February 7, 2017

Responding To Anti-Semitism In The Age Of The Alt-Right

“To truly understand anti-Semitism, one cannot look through the lens of race-based discrimination alone.”


Two weeks ago, a man wearing a swastika armband showed up — twice — on our university campus. Citing his First Amendment right to freedom of speech, Michael Dewitz, 34, questioned the Holocaust and extolled the Nazi party, seemingly well aware that authorities could legally do nothing to obstruct him.


Coincidentally or not, his unwelcome visits happened to fall during the week of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day the United Nations designated to commemorate the victims of the genocide that resulted in the murder of over six million Jews, along with homosexuals, disabled people, and other groups the Nazis deemed “undesirable.”


That same day, President Trump provoked anger within the Jewish community when he signed an executive order banning Syrian refugees from entering the United States, evoking memories of Jewish refugees turned away from U.S. shores during World War II, and then proceeded to issue a statement regarding Holocaust Remembrance Day which failed to mention Jews or anti-Semitism at all—a move later endorsed by white supremacist Richard Spencer.


Last week, the latest in a series of ongoing bomb threats were called in to Jewish Community Centers in Albany, N.Y.; Syracuse, N.Y.; West Orange, N.J.; Milwaukee, Wis.; San Diego, Calif.; and Salt Lake City, UT. The centers were evacuated, and though the threats were deemed not to be credible after the fact, that did not quench the feelings of intense vulnerability and uneasiness that lingered.


Over the weekend, Chicago authorities released a surveillance video of a man smashing the front window of a synagogue and placing swastika stickers on the front door. In Houston, Rice University campus police launched an investigation after a swastika was drawn on the base of a school statue. In Manhattan, passengers on a subway car witnessed anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas and the phrases “Jews belong in the oven” and “Destroy Israel, Heil Hitler,” scribbled with Sharpie over advertisements and windows. As passengers sat in uncomfortable silence, one brave man announced that the alcohol in hand sanitizer could remove Sharpie. Promptly, passengers searched their pockets for sanitizer and tissues, and proceeded to scrub away the hate-filled messages.

much, much more...

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The article should be titled: "Don't ignore anti-Semitism" as it makes some very good and interesting points about anti-Semitism and Jews.

February 7, 2017

Rise in anti-Semitism graffiti and hateful images across the country as New Yorkers fight back

Source: CW News

NEW YORK, NY - Who is spreading these hateful images across America?

From New York City to Houston's Rice University, vandals are creating symbols and messages of hate and anti-Semitism.

In Chicago, a suspect was caught on surveillance footage shattering the glass windows of a synagogue and leaving behind these Nazi decals.

"Unfortunately, there seems to be some more of that going on these days," one observer said.

Even more alarming, the Feds are investigating bomb threats against dozens of Jewish community centers all across the country in 26 states over the past month!

"It is significant," the JCC Association of North America's Director of Strategic Performance David Posner revealed. "We've not seen things like this before....isolated incidents, but nothing like this."


Read more: http://cw39.com/2017/02/06/rise-in-anti-semitism-graffiti-and-hateful-images-across-the-country-as-new-yorkers-fight-back/

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Thank you to the DU'er who took a stand: I'm the Subway Sharpie/Purell guy.

In case anyone was wondering...

February 6, 2017

Anti-Israel UK lawmaker blames Jews for rising anti-Semitism

THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP!

LONDON — Reacting on a record high of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain in 2016, a well-known British lawmaker accused pro-Israel Jews of creating the situation by not criticizing the Jewish state.

The remark Thursday came from Jenny Tonge, who had represented the Liberal Democrat party in the upper house of the British Parliament before her suspension from the party in October for her penchant for anti-Israel rhetoric. Some of her critics allege that her rhetoric sometimes veers into anti-Semitism. Tonge has consistently denied these accusations.

On Thursday, Tonge sent an email to the Community Security Trust in reply to their report, sent to all lawmakers, that recorded a record 1,309 anti-Semitic incidents last year in the United Kingdom, constituting a 36-percent rise over 2015, the Jewish News reported.

“Do you NEVER consider that the actions of the Israeli government are contributing towards this rise?” Tonge wrote. “If the Board of Deputies and the CST spoke up against the abuse if (sic) human rights, flagrant disregard of international law and the Geneva Conventions they would do much to improve the situation here.”

more...

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Typical bigot; blaming the victimized group for their victimization.

February 6, 2017

Anti-Israel UK lawmaker blames Jews for rising anti-Semitism

LONDON — Reacting on a record high of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain in 2016, a well-known British lawmaker accused pro-Israel Jews of creating the situation by not criticizing the Jewish state.

