Allegiance

Is it a problem that someone thinks Louis Farrakhan is a great leader?

Yes.

Farrakhan is virulently anti-Semitic.  Here’s a recent Farrakhan comment:

“White folks are going down. And Satan is going down. And Farrakhan, by God’s grace, has pulled the cover off of that Satanic Jew and I’m here to say your time is up, your world is through.”

This, after his famous declaration that Hitler was a “great man” and “When it’s God who puts you in the ovens, it’s forever!” 

These aren’t missteps in his communication. He didn’t mean to say something else. He meant to say that the world – business, movies, banking, government – is ruled by Satanic Jews and that those Satanic Jews are an evil to be crushed.

So Tamika Mallory, one of the leaders of the Women’s March, is a devotee of Louis Farrakhan. She raves about his latest big speech. He speaks to her, apparently, in a way that the inclusive, ‘we’re all in this together’ tenets of the Women’s March don’t.  Oh, wait. We’re all in this together except for the Jews. The Jews stand alone. Like the cheese. Remember?

Yesterday on Facebook, I saw a younger colleague – well, a younger person that I have known professionally – remark about how unreasonable it was to disapprove of Mallory’s allegiance to Farrakhan. Like, why is this such a big deal? The first person to comment said something like, why would anyone feel bad for the Jews?

And I remembered how years ago I’d supported an African American woman in her campaign for the State Assembly. We were very close colleagues, not friends, but close associates joined together in common cause.  I trusted her.

And then she was photographed at an event featuring Louis Farrakhan and I asked her about it.  Do you support him? I asked. Yes, she answered, indignant that I would question her. It’s my right to listen to any speaker I wish to, she said. I know, I said. But do you agree with him? I asked. And then she was silent.

Earlier this week, I watched Alec Baldwin interview Jerry Seinfeld on TV. Seinfeld talked about how at home he felt performing in Israel, saying that he felt truly welcomed there. He added, “A Jew doesn’t feel welcomed anywhere.” I looked over at my husband, sleeping in his Brewers t-shirt and I remembered the times when I felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up when we were in certain places where I felt comfortable but he was on alert. I sometimes forget that he’s Jewish but he never can.  Now I am reminded why that is.

So, yes, it’s fine that someone likes Louis Farrakhan. It’s even okay if someone is anti-Semitic. It is, after all, a free country. But it’s not a devotion without consequences, even small, insignificant ones.

You love Louis Farrakhan? You’re dead to me.