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Editorials

Twists, Turns In Black-Jewish Alliance

W

hen Rev. Louis Farrakhan
diluted — yet again —
his recent message of
hope and empowerment for black
Detroiters with blatantly anti-Semitic
and homophobic rants, it exposed the
complex underbelly of black-Jewish
relations that has existed since the
late 1960s, when the civil rights
movement pivoted away from deseg-
regation and integration and toward a
black power-centric agenda.
Rev. Farrakhan's
latest diatribe,
particularly about
"satanic" Jews, trig-
gered immediate
and understandable
outrage from Jewish
communal leaders.
Rev. Louis
Less timely, but
Farrakhan
well-crafted rebukes
from veteran civil
rights leader U.S. Rep. John Conyers
(D-Mich.) and New Detroit (which
emerged in the aftermath of the 1967
disturbances to re-set race relations
in the region) were appropriate and
appreciated. However, other com-
munity leaders who attended Rev.
Farrakhan's oration as a guest of Rev.
Wendell Anthony's Fellowship Chapel
— including Rev. Anthony — have cho-
sen to remain silent.
Let's be clear about one thing. Rev.
Farrakhan's comments were, and con-
tinue to be, racist, bigoted and anti-
Semitic. They are troubling and hurt-
ful. And as a people who lost 6 million
in the Holocaust while most of the
world remained silent, we have vowed

to speak out against injustice ... and
expect the same in return. Sadly, our
expectations are too high.
The cross-currents in relations
between our region's black and
Jewish communities, always strained
further by Rev. Farrakhan's words,
are reflected on the pages of the
Jewish News. In July of 1994, a Rev.
Farrakhan oration against Jews
was condemned by local black civil
rights activist Ellbert Hatchett, who
claimed that black people have failed
to address the problem of their own
racism.
"Black people have failed to con-
demn the ugly racist, anti-Semitic
rhetoric of people like Farrakhan
and others who you know are wrong.
Now, if we don't call them wrong, who
will?" Hatchett asked.
In response to Hatchett's com-
ments, former National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) Detroit President Dr.
Arthur Johnson said, "It is not true
that blacks have not spoken out on
anti-Semitism and that does not seem
to register with Jewish leadership."
Rev. Anthony, who was and con-
tinues as the president of Detroit's
NAACP chapter, also declined at that
time to comment on Rev. Farrakhan's
remarks. However, less than a month
later, Israel's Efroni Girls Choir per-
formed at Rev. Anthony's Fellowship
Chapel and its members stayed
overnight in the homes of church
members. "It's part of our ministry
to reach out to others," Rev. Anthony
told the Jewish News.

When Nate Shapiro was honored
in 2001 with the Jewish Community
Relations Council's inaugural
Activist of the Year award, it was
Rev. Anthony who introduced him
and proclaimed that "if you want
to project the historic relationships
between members of the Jewish
community and the African American
community, then Nate Shapiro
conveys that message. If you want
to reflect the best in all of God's
people, regardless of race, ethnicity,
sex, age, chronology or philosophy,
Nate Shapiro reflects the best of
all of them. You don't honor him by
making him the Activist of the Year;
you really honor yourselves, for he
represents the best of all people."
At the Detroit NAACP 58th
Freedom Fund Dinner on April
28th at Cobo Hall, the 2013 "Great
Expectations Award" winner and
Michigan Chronicle Senior Editor
Bankole Thompson told the large
audience that he accepted the award
"in the spirit of the historical forces
for good that fought to ascertain the
dignity of every human being, such as
the Niagara movement that led to the
founding of the NAACP and making
this organization the most important
civil rights organization in the last
and current century."
Thompson added: "I also accept this
award in the spirit of the historical
alliance that brought two of the most
transformational figures in history
together — the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua
Heschel — two men whose commit-

ment to civil rights was unmatched.
These two prayed together at
Riverside Church, prayed together at
the Arlington National Cemetery and
marched together in Selma. Rabbi
Heschel would later capture his own
view of the march in Selma when he
said, When I marched in Selma, my
feet were praying.'
"... In the spirit of a new coalition,
re-igniting old ones and bringing
together Arab Americans, Hispanic
Americans, Jews and all people, it
is time to redefine our geographical
boundaries, while maintaining the
core need to protect civil and human
rights," Thompson said. "We can no
longer fight the battles on our own."
As Rev. Anthony and others pre-
pare to commemorate this month's
50th anniversary of Dr. Martin
Luther King's historic march down
Woodward Avenue, they should take
pride in what their hard work and
passion have achieved. They should
also look closely at photographs of
the Woodward Avenue march. At the
front of the line, they will see Rev. Dr.
King in common cause with people of
all races, backgrounds and political
stripes. Rev. Farrakhan doesn't see or
want any part of this picture.
Rev. Anthony and Detroit's spiritual
and political leaders should use the
upcoming anniversary as a unique
opportunity to re-imagine and re-
energize the historic but complex
black-Jewish alliance as part of a new
coalition that, despite Rev. Farrakhan,
assures the civil rights battle is not
fought alone.

❑

Inspiring A Break From Tradition

T

hirteen Jewish students at
the University of Michigan
headed south together for
spring break, but they didn't fly to
South Beach, South Padre Island,
Cancun or Punta Cana.
They drove to southwest Detroit.
In a May 23 essay, Jewish Detroit
Initiative students shared their
Alternative Spring Break experience
through jewish®edu, the periodic
JN college section. It is an uplifting
story of outreach. The college group
befriended and mentored seventh-
and eighth-graders at Amelia Earhart
Middle School — a tough age in a
hardscrabble neighborhood.

36

June 6 • 2013

The U-M contingent lived in south-
west Detroit and gained incredible
insight into such core urban issues
as race relations, hunger, education
and immigration. Class time alone
on the U-M campus couldn't possibly
offer that learning component. It
was an opportunity to be humbled,
energized, challenged, driven from
their comfort zones and looked up to
simultaneously.
The intent not only was to connect
college students with the central
city, but also to meet and mingle
with young Detroiters who could
benefit from positive role models one
generation up. Whether refurbishing

the Woodbridge Community Youth
Center or visiting the Wayne State
University planetarium, this special
group dynamic created a rare blend
of interaction and mutual apprecia-
tion.
U-M Hillel students laudably devel-
oped the J-Detroit Initiative two
years ago to engage with Detroit and
its residents. Repair the World, which
seeks to inspire American Jews and
their communities to make service a
defining part of their lives, partnered
in Alternative Spring Break.
In the JN essay, the spring break-
ers talked about the range of culture
they came across: nonprofits, busi-

ness startups, Downtown Detroit, the
Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue.
Sure, they saw the starkness of the
inner city; yet they kept their lamps
of optimism burning so the bad
things didn't overwhelm the nuggets
of creativity, innovation and fulfill-
ment.
They won't all ultimately live in
Detroit, but they've all committed to
doing what they can to help improve
the city, which sorely needs young
enthusiasm. That's an important les-
son gleaned from an unusual spring
break and a powerful message to
bring back to a campus noted for
student activism.

❑