Anti-Jewish racism and attacks are on the rise across the U.S. Most recently Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Kyrie Irving threw fuel on the fire by launching anti-Jewish racist attacks on Twitter. Both Ye and Irving are spewing a particular toxic ideology of the Black Hebrew Israelites that reflects a reactionary, nationalist, and anti-class outlook. The Black Hebrew Israelites are a group of sects that espouse that Black people are the original Hebrews and were supplanted by modern day Jewish people. Many, if not all, of the groups push anti-Jewish racism in a twist on the replacement theory of the Trump racists by claiming they have been replaced from their rightful place by modern Jewish people.
The Black Israelites continue a long history of the bosses’ anti-Jewish racism being used to divide the working class. From Hitler to now, anti-Jewish racism has particularly been used to divert the working class’s anger away from the bosses and point it towards an imaginary Jewish cabal that is blamed for everything. The anti-Jewish racism of Ye and Irving gains a toe hold because of the righteous anger that Black workers share under capitalism. But with celebrities and anti-intellectual media moguls leading the charge, it leads to the pacification of Black workers who are diverted away from the true enemy that is capitalism and plays into the bosses’ hands by dividing and disarming the working class.
Attack racism from all sides
We must take on racism in all its forms. This particular attack by Ye and Irving, which was then amplified by Dave Chapelle on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, is particularly dangerous because it is being used to divert the anger of Black workers away from capitalism and the ruling class, but back toward a general Jewish body. Meanwhile, many Jewish workers have an antiracist history and do not benefit from the racism inflicted by ruling class bosses.
While the Black Israelites pose as a group that is against the system, the racism they espouse is repackaged from the bosses’ ideologies. Henry Ford and Hitler are prominent in their sources. Many are fooled by this anti-Jewish racism posing as being for Black workers. A big reason for the acceptance of anti-Jewish racism from Black superstars is the racist history of Israel. The U.S. and Israeli ruling classes have defended Israeli racist apartheid and attacks on workers in Palestine by calling anyone who opposes the Israeli bosses anti-Jewish.
Workers unite in anti-racist rebellion
The bosses have encouraged the spread of Black nationalist anti-Jewish racism. Young Black workers have rebelled in recent years in Ferguson, Baltimore and across the country after the murder of George Floyd. These antiracist rebellions inspired millions of people in multi-racial fight back to take to the streets. This mass action against the bosses’ cops terrified the ruling class. No wonder the bosses encourage the spread of anti-Jewish racism.
Many people are also taken in by seeing corporations and media who do nothing in the face of massive racist attacks on Black workers come out and attack Ye and Irving. But that doesn’t excuse or justify anti-Jewish attacks. Also, make no mistake: Ye and Irving don’t share the same class politics that Black workers, or any worker, do.
Any potential win that Ye or Irving could receive from Adidas or the NBA would never extend to our class. But this public debacle does intensify racist divisions among workers. As communist leaders, it is our role to use these moments as an opportunity to call out to smash these divisions and build working-class unity.
One thing the U.S., Israel and Black Israelites have in common is a fear of the powerful history of Black and Jewish workers joining together to fight racism. From the movement to free the Scottsboro Boys to the sit-ins across the south and the fight to integrate, Black and Jewish workers have marched together, fought together and been beaten together in the fight against racism. The bosses can try to bury the true antiracist history of the working class but they will never stop us.
