Two incidents happened very recently – one much more horrendous than the other – have played out and done great harm to Black/Jewish relations locally and nationally.
The more horrendous of the incidents were two people affiliated with the extremely anti-Semitic Black Hebrew Israelite fringe group attacked a Kosher supermarket in Jersey City. When the shooting carnage ended, six were dead, including the two anti-Semitic hate-filled shooters.
Now, I want to stop here and say something. I would argue I have been covering black Brooklyn longer and have more sources in black Brooklyn than any other white journalist in the city. This includes nine years for the white-owned Courier Life/News Corp publications, five years for the black-owned Our Time Press and five years for KCP.
And in this time, I wouldn’t even be able to count the number of times I have heard both black sources and people in the black community say anti-Semitic things. This includes the many times I have heard friends and sources in this community say horrible things about Jews starting often with “you people” and then ending with the disclaimer that they are not referring to me.
I almost always swallow these comments with a bitter taste in my mouth, although sometimes I have to admit it makes me feel better or bigger than my fellow Jews that I am not considered one of the “you people.”
But the absolute truth is I am one of these “you people.” I am Jew to the bone with many of the stereotypes. Big-nosed, sometimes cheap, opinionated, pushy, business-minded, smart and funny.
The bottom line here is that in my experience, there are a good many black anti-Semitic people in Brooklyn’s black neighborhoods. I have never written about this or brought it up, but this issue in the black community needs addressing, now more so than ever, after the Jersey City shooting.
The second incident is the ongoing issue surrounding the Conservative Jewish East Midwood Jewish Center (EMJC) leasing out space to Urban Dove, a charter school catering almost exclusively to at-risk black and brown students struggling to get their high school diploma.
This deal has led a number of Orthodox Jews becoming furious. They note the neighborhood is bursting at the seams with a growing Orthodox community with large families, who could use the school space. That is the Orthodox Jewish argument and I hear it. But I have also heard a good many of these Orthodox Jewish protesters utter horribly insensitive and racist comments towards black and brown people.
Now, I want to stop again and say something. God has blessed me with four biracial children, two of whom were at-risk students in their high school years. Additionally, I myself was an at-risk student throughout high school. Thankfully, all my kids and me have turned into productive human beings.
In this context, I cannot side with the Orthodox community and their bigoted language and attitudes – even if it’s from just a few people – is reprehensible to me, and it needs to strongly be called out.
This brings me to the Black Lives Matter Brooklyn President and political candidate Anthony Beckford’s op-ed, which I posted yesterday. It has long been KCP policy to post all op-eds with very few exceptions. In this case, it was a tough decision because Beckford’s words were very strong, but I think I made the right call in posting it.
Beckford – whether I agree with him or not – is an upright citizen, single father and a very carrying member of both his community and the community at large.
I don’t agree with what Beckford wrote, particularly the disparaging comments he made about black lawmakers City Councilwoman Farah Louis and Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte. I don’t think either is a sellout to their community. They made a tough call on this one issue and while I don’t agree with it, I respect it.
And in their defense, I remember a few years ago, Bichotte standing up very strongly for black students in Rockland County public schools against the Orthodox Jewish community over a public funding issue. Likewise, Louis doesn’t strike me as the type to sell out her community, which includes a solid Orthodox Jewish constituent base. The fact she sided with this base on this issue doesn’t mean she’s a sellout. Perhaps a bit politically expedient, but hell, it could be argued Beckford’s column was written out of political expediency. There isn’t a politician I’ve ever covered who doesn’t get a little politically expedient now and again.
The bottom line is just because there are some bigoted Orthodox Jews and Anti-Semitic blacks does not mean either group should be whitewashed that way as a whole.
Recently, I saw the excellent Tom Hanks biopic, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, on Fred Rogers, who wrote, directed and produced the long-running PBS children’s show Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.
In retrospect, Rogers, a white Christian, was a true pioneer in American and children’s psychology. One of his quotes seems apropos to both the black/Jewish discourse and ending this column.
“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.”
