish com-
munity was re-
cently outraged
by a virulently
anti-Semitic speech
delivered at New Jer-
sey's Kean College by
Khalid Mohammed
of the Nation of Is-
lam. Later, the Na-
tion's leader, Louis
Farrakhan, rubbed
salt in the wound by
denying the legiti-
macy of Jewish con-
cerns. An anti-
Semite, declared
Mr. Farrakhan,
was not someone
who hated Jews
but, rather, any-
one Jews hated.
This recent in-
cident is the latest
— but certainly not the last —
sign of growing black anti-Semi-
tism in the United States. In the
1950s and 1960s, Jews and
African Americans were closely
allied in the civil rights move-
ment. Jews played a prominent
role in the leadership of most, if
not all, major civil rights orga-
nizations. More than half the
white lawyers who made their
services available to civil rights
demonstrators in the South
were Jews. Up to three-quarters
of the contributors to civil rights
organizations were Jews. More
than half the white freedom rid-
ers were Jews. Almost two-
thirds of the whites who went
into the South during the "Free-
dom Summer" of 1964 were
Jews. Among these, of course,
were Michael Schwerner and
Andrew Goodman who, with
James Chaney, were murdered
by racist thugs in Mississippi.
Despite this past cooperation,
relations between African
Americans and Jews have de-
teriorated in recent years. Polls
suggest that anti-Semitic sen-
timent is higher among blacks,
especially among educated
blacks, than among virtually
any other group in the Ameri-
can populace. Moreover, a num-
ber of African-American
politicians and intellectuals fre-
quently voice anti-Jewish views
and accuse Jews of conspiring
against blacks.

Benjamin Ginsberg is David Bern-
stein Professor of Political Sci-
ence and director of the Center
for the Study of American Gov-
ernment at The Johns Hopkins
University.

Photo by RNS/Reuters

Louis Farrakhan speaks
at a news conference.

The most shocking recent
manifestation of black anti-
Semitism occurred when
African-Americans surged
through Brooklyn's Crown
Heights and attacked Jews.
Several militant black politi-
cians openly encouraged the ri-
oting and even condoned the
murder of a visiting Australian
Jew, Yankel Rosenbaum.
Ironically, a political precon-
dition for contemporary black
anti-Semitism was the success
of the earlier black-Jewish al-
liance. The civil rights move-
ment enfranchised millions of
black voters, led to the emer-
gence of a new stratum of black
leaders, and expanded the im-
portance of African Americans
in the Democratic party.
For some politicians, blacks'
growing political importance
made anti-Semitism a plausi-
ble political tactic. As early as
the late 1960s, the increased
electoral weight of African
Americans in the Democratic
coalition encouraged black
politicians to seek more influ-
ence in the Democratic party,
to seek affirmative action pro-
grams that would give their
constituents greater access to
public and quasi-public insti-
tutions, and to demand a larg-
er share of public expenditures
controlled by Democrats.
Given the important role
Jews played in the institutions
of the domestic state — federal
agencies, municipal service bu-
reaucracies, universities, and
the like — it was virtually a giv-

en that animosities would de-
velop between African Ameri-
cans and Jews. In effect, African
Americans' new ambitions put
them into conflict with the es-
tablished interests of Jews. In
these conflicts, anti-Semitic
rhetoric became a weapon with
which blacks could intimidate
and supplant their Jewish ri-
vals.
In New York City's schools,
for example, a large proportion
of the teachers, principals and
administrators were Jews. In
the 1960s, African Americans
began to challenge Jews for
these posts. In these struggles,
black teachers' organizations
frequently used anti-Semitic
slogans, pamphlets and epithets
designed to intimidate Jewish
educators and encourage them
to give up their positions. The
tactic was quite successful.
Second, blacks' growing po-
litical importance led to the
emergence of ambitious young
African-American politicians
eager to replace existing black
notables. Several, finding that
anti-Semitic rhetoric could use-
fully be wielded against the
black establishment, charged
that incumbent leaders were
the paid puppets of whites —
and, particularly, of Jews. Pre-
cisely because established black
leaders had worked closely with
Jews, and often were dependent
upon Jewish funding, they were
vulnerable to this charge.
One of the first black politi-
cians to successfully use this
strategy was Malcolm X. The

