Don Imus and the new anti-Semitism
Posted on April 26 2007 by Cecilie Surasky under Anti-semitism.James Besser, DC correspondent for a number of Jewish papers including the LA Jewish Journal and New York’s Jewish Week, just wrote this phenomenal op-ed in J, the Bay Area’s Jewish paper, in which he examines what he describes as “the lack of response from Jewish groups to the Imus affair.”
The traditional strategy of fighting anti-Semitism by fighting all forms of bigotry has been deemphasized by many Jewish leaders as the issue gets caught up in the politics of supporting Israel and concerns about a “new” anti-Semitism.
Those strategies linked civil rights leaders with major Jewish leaders who figured that “anti-Semitism could be curbed only by fighting every last expression of bigotry and attempt to legitimize it.”
Apparently, if the Imus case is to be taken as a bellwether (or the culmination of a longtime trend for that matter), no longer.
While Besser rightly acknowledges there is in fact real reason for the current concern about anti-Semitism on the left, he clearly articulates the real danger of this trend:
But many Jewish leaders now seem to regard anti-Semitism as unique and separate from other forms of bigotry.In the age of Imus, this kind of shift — by a community that has been so critical in the fight against bigotry — could speed our national regression to a time when racism, xenophobia, homophobia and anti-Semitism were as American as apple pie.
Of course, one could also add that the de-linking of anti-Semitism from other forms of oppression, including the oppression of Palestinians, and the growth of Islamophobia and flippant disregard for Arab lives that pervades many communities, has already helped to speed our national and collective regression.
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April 26th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
for me, there’s something else going on.
one of the main critics of imus’s remarks, one of the people lobbying for his dismissal, was jesse jackson. We all remember the “hymietown” incident in 1983 or so.
jesse did lose the election that year, but he didn’t get fired, he’s still considered a public figure, he’s still a leader in the african-american community.
the hypocrisy was appalling.
i don’t condone imus, of course, i think all those hateful shock jocks are ridiculous and misogynist and i don’t listen to them.
but fire a man because of a comment? and the one advocating that has said bigoted things himself?
it was disturbing.
by the way, since when is ‘nappy’ a bad word? stevie wonder sings about when he was a little nappy-headed boy.
the b word and the h (or is it w) word are terribly offensive though, and way too ubiquitous.
“one could also add that the de-linking of anti-Semitism from other forms of oppression,”
bigotry is not the same as oppression. you can be a bigot and not oppress people, and you can oppress people but not be a bigot.
April 27th, 2007 at 10:32 am
I’m not sure what the author is talking about. The various Jewish civil rights groups have condemned Imus and also taken proactive steps to educate people about the inappropriate use of such language. (To be fair, he acknowledges that the ADL spoke out).
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/DiRaB_41/5019_41.htm
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Education_01/5027_01.htm
http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=837277&ct=3760537
April 30th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
First of all, to A Real Voice, I don’t think it’s entirely right to condemn Jesse Jackson as a hypocrite for the rest of his natural life because of his single remark. To my knowledge, his comment was made once. Imus, on the other hand, has been serial offender. In the past, he’s referred to a Jewish reporter as a “beanie-wearing Jewboy”, to Arabs as “ragheads” and to Palestinians as “animals.”
Then, while I applaud the ADL for speaking out, as Joshua reports, I think it’s important for individual Jews to speak up as well: at the office, at the shul, at home or wherever they happen to be. Jews took the initiative and rallied against the genocide in Darfur, and Jews should take the initiative to speak out against racism and racist comments.
I suppose what bothered me most, though, about “the Imus thing” was the attempt to excuse Imus’ words by suggesting that black folks say the same kinds of things about themselves in rap music. I didn’t hear Jewish people specifically saying this, but neither did I hear many Jewish people specifically trying to stop it from being said. That’s an attempt to shift the blame to the victim rather than taking responsibility for one’s own wrongdoing. We Jews who have been blamed for so much of the way we have been treated in times past ought to recognize it easily for what it is.
May 1st, 2007 at 4:47 am
I am completely confused why JVP is damning the Jewish community for not speaking out about the Imus affair. What has this to do with Muzzling, Israel, Palestine, or just about anything else other than JVP’s desire to tarnish the Jewish commuity.
May 1st, 2007 at 11:38 am
Dan, if Jewