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8 | JULY 2 • 2020
1942 - 2020
Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week
jn
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How to reach us see page 12
Thank You
I just wanted to say thank
you for your recent article
“Learning from History” in
the Jewish News.
I praise you for using your
position, your voice and your
privilege to speak to others
from similar backgrounds to
advocate for the Black com-
munity. I have seen many
statements over the past two
weeks voicing some form of
support, but many have lacked
the sincerity of recognizing
the role that white (or white-
passing) people have played in
our regional history, and the
roles we must assume going
forward in order to enact real
change. Many statements of
support have been void of
actionable options that point
readers to ways to get con-
nected and actually help. Your
article provided both. And you
didn’
t pull your punches.
Thank you for being an ally
for Black lives. Our commu-
nity is stronger when there is
not just equality, but equity for
every member of that com-
munity. There’
s a lot of work
to be done, but the load is
lighter when we all take it on
together.
— Carie Branch
Hamtramck
Regarding the
“Editor’
s Note —
Healing Ourselves”
Contrary to Andrew Lapin’
s
assertion, Black Lives Matter’
s
original 2016 platform began
with bald-faced anti-Semi-
tism from the get-go. It has
never retreated. The mere
removal from the internet
of its embarrassingly hateful
position on the existence of
Israel, without renouncing
its vicious message to Jews, is
not clarification, it’
s conceal-
ment. Many Jews today are
conned by BLM’
s PR move.
Melina Abdullah, the
co-founder of BLM’
s Los
Angeles chapter, has a record
of appearing at Nation of
Islam events and praising the
anti-Semitic hate group and
its leader, Louis Farrakhan.
When Facebook decided
to remove Farrakhan over
his hateful rhetoric toward
Jews, Abdullah came to his
defense. “Facebook and
Instagram’
s decision to ban
The Honorable Minister
Farrakhan along with known
white-supremacists rep-
resents the ultimate in false
equivalencies,” Abdullah
complained. “As a Black com-
munity, we should be very
wary when others attempt to
silence our leaders. I continue
to appreciate the Minister’
s
fearless leadership and
intense love for our people.”
The platform of BLM,
which has existed since 2016,
could have been written
by Hamas. It declares that
the Jewish people of Israel
perpetrate genocide against
Palestinian Arabs and that
Israel is an apartheid state.
“The U.S. justifies and
advances the global war on
terror via its alliance with
Israel and is complicit in the
genocide taking place against
the Palestinian people,” reads
the “Invest/Divest” section
of their charter “A Vision for
Black Lives.”
That same BLM platform
supports Omar Barghouti’
s
anti-Semitic BDS movement.
Barghouti, the co-founder of
BDS, has said the sole pur-
pose of BDS is the euthanasia
of the Zionist dream of Israel.
Those vandalizing statues
across the world claim that
they’
re fighting hate, but
their targets have often been
the men and women who
courageously stood up to
racism and hatred. The stat-
ue of Raoul Wallenberg, the
Swedish diplomat who saved
thousands of Jews during
the Holocaust, stands in Los
Angeles. When mobs swept
through the area, looting
Jewish stores and defacing
synagogues with “BLM” and
“Free Palestine” graffiti, the
statue of a man who risked
his life to resist fascism and
bigotry was one of their tar-
gets.
Jews have got to be literate
enough to read the hand-
writing on the walls. We Jews
helped start the NAACP and
walked with Dr. King. We
ask, where is the reciprocity?
When will they finally stand
with us to support Israel?
At this time of unrest, it
is worth remembering an
op-ed by Congressman John
Lewis in the San Francisco
Chronicle in January 2002. In
that op-ed commemorating
Martin Luther King Day,
Congressman Lewis recalled
the wise and prescient
words of Dr. King spoken at
Harvard a few weeks before
his death: “When people
criticize Zionists, they mean
Jews; you’
re talking anti-Sem-
itism.”
— Ed Kohl
Co-President, Michigan Jewish
Action Council
West Bloomfield
LETTERS from page 5