Often, we discuss conspiracy theories as if they are kooky yet benign tales spun by our neighbors, acquaintances, and even friends. But in America’s current political and cultural configuration, prejudice combined with ignorance often masquerades as legitimate thought and leads to devastating outcomes (just see how Floridian COVID-19 deniers are doing now). And in a society marked by incessant high-speed information and spin, anecdotal and instinctual bias becomes the basis of bad-faith arguments about free speech and a “marketplace of ideas.” As much as social media has brought us smart thinking by typically marginalized voices, it’s also allowed careless people with big platforms to speak more loudly—and without the immediate intervention of the wiser and better-informed people who may (or may not) surround them.
Recently, big-name Black entertainers like Ice Cube, Nick Cannon, Diddy, the Jacksons (Stephen and DeSean), and even beloved Black author Alice Walker, have spouted age-old anti-Semitic talking points—usually by quoting known bigot Louis Farrakhan—insisting that “the Jews” run everything, and locating Black liberation in anti-Jewish suspicion.
On his podcast, Cannon spoke to fellow anti-Semitic conspiracist Professor Griff, formerly of Public Enemy (he was kicked out of the group for his anti-Jewishness, specifically for calling Jews “wicked”), agreeing with Griff’s racist view that Jewish people control media and claiming that “Semitic people are Black people” so Black people cannot be anti-Semitic. After Cannon was dropped by ViacomCBS for his comments, Diddy then took to Instagram and invited Cannon to his network RevoltTV. On July 4th, Diddy’s RevoltTV broadcast a speech by Farrakhan—a man who has praised Hitler and repeatedly calls Jews “Satanic”—worldwide, and also shared a Farrakhan video on Twitter in which the Nation of Islam leader called the Jewish head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, “Satan” and claimed that “those of you that say you are the Jews, I will not even give you the honor of calling you a Jew. You are not a Jew. You are Satan, and it is my job now to pull the cover off of Satan so that every Muslim when he sees Satan, pick up a stone, as we do in Mecca.”
Ice Cube’s Long, Disturbing History of Anti-Semitism
Hollywood Celebs Are Praising an Anti-Semitic Hatemonger
The rapper and actor Ice Cube, for his part, has shared a series of anti-Semitic memes and even lobbed an anti-Semitic trope at Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for denouncing anti-Semitism in a Hollywood Reporter op-ed, accusing him of accepting “30 pieces of silver” in exchange for the column.
It’s difficult to make sense of the smoke-and-mirrors anti-Semitism that emanates from Farrakhan, who feels he gets to decide who the real Jews are and then leverages any critique amongst Jewish-led institutions he doesn’t like on the basis of a Jewish identity he refuses to recognize. This is not too different from the “criminals” Trump claims are crossing the border from Mexico in droves—demonizing characterizations and willful erasure allow racist ideas to haphazardly take the form of concern. In the same way, Cannon denies that what he is saying is anti-Semitic because the only Semitic people he recognizes are Black people.
What’s more, is that the crafted incoherence of these ideas makes them easy to gloss over or outright ignore. Anti-Black and anti-Jewish racism are not interchangeable realities, but they are related and feed upon each other, undermining the liberation of Black and Jewish people (and, of course, Black Jewish people) alike. Like anti-Black racism, anti-Jewish racism cannot have a place in any legitimate anti-racist liberation movement, yet unfortunately, like with anti-Black racism, those who spout anti-Jewish ideas refuse to acknowledge their prejudice, instead qualifying their hateful words with claims to good intentions.
It’s easy to center the self, particularly when the self can serve as an avatar for an entire diaspora. But part of freedom work means imagining well outside of and beyond the self, persistently being in community with others committed to similar work. When Black celebrities claim that their anti-Semitism is actually a “pro-Black” stance, they assert that the only possible form of liberation for Black people is through creating our own “Other.” There is a huge difference between critiquing whiteness—a racist fabrication with undeniable social consequences—and denigrating Jewishness. Anti-Black racism (as well as anti-Arab racism) as practiced by Jewish institutions and individuals ought to be critiqued where observed, but on the basis of white assimilation and imperialism, not on the basis of Jewish identity. Scapegoating Jewish people—rather than challenging harmful institutions formed and led by people of any identity—plays directly by the fascist rulebook.
But conspiracy theories often serve as a salve to incurious and unresilient people, even as the greatest conspiracy of all—racism—hides in plain sight. And it finds its way to even those of us directly harmed by its systemic manifestations. Like anti-Black and transphobic violence, anti-Semitic hate crimes have undeniably been on the rise since Trump’s inauguration. A viable counter to the bad and dangerous ideas that fuel this violence is deeper and more rigorous reading; rather than latching onto charismatic figures and cultural idols, we ought to get used to researching beyond YouTube videos, Google-able quotes, and Instagram reading lists. We need to engage less in forums filled with fearful people and step out into spaces of accountability and vulnerability. What would it mean to invest in a liberation movement that isn’t ego-driven or self-centering, but expansive and legion-gathering? How do we state our commitment to Black liberation without falling back on lazy and harmful thinking? Perhaps we still look too confused people like Ice Cube and Diddy because so many of us have refused to read, share, and discuss the vital work of critical thinkers like Angela Davis and Noel Ignatiev.
Opinion; stop working on their jobs period:
You need to have your own get out of their stuff you need to take a risk and build your own. You can have whatever thought you want on your platform. It Amazing how it focuses on racism and black and it gets moved back to Jewish Got Their reparations and continues to get support from Jews around the world to Israel. They make damn sure their people love and respect Israel. Jewish people don’t put themselves in a position where they are not running it. They saw how that Turned out in Germany. Blacks need to love and support Africa in the same way. The Jewish community takes care of its own. Stop fussing about what the Jew got banks and entertainment and media. Look up Operation Paper clip. It is how you destroy a people. Black need Reparations to take care of their own. Facebook took the minister off it only mattered time for them to remove others;
We all need to work on Reparations period: It helped the Jews.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has awarded $12 million for assistance to Holocaust survivors.
The allocation from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Jewish Federations of North America, to be disbursed over five years, is part of an initiative launched in late 2013 by Vice President Joe Biden to address the needs of survivors in the United States, a quarter of whom live below the poverty line.
Combined with matching private funds, the approximately $2.5 million per year over the five years “will support $4.1 million in programming annually for organizations that help Holocaust survivors,” the JFNA said. According to JFNA, the funds will be used to advance “innovations in person-centered, trauma-informed supportive services for Holocaust survivors.”
“With this award, we will be able to advance our efforts to provide crucial services to vulnerable survivors, including those living in poverty, those in the Orthodox Jewish community and those from the former Soviet Union,” Mark Wilf, the chairman of the JFNA’s National Holocaust Survivor Initiative, said in a statement.
“These are our mothers and our fathers, our teachers and our mentors,” he said. “They deserve to live their remaining years in dignity, and this award will help make that hope a reality.”
The JFNA statement also thanked congressional sponsors of the funding, including U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill.
After Biden launched the initiative in December 2013, the White House in 2014 named a special envoy to the community to coordinate volunteer activities to assist the survivors.
Some 130,000 Holocaust survivors are living in the United States, according to US government estimates.
Wilf, a co-owner of the Minnesota Vikings, helped organize the distribution this week of hearing aids to about 100 people in the New York area — more than 20 of them Holocaust survivors — at Yankee Stadium in New York.
The hearing aids, USA Today reported, were provided by the Starkey Hearing Foundation, with backing from JFNA, the Wilf Family Foundations, the NFL’s Vikings, and the New York Yankees.
This is smoke and mirrors people: Stay focused