A few thoughts on why Farrakhan has become a topic of conversation this week Jews grieve the loss of life at #TreeOfLifeSynagogue
Firstly, many American Jews (including myself) feel that the justice movement hasn't stood in solidarity with us. While hate crimes against us have surged, we haven't seen an outpouring of support Many American Jews feel that threats to us weren't taken seriously.
We see that in particular with the Women's March and it's leadership. There is the fact that three of the leaders have relationships with Farrakhan, and the fact that the organization hasn't specified anti-semitism as a systemic problem worth fighting.
The Women's March is a major face of the resistance movement and their relationship with anti-semitism is deeply frightening to many of us. This fear is amplified by what we see happening in England, as UK Labour is overrun with far left anti-semitism.
Maybe it's unfair, but I tend to see it on a continuum. Farrakhan, the Women's March's anti-semitism, and smaller, more localized attacks on Jews (Chicago Dyke March or attacks on Jews doing border work in Tucson for example) as all interconnected.
There is a real fear that the American Social Justice movement is abandoning Jews at the time we need them most, and because of Women's March people see Farrakhan as a part of that.
This isn't to say there aren't right wingers who bring up Farrakhan to distract from entrenched anti-antisemitism on the right. Of course there are!
When American Jews that lean left talk about Farrakhan, many are expressing deeper fears that leftism will abandon us and embrace anti-semitism, as has happened in England with Corbyn andn Labour. We live in terror that we will be attacked by the right and abandoned by the left
There is obviously more nuance here and books have been written on Black/Jewish relations. This thread is just a humble attempt to give some insight into why some Jews keep bringing up Farrakhan right now.
I have seen a lot of really great and smart activists struggle to understand why some Jews feel Farrakhan has played a role in the current state of American Jewish fear. Hope this thread is helpful!