The remark Thursday came from Jenny Tonge, who had represented the Liberal Democrat party in the upper house of the British Parliament before her suspension from the party in October for her penchant for anti-Israel rhetoric. Some of her critics allege that her rhetoric sometimes veers into anti-Semitism. Tonge has consistently denied these accusations.

On Thursday, Tonge sent an email to the Community Security Trust in reply to their report, sent to all lawmakers, that recorded a record 1,309 anti-Semitic incidents last year in the United Kingdom, constituting a 36-percent rise over 2015, the Jewish News reported.

“Do you NEVER consider that the actions of the Israeli government are contributing towards this rise?” Tonge wrote. “If the Board of Deputies and the CST spoke up against the abuse if (sic) human rights, flagrant disregard of international law and the Geneva Conventions they would do much to improve the situation here.”

more...

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Typical bigot; blaming the victimized group for their victimization.

February 6, 2017

Five myths about anti-Semitism

THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP!

For a phenomenon often dubbed “the world’s oldest hatred,” anti-Semitism is not well understood. From top Iranian officials who blame the Talmud for the international drug trade to British political activists who claim that the Mossad is stealing their shoes, anti-Jewish bigotry can be bewildering and bizarre. But given the prejudice’s longevity, virulence and recent resurgence in Europe and America — witness the waves of bomb threats against dozens of Jewish centers nationwide in the past month and the controversy over the Trump administration’s repeated refusal to include Jews in its Holocaust memorial statement — it’s well worth debunking common misconceptions that impede our ability to fight it.

Myth No. 1

Anti-Semitism largely subsided after the Holocaust.

In my time reporting on anti-Semitism, I’ve often encountered a certain well-meaning skepticism: Didn’t the Holocaust, with its shocking horrors, finally compel society to stamp out anti-Jewish bigotry? Sophisticated people don’t write this idea down, but it’s one I hear constantly in my reporting.

This is profoundly, depressingly wrong. According to the FBI, Jews in the United States are annually subject to the most hate crimes of any religious group, despite constituting only 2 percent of the American population. The picture is considerably darker in Europe, where Jews were the target of 51 percent of racist attacks in France in 2014, even as they made up less than 1 percent of that country’s population. In recent years, synagogues and Jewish schools and museums have been subject to terrorist attacks in France, Denmark and Belgium. A 2013 E.U. survey found that nearly 40 percent of European Jews fear to publicly identify as Jewish, including 60 percent of Swedish Jews. Non-Western examples abound as well. Populations of Jews in Arab lands, which once numbered nearly 1 million, have been reduced to only a few thousand, having been persecuted to the point of expulsion or flight in the past century.

These facts underscore a crucial point: It’s wrong to subsume anti-Semitism under Nazism, its worst manifestation, when the centuries-old prejudice usually takes less extreme or exterminationist forms. The end of American slavery did not mean the end of American racism; likewise, the end of Nazism as a dominant political force did not silence anti-Semitism.

Myth No. 2

Anti-Semitism comes predominantly from the right.

Myth No. 3

Criticism of Israel is generally anti-Semitic.

Myth No. 4

Criticism of Israel cannot be anti-Semitic.

Myth No. 5

Anti-Semitism mostly threatens Jews.

more...

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I included the other myths so it might entice a full read.

February 2, 2017

50 Iconic Black Trailblazers Who Represent Every State In America

There’s not a single state that hasn’t been touched by black excellence.

36 Oklahoma: Ralph Ellison



Born in 1914 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, novelist Ralph Ellison wrote the classic 1953 National Book Award winner in fiction “Invisible Man.” Ellison was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969.

Check out your state here...
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Invisible Man

Invisible Man is a novel by Ralph Ellison about an African American man whose color renders him invisible, published by Random House in 1952. It addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans early in the twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity and Marxism, and the reformist racial policies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity.

Invisible Man won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction in 1953.[1] In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Invisible Man nineteenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.[2] Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005, calling it "the quintessential American picaresque of the 20th century," rather than a "race novel, or even a bildungsroman."[3] Malcolm Bradbury and Richard Ruland recognize an existential vision with a "Kafka-like absurdity".[4] According to The New York Times, U.S. president Barack Obama modeled his memoir Dreams from My Father on Ellison's novel.[5]

more...

Guess I got another book to read.

January 27, 2017

Holocaust Memorial Day: Rise In Hate Crime Parallels The Darkest Days Of The 1930s, Warns EJCs Mo

Holocaust Memorial Day: Rise In Hate Crime Parallels The ‘Darkest Days Of The 1930s’, Warns EJC’s Moshe Kantor


The recent rise in hate crime has “parallels with the darkest days of the 1930s”, the head of a body representing Europe’s Jews has warned.

Dr Moshe Kantor, head of the European Jewish Congress, said that the rise of Far Right and neo-Nazi parties is exceptionally worrying.

As commemorations take place around the world for Holocaust Memorial Day, he said that there were dangers “lurking in our own back yard” and called for improvements in security, education and legislation to deal with them.

--snip---

“Only a small minority supported Hitler’s plan to kill all European Jews through mass extermination, a plan that was widely circulated years before.

“But he was able to act because an undercurrent of hatred had seeped into everyday life.”

That undercurrent of hatred is still there today – and could have worrying consequences, he said.

more...

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From the article, but bared repeating:

“But he was able to act because an undercurrent of hatred had seeped into everyday life.”

UNDERCURRENTS are just as dangerous as those we see in front of our faces. A threat to one group is a threat to us all!

From a survivor:

We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
-- Elie Wiesel (source)


There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
-- Elie Wiesel (source)

January 27, 2017

Holocaust Remembrance Day: LA man shares harrowing story of survival

For most of his life, Joseph Neustadt couldn’t bring himself to talk about his teenage years during the Holocaust.

It was only when he and his family watched the 1993 film “Schindler’s List” that he began to share his memories. The Latvian-born Neustadt, the sole survivor in his family, now speaks freely about those four horrific years and has even shared his story to high school and college students.

“God kept me alive and chose me to be a witness,” the 89-year-old resident of the Los Angeles Jewish Home’s Eisenberg Village in Reseda tells them.

Friday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was designated by the United Nations General Assembly to commemorate the memory of the roughly 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews killed by Nazi Germany more than seven decades ago.

“These next few years will kind of be the last chance we have to hear Holocaust survivors’ personal narratives,” said Jordanna Gessler, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust’s director of education. “We have these eyewitnesses who can teach us so much about what it means to persevere and to survive and to be resilient individuals, and it also speaks to the firsthand accounts of humanity’s vast destruction and cruelty.”

more...

January 24, 2017

Wyoming Just Took Aim at LGBTs

Last week, with little fanfare, a bill was introduced into the Wyoming state legislature. House Bill 135, also called the Government Nondiscrimination Act, would legalize discrimination against the LGBTQ community, so long as the discrimination is done for religious or “moral” reasons.

The act is sponsored by three Republican representatives and two Republican senators.

Specifically, the bill would forbid the government from taking action against any “person,” including public and private corporations and entities, if that person acts on a “religious belief or moral conviction” that marriage is the union of one man and woman, or that “‘man’ and ‘woman’ mean an individual’s biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy genetics at the time of birth.”

The bill is remarkable for the breadth of organizations it allows to discriminate on the basis of religious freedom. “If passed, HB 135 would allow government employees, licensed professionals (like teachers or counselors) and private businesses to discriminate,” said Sabrina King, Policy Director at the ACLU of Wyoming. Under the bill, even hospitals and doctors would be allowed to deny routine health care services. (The bill does not exempt the provision of “emergency medical treatment necessary for treatment of an illness or injury.”)

more...

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More to come....

January 24, 2017

Jewish Group: Anti-Semitic Tweets Erupt After Rabbis Prayer At Trumps Inauguration

THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP!

The rabbi who blessed Donald Trump at his presidential inauguration Friday said he expected the anti-Semitic messages that were hurled his way on Twitter ― and that they wont stop him from doing what he thinks is right.


The Times of Israel reports that hundreds of hateful messages targeting Rabbi Marvin Hier appeared on the social media site following his remarks at Trumps inauguration. Hier was invited by Trump to offer a prayer Friday along with five other religious leaders.


On Twitter, some users expressed surprise and disgust that Hier was speaking. One person depicted him as the devil, Hier mentioned with amusement Monday.

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Theres been a rise in anti-Semitic activity since the election, according to Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that fights bigotry and attacks against Jewish people.









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Well, well, well. Anyone surprised? Think we will justification for it? Oh wait... Of course, the flip side is how the right is portraying the first rabbi to speak at an inauguration in 30 years proves how the new "president" isn't anti-Semitic, that and his having a Jewish SIL and converted daughter. I guess Strom Thurmond wasn't a vile racist because he did have a bi-racial daughter and an African-American mistress.