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Even my own 5-year-old son is enamored by Obama. He is not yet mature enough to understand the weight of history, but he already associates the American flag with Obama. Yes, America advanced into the palace of democracy by electing Obama twice. But for black America, it carries a deeper meaning than just having a president who is black It means arriving at a cycle of history that is comprised of an essen- tial bitter past. And the vilification and delegitimization campaign carried out by detractors of the first black president, which continues into his second term with the latest psychological assault from a mainstream GOP leader, Rudy Giuliani, that Obama doesn't love America, only goes to reinforce what many blacks see: There is a deep reluctance and resent- ment in this nation to accept the legiti- macy of the first black president who was legitimately elected twice. Since Obama became the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., we've witnessed unbelievable assaults on the presidency in ways never seen before. From outrageous and nonsensical assertions that he is a Muslim to preposterous remarks like "We want our country back:' his critics have tried to remove any veneer of respectabil- ity for the office of the president because of its occupant. Thus when the White House is not properly and duly notified of an invitation to Netanyahu to speak to Congress, many in black America see this as part of the continued attempt to remove the veneer of respect for Obama, despite the storied history of Jews standing side by side with blacks during the Civil Rights Movement. That is why prominent African Americans like Rep. Lewis, prophet of the Civil Rights Movement, who himself has led dialogue on black-Jewish relations, quickly came to Obama's defense, saying to Netanyahu in unmistakable terms, "Don't disrespect our president:' I told Gilad during our breakfast that this could be a pivotal moment in black- Jewish relations because it is bad for the historical record as well as the legacy of black-Jewish relations, for Israel's current prime minister to be placed in history as part of the coalition that failed to accept the legitimacy of the first black president. "I think it is not good for the CBC to not attend. I agree there might be a protocol blunder," Gilad told me, "but we would like to have our day in the court of the American people, which is the Congress. Could things have been done differently? Yes. But at the end of the day this is where we are. I don't think there will be any setback because at the end of the day Israel will be the best U.S. ally in the Middle East:' Gilad said he does recognize the potential fallout with black lawmakers in Washington could strain relations between African Americans and Jews, and it is something he discussed in Chicago prior to our breakfast meeting. But he maintained that the bond between blacks and Jews is too important to be broken in light of what some only call a diplomatic hiccup. But here's the problem: It's more than a diplomatic hiccup. When Netanyahu came to speak to Congress on March 3, his audience was mostly Republican and mostly white. If the members of the Congressional Black Caucus didn't show up, it is very bad optics and is telling on a number of levels. Ironically, the leader of the Jewish state is coming to Washington, seemingly at loggerheads with Obama, at a time when blacks are preparing next month to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Selma. That event will be headlined by Obama and is expected to be attended by all former living U.S. presidents except George H.W. Bush. Key in that historic march to Selma was Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a fore- most liberation thinker and leader of the American Jewish community who was a staunch ally of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Heschel described his participation in the Selma march this way: "When I marched in Selma, my feet were praying:' In 2012, I began doing some research on black-Jewish relations for a literary project. I was curious about the much- publicized rocky relationship between Netanyahu and Obama. Because I wanted to document how these two leaders view each other, I decided to interview Israeli journalist Natasha Mozgovaya, who was at the time the Washington bureau chief for Haaretz, a daily newspaper. "Personal relationship between lead- ers matters, and the two are obviously not in love with each other. They have different styles, in some spheres quite dif- ferent ideology, and they surely had some awkward encounters. However, these moments received far greater attention than the negative impact it really had on the relationship between the countries:' Mozgovaya told me. "Did President Obama make a mistake talking publicly about disagreements over Jewish settlements? Should Prime Minister Netanyahu have 'lectured' him during their press availabilities? These are questions for another discussion, but it's quite clear President Obama didn't voice criticism to undermine Israel standing, but merely gave his sober assessment of the perspectives7 ❑ Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle who, together with JN Publisher and Executive Editor Arthur Horwitz, has led some initiatives about black- Jewish relations.