Thread by @JFREJNYC

Black Leftist leaders like @IlhanMN aren't asking for unquestioning loyalty. In fact, they are leading the charge for frank conversation. This country's institutions were built to dehumanize Black people. Racial justice requires we center this truth as we support WOC leaders.

JFREJ stands with the @Mvmnt4BlkLives call to defend Black internationalist solidarity with Palestinians, and with our Jewish partners organizing to #StandWithIlhan through @jewishaction's #PeoplesPetition and @ifnotnowOrg's demand to Dems to Condemn White Nationalism.

ICYMI, we offered this reflection last week on the complexities of holding our leaders accountable and rejecting racist political attacks. bit.ly/2C1rE9x

Of late, a slew of Black activists & legislators like Angela Davis, Marc Lamont Hill, Michelle Alexander and Ilhan Omar, have come under attack for comments or views, that, while varied in their nature, were characterized as antisemitic in the press, online & elsewhere.

In some cases they felt they made mistakes & apologized. In others, the accusations were just bogus. So why are we fixated on them? Why are these leaders punished to the degree they are without opportunity for good faith or teshuva proportional to the offense?

These mistakes have impact and can feel hard when they come from allies. Jews are rightly concerned with safety & solidarity; it can feel shocking & appear more dangerous when leaders we thought we could depend on show they too might harbor misconceptions about Jews.

But antisemitism on the Right is not equivalent in any way, in scope or context, to that on the Left. The Right’s strategy is to distract us, exploit any weakness, ratchet up the stakes, divide us and set the terms of our dialog. It is antisemitic & racist. So far, it's working.

Many Jews know it’s happening, but responding to antisemitism while sidestepping this strategy is hard and unfair work. This is one of the symptoms of all injustice — it forces a group to bear both the burden of the oppression and the burden of addressing it, at the same time.

But we can beat this. Most Jews abhor the white nationalist right. We and our allies get to set the boundaries of our discourse and hold people accountable according to the values that matter to us, not them. Luckily, we have a lot at our backs, if we can truly have each others'.

We won't ignore incidents of antisemitism on the left.
White Jews must unequivocally reject the racist, disproportionate focus on Black & Brown people in the fight against antisemitism. They must #StandWithIlhan.
We don’t do this work alone. We need our allies at our side.

If all of us are clear on antisemitism and racism — what they are, and who benefits most from them — we can resist this divide and conquer strategy. We will not allow the Right to define our terms, our communities and our solidarity. This is how we win.