It was a beautiful basketball. Leather. Handmade. Half black and half white. Deeply embossed across its circumference…white on the black half and black on the white… with the words…All Lives Matter.
The ball was given to me by an activist friend, who was himself the victim of harsh discrimination, and in the days of the beginnings of Black Lives Matter he thought this was an important contribution to the messaging of the cause.
I proudly displayed the ball in my office, until a good friend…herself a passionate BLM supporter….came to see me, as a friend, and said “you must get rid of it…it's making people feel uncomfortable….distressed. Out of respect for you they haven’t complained yet….but put it away.”
We discussed it. I was dumbfounded. What I had thought was a universal and huge nod to BLM was seen as a diss. A lack of respect and complete disregard for the feelings of Black people. And the more we discussed it the more I understood and agreed.
BLM was specific. Very much so. To inflate or conflate would be to deflate. I threw the ball away. Didn’t hide it or put it away….I threw it out and bought in 100%. This was a unique movement at a unique time and it had the potential to change the status quo.
Then Jews were barred from leadership meetings and participating in marches. A movement that wanted no cause consolidation became anti-Israel…..not just pro-Palestinian (to be clear I am too) but anti-Israel. Not just critical of Israeli policies (to be clear I am too) but disdainful of Israel’s right to exist.
Our friends told us…”separate the movement from the cause”. The movement has issues…we know that….but the cause is important. And so, we agreed and stayed the course.
Black Lives Matter. Powerful.
Now the shoe is on the other foot. Jews are being attacked for being Jewish. For looking Jewish. For sounding Jewish. For eating Jewish.
The excuse? The discriminatory treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government. The rationale? You Jews all support this. And worse…you are guilty of Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide.
The Chorus on this Bandwagon is packed full of all sorts….models of Arab descent who would be the victims of honor killings if they stepped foot in the West Bank or Gaza; LGBTQ activists who would be tortured and hung if they ventured forth in those societies. BLM activists whose ancestors started their tragic slave journey bought by Arab traders. Cynical politicians who turn a blind eye to harassment; violations of women’s and children’s rights; the teaching of hate and out and out lies; corruption and on and on.
Few, if any, of the above have commented on the slaughtered Afghan young women; the massacre of Uighurs in China; the human rights violation in Turkey and Iran; the slaughter of 250,000 civilians in Syria and the on-going strife and abuse and murder of the young in Africa.
Corporations, proud of their purposefulness and social action stance have been slow…even loath to speak out for the Jews…against Anti-Semitism and the few who did lumped it into vanilla statements of We deplore Anti-Semitism like we do all forms of hatred.
Yet, dear reader it's their Jewish employees who are uncomfortable…often fearful…hurting as they wonder why they were abandoned by their companies but worse…by their friends with whom they marched and for whom they care and for whom they overlooked the ever more strident rhetoric that sought to marginalize them. They are perplexed and hurt that those friends didn’t speak up…not in defense of Israel. Not in defense of Israeli policy….but in support of their friends and the growing miasma of hatred and violence that enveloped them.
Criticism is a right. Anti-Semitism is a crime. Nothing could be simpler.
I have no desire to speak into the silo. I am not interested in justifying anything and by the same token comparing who has the worse history to deal with…the most trauma in their background….the most hostile work/life environment.
I just know one thing. I stood up for my friends. I will stand up for myself. If you can’t find your way to be by my side…so be it….
Written on Memorial Day as I think about my Grandfather who came to the United States from Russia to escape the pogroms and enlisted in the Army to fight in WWI in gratitude and spent his life as a proud American Jew. And, my Uncle and Father both of whom proudly served this country, as proud American Jews, in WWII and the other during the Korean Conflict.
All three stood up for others…and now we stand alone.
Well said... the silence about other discriminations - children starving to death in Yemin-abductions in Africa - is proof that what we are seeing as Anti- Israel is now and always has been anti-semitism