Blacks and Jews: The end of an alliance
by Harold Green
�Guest Columnist�
(FinalCall.com) -- The recent defeat of Congresswoman Cynthia
McKinney of the 4th District of Georgia by Judge Denise Majette has
caused vast soul searching among Black Americans. We may quibble over
the causes of McKinney�s defeat. Yes, there was a low Black voter
turnout. Yes, White Republicans crossed over and voted against McKinney
in the Democratic primary. Yes, certain prominent Black Americans
withdrew their support for McKinney at a critical stage before the
election.
While all of the above were contributing factors to
McKinney�s defeat, the most significant cause was an outside force that
mobilized strong support for her opposition. When asked to identify this
force, Georgia state legislator and father of McKinney, Billy McKinney,
stated to the media: "J-E-W-S."
Indeed, it was the Jewish lobby that not only
orchestrated, headed, mobilized and funded Congresswoman McKinney�s
defeat, these same organized Jews�particularly the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)�also defeated Alabama�s five-term Black
incumbent, Representative Earl Hilliard, earlier this year.
In McKinney�s case, the Jewish lobby raised $1.1
million for Denise Majette�$500,000 more than McKinney had in her war
chest. By stirring up anti-McKinney sentiment in the local and national
media and on the Internet�depicting her as racist, pro-Arab and
militant�the Jewish lobby frightened many White Republicans into voting
in a Democratic primary that they would ordinarily have ignored.
Further, by exercising their age-old pressure tactics against Black
leaders�threatening economic and political reprisals�the Jewish lobby
forced them to withdraw their decades-old support for McKinney. How else
do we explain why NAACP chairman Julian Bond, Democrat John Lewis of
Georgia�s neighboring 5th District, former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson
and Andrew Young, the former Atlanta Mayor and U.S. Ambassador to the
UN, all maintained a conspicuous distance from McKinney during the
critical period preceding the election?
Following the election, several prominent Jews
applauded McKinney�s defeat. They claimed that she was too radical, too
critical of Israel and too supportive of Arab causes.
While I share the outrage of many Black Americans
over this, the latest successful move by prominent Jews to silence
outspoken Black leaders and to set the Black agenda, I also sense that
there is greater indignation now than ever before over this ongoing
affront. So much so that for many Blacks, THIS IS INDEED THE LAST
STRAW!!! Consequently, it is high time�no, long past time�that Black
Americans everywhere re-evaluate the so-called Black/Jewish alliance.
Some of our leaders, writers and thinkers have
already rushed forward to pursue the normal Black course of action
during times of crises between Blacks and Jews. For example, the Rev.
Jesse Jackson is talking about healing the current rift so as not to
endanger this important liberal, democratic alliance. Furthermore,
Professor Ron Walters has written a widely syndicated column that, in
effect, minimizes the overarching impact of the Jewish lobby in
McKinney�s and Hilliard�s defeats. Walters focuses on collateral issues
that, without the influence of the Jewish lobby, would have been as
inconsequential in this election as they have been in the past.
This tendency of prominent Blacks to placate Jews by
ignoring their excesses or deflecting criticism from them is precisely
why so many Jewish leaders and organizations have consistently
criticized, defamed, degraded and defeated certain Black leaders with
impunity�AND WILL DO SO AGAIN.
Jewish leaders have clearly decided that, no matter
how widespread the outrage among Black people, if Black leaders�fearing
Jewish reprisals�continue to cower before them, to rationalize their
racism and to apologize for their flagrant disrespect for Blacks, Jews
will suffer no consequences for their actions.
History teaches us that Jews are not the allies that
so many Blacks think they have been. It is now widely known that Jews
were as much involved in the African slave trade as Arabs and
Christians. Prior to the Civil Rights Movement, Jews as a whole in the
North and South were no more outspoken against racism, segregation and
discrimination than White Christians. Even during the Civil Rights
Movement (which benefited Jews far more than Black Americans), Dr.
King�s "Letter From A Birmingham Jail" was directed as much toward
Jewish rabbis as toward White ministers, because Jews were generally no
more sympathetic to the Black cause than were White Christians in
Alabama.
Over the past 30 years, Jewish racism against Black
people has grown exponentially. Whenever a Black leader has spoken out
against Israel, criticized Jews or otherwise failed to comply with
certain Jewish demands or opinions, organized Jewry has mounted a
relentless campaign to destroy him.
For decades, Israel was South Africa�s staunchest
ally, while American Jews tacitly endorsed this alliance. Furthermore,
in spite of the fact that Black people everywhere have consistently
sympathized with Jewish calls for recompense for their suffering during
the Holocaust, many Jewish leaders and organizations have fervently
opposed affirmative action for Blacks and, incredibly, now prominent
Jews, like David Horowitz, of the Center For The Study of Popular
Culture, and journalist Richard Poe, are at the forefront of the attack
against the Black American Movement in support of reparations.
Now, at the turn of the century, powerful Jews have
also targeted Black Congressmen, in spite of the fact that nearly all of
the members of the Congressional Black Caucus have consistently followed
their White colleagues in voting in favor of U.S. military and economic
support for Israel.
Although the Jewish lobby has succeeded in defeating
McKinney and Hilliard, some Jewish leaders are not jubilant over these
developments and are eager to meet with prominent Blacks to mend fences.
These Jews realize that, at this juncture in their history�more than at
any other time�Jews need Blacks more than Blacks need them. After all,
some Jews understand that Black people are the traditional American
scapegoats who have shielded Jews from bigotry. In light of this, Black
Americans must now ask, what have we received from Jews in return? The
answer is clear: Control of Black organizations, stereotypes in
Hollywood, attacks against outspoken Black scholars, like Dr. Leonard
Jeffries and Dr. Tony Martin, etc. Through it all, however, Black people
have remained loyal and sympathetic to Jews.
But the rest of the world is another story.
In their quarterly journal "Response," the Los
Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center reports rising anti-Semitism in
Eastern and Western Europe, the entire Middle East, Asia and Latin
America. Furthermore, in the United States, growing numbers of White
Christians are, on the Internet and elsewhere, questioning America�s
blind loyalty to Israel that has insolated the U.S. and increased the
threat of terrorism. And, like Black Americans, many Whites are deeply
disturbed over the Jewish influence in Congress that has also resulted
in the silencing and defeat of certain prominent White Congressmen.
In light of the crisis before us, Black leaders must
close ranks and act on one accord. The defeat of McKinney and Hilliard
is not the work of a disaffected ally, but of cold-blooded racists who
are willing to block Black progress�no matter what the cost to Black
Americans in a loss of power and influence�if it conflicts with the
overall Jewish agenda.
It is high time, at this historical juncture, for
Black Americans�the long-suffering, ever-obliging buffer between Whites
and Jews�to step aside and let Jews fend for themselves so that White
people will, at long last, stop focusing on Black people and get a good
look at American Jews, whose McCarthyistic tactics and stranglehold on
Congress threaten to make this country the United States of Israel.
(Harold Green is research director for CEMOTAP-WEST,
a Los Angeles-based media watchdog organization.)
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