October 13, 2008, - 3:49 pm
The Synagogue Bombing for Civil Rights That Black America Forgot
By Debbie Schlussel
Yesterday, congregants of the Jewish synagogue, The Temple a/k/a The Hebrew Benevolent Congregation of Atlanta, Georgia, marked the 50th anniversary of the bombing of the synagogue. The Temple was bombed because it became the site of sermons on racial equality and civil rights, on the Jewish holidays.
But 50 years later, American Jews see how they were repaid for their sacrifices on behalf of the civil rights movement. With sermons like the hatred of Jews and Israel and hugs for HAMAS from Rev. Jeremiah Wright. With derogatory comments about “Hymietown” and Nixon’s “insensitive Jewish advisors” (the two advisors to whom he was referring weren’t Jews but were of German extraction) from Jesse Jackson. With comments about “Zionist interlopers” from Al Sharpton. With comments about a “gutter religion” from Louis Farrakhan.
Mark my word: There will never be a bombing of a Black Church by Nazis and Muslims because the church was too philo-Semitic. And that’s because–in poll after poll–Anti-Semitism remains strong in one community in America (actually two communities, if you include Muslims): the Black community. Because they don’t know about and/or don’t care a whit about the sacrifices that Jews made for them in America. They’ve rewarded it with anti-Semitism.
Yes, there are some notable examples, with philo-Semitic, pro-Israel Black ministers, like Rev. Keith Butler and Rev. Glenn Plummer of Detroit and my friend, Rev. Dr. Barnett Jones, the Police Chief of Ann Arbor. They are great people.
But, sadly, they are not–unlike Jackson, Farrakhan, Sharpton, and Wright–among the most prominent and revered figures in Black America.
And that’s what the Barack Obama candidacy and his 20-plus year relationship with Rev. Wright and his tight relationship with the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam reminds me of.
I think of the bombing of that synagogue for sermons on civil rights for Blacks since 1946 (the synagogue was bombed by White supremacists on October 12, 1958), and I ask:
What have we Jews learned from that bombing and the resulting fifty years of anti-Semitism espoused by the most admired figures in Black America?
What have we Jewish-Americans learned when 60% of us, in poll after poll, still plan to vote for Barack Obama, a man who held a 20-plus year relationship with a man who was not afraid to spread his hatred of Jews at his and Oprah’s church?
Apparently, the 60% have learned nothing. It is as if they were there at that bombing in 1958, and have been brain-dead ever since. And, frankly, the vast majority of the current congregants of The Temple–a Reform synagogue–will be among those 60%, since liberal Jews tend to dominate Conservative and Reform Judaism, whereas conservative Jews are found in great numbers in Orthodox Judaism.
I am glad Jews were a vital part of America’s civil rights movement. The pigment of one’s skin should never be a reason for the denial of basic human decency and equal treatment. But I am outraged that we continue to be–along with America, itself (Rev. Wright’s “G-d Damn America”)–a target of the hatred of the community we stood up for.
The way to reward this hatred is not to move it into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
When the dust settles after November, how many Nation of Islam members will work in a Barack Obama White House? How many anti-Semitic Black ministers, like Jackson, Farrakhan, Sharpton, and Wright, will find themselves with A-list invites at Obama’s inauguration?
The bombing of the Temple in Atlanta is a forgotten event by not only the community that was the target of the bombing, but by the community for which the Temple stood up which made it a target for that bombing in the first place.
I’m Jewish, and I also don’t understand how Jews can share the same political bed with such nasty characters. However, I’m glad there are a substantial number of Jews at high levels within the Democratic party. I believe it will help to restrain the worst anti-Semitic tendencies within that party.
It will be of interest to see how the Dem bigwigs are treated within an Obama admininistration, particularly those which attempt to defend Israel (if there are any). Talking about Schumer, Emanuel, Wexler, Waxman, Feinstein, Boxer.
sonomaca on October 13, 2008 at 4:29 pm