ORWe often discuss conspiracy theories as if they were funny but benign stories made by our neighbors, acquaintances, and even friends. But in America’s current political and cultural setting, prejudice combined with ignorance often masquerades as legitimate thinking and leads to devastating results (just see how Florida’s COVID-19 deniers are doing it now). And in a society marked by ceaseless, high-speed information, anecdotal, instinctual bias becomes the basis for bad faith arguments about freedom of expression and a “marketplace of ideas.” As much as social media has brought us smart thinking with typically marginalized voices, it has also allowed careless people with large platforms to speak louder:and without the immediate intervention of the wisest and best informed people who may (or may not) surround them.
Recently, great black artists like Ice Cube, Nick Cannon, Diddy, the Jacksons (Stephen and DeSean), and even beloved black author Alice Walker, have released old anti-Semitic talking points, generally citing well-known fanatic Louis Farrakhan – insisting that “the Jews” manage everything and place black liberation in anti-Jewish suspicion.
In his podcast, Cannon spoke to his fellow anti-Semitic conspirator, Professor Griff, formerly of Public Enemy (he was expelled from the group for his anti-Judaism, specifically for calling Jews “evil”), coinciding with Griff’s racist view of that the Jewish people control the media and claim that “Semitic people are black people”, so black people cannot be anti-Semitic. After ViacomCBS dropped Cannon for his comments, Diddy took to Instagram and invited him to his RevoltTV network. On July 4, Diddy’s RevoltTV broadcast a speech by Farrakhan, a man who has praised Hitler and repeatedly calls Jews “Satanic” around the world, and also shared a video of Farrakhan on Twitter in which the leader of the Nation of Islam called the Jewish leader of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, “Satan” and stated that “those of you who say you are Jews, I will not even give you the honor of calling you Jews.” You are not a Jew. You are Satan, and now it is my job to remove the cover from Satan so that each Muslim, when he sees him, takes a stone, as we do in Mecca. ”
Rapper and actor Ice Cube, meanwhile, has shared a number of anti-Semitic memes and has even released an anti-Semitic trope to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for denouncing anti-Semitism in a Hollywood reporter opinion piece, accusing him of accepting “30 pieces of silver” in exchange for the column.
It is hard to make sense of the smoke and mirror antisemitism emanating from Farrakhan, who feels he can decide who the real Jews are and then takes advantage of any criticism among Jewish-run institutions that he dislikes based on a Jewish identity that he denies. To recognize. This is not much different from the “criminals” that Trump claims are crossing the border from Mexico en masse: demonic characterizations and deliberate erasure allow racist ideas to take the form of concern. Similarly, Cannon denies that what he is saying is anti-Semitic because the only Semitic people he recognizes are black people.
What is more, is that the elaborate inconsistency of these ideas makes them easy to ignore or ignore entirely. Anti-black and anti-Jewish racism are not interchangeable realities, but they are related to and feed on each other, undermining the liberation of blacks and Jews (and, of course, Jewish blacks) alike. Like anti-black racism, anti-Jewish racism cannot have a place in any legitimate anti-racist liberation movement, but unfortunately, as with anti-black racism, those who launch anti-Jewish ideas refuse to Acknowledge your biases, rather than label your hateful words with pretensions of good intentions.
“Like anti-black racism, anti-Jewish racism cannot have a place in any legitimate anti-racist liberation movement.“
It is easy to center the self, particularly when the self can serve as an avatar for an entire diaspora. But part of working for freedom means imagining yourself outside and beyond yourself, constantly being in community with others engaged in similar work. When black celebrities claim that their anti-Semitism is actually a “pro-black” stance, they claim that the only possible way of liberation for blacks is by creating our own “Other.” There is a great difference between criticizing 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 must be criticized where it is observed, but on the basis of white assimilation and imperialism, not on the basis of Jewish identity . Making a scapegoat for the Jewish people, instead of challenging harmful institutions formed and run by people of any identity, plays directly with the fascist regulation.
But conspiracy theories often serve as an ointment for incure and non-resilient people, even when the greatest conspiracy of all, racism, is hidden from the naked eye. And it finds its way even for those of us directly hurt by its systemic manifestations. Like anti-black and transphobic violence, anti-Semitic hate crimes have been on the rise since Trump’s inauguration. A viable counter to the bad and dangerous ideas that fuel this violence is a deeper and more rigorous reading; Instead of clinging to charismatic figures and cultural idols, we should get used to researching beyond YouTube videos, Google quotes, and Instagram reading lists. We need to participate less in forums full of fearful people and go out into spaces of responsibility and vulnerability. What would it mean to invest in a liberation movement that is not self-driven or self-centered, but expansive and legion-gathering? How do we declare our commitment to black liberation without resorting to lazy and harmful thinking? Perhaps we are still looking for confused people like Ice Cube and Diddy because many of us have refused to read, share, and discuss the life work of critical thinkers like Angela Davis and Noel Ignatiev.
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