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Black-Jewish Alliance?
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A28
December 4 2008
iN
S
ee, the Jewish-black
alliance is alive and
well.
That has been the major
reaction in the Jewish corn-
munity to the election of
Barak Obama as president.
From almost every quarter,
Jews proudly cited their
contribution to Obama's
election as proof that Jews
and blacks, despite some
friction at times, still enjoy
a healthy relationship.
"Black, Jewish Vote for Obama
May Signal a Renewed Tie" read the
Forward's page 1 headline Nov. 22.
It reported: "For many Jewish liber-
als, this was a watershed moment,
marking a return to the days when
blacks and Jews were thought to have
a special relationship founded on a
shared language of suffering and joint
efforts to promote civil rights?'
All this excitement is based on the
fact that the Jewish vote for Obama
reached 78 percent, second only to
blacks whose support was 96 percent.
There is only one problem: A black-
Jewish alliance has never existed.
Yes, Jews, to their credit, played a
major role in supporting the civil
rights movement. They gave their
lives in the South (Goodman and
Schwerner along with Cheney), and
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
walked arm-in-arm with Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
Jewish lawyers worked pro bono
in the South at the risk to their lives.
About half the lawyers supporting the
movement at the time were Jews.
Jews helped create the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) and many
worked their entire lives in and for
the organization. To name just two,
Kivie Kaplan, served as NAACP presi-
dent, and Jack Greenberg headed the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Jews have long supported causes key
to the black community. But — very
importantly — an alliance suggests a
two-way relationship. When one side
may disagree with the other it must do
so with respect and understanding.
That has not been true in the rela-
tionship between blacks and Jews.
As blacks became more politically
accepted, involved and sophisticated,
they began to shun their Jewish friends.
There were bitter disputes over such
issues as affirmative action.
Jews who worked in black civil
rights organizations like the NAACP
were thrown out. When the Rev. Louis
Farrakhan fanned the
flames with ugly descrip-
tions of Jews, black leaders,
while they may not have
shared his views, refused to
repudiate him.
I don't know of any black
organization — a member
of the black body politic
— that has endorsed or
supported an issue impor-
tant to Jews in the last 20
years or so. Individual
blacks — usually religious
leaders — have spoken out on behalf
of Jewish causes but there has been no
institutional support.
On college campuses, black students
have consistently launched vitriolic
anti-Jewish, anti-Israel attacks and,
sadly, have escaped sanctions.
As Benjamin Ginsberg wrote in his
book The Fatal Embrace (University of
Chicago):
•African-American politicians and
intellectuals have been far more willing
than their white counterparts to voice
anti-Jewish views and, often, to accuse
Jews of conspiring against blacks.
• Poll data consistently suggest that
levels of anti-Semitic sentiment are
higher within the black community
than virtually any other U.S. group.
Jews, always reluctant to speak up, were
too afraid and intimidated to respond for
fear of being accused of racism.
Added Ginsberg: "Anti-Semitism
also has come to play an important role
in the internal politics of the African-
American community?'
On Israel, the black community gen-
erally identifies with the Arab point of
view for a variety of reasons, ranging
from the friction between Jews and
blacks on some domestic social issues
and the fact that they identify with the
Palestinians "underdogs?'
Further, blacks find more common
ground with the Third World, which is
usually fiercely anti-Israel.
So while the election of Barak
Obama — from a racial point-of-view
— is to be celebrated as an historic
event, a maturation of our relatively
young experiment in democracy, it is
premature to reach any conclusions on
what it means in terms of the black-
Jewish relationship.
It would truly be historic if President
Obama could create a black-Jewish alli-
ance — a real alliance.
Berl Falbaum is a Farmington Hills public
relations executive and author. The former
political reporter teaches journalism part
time at Wayne State University, Detroit.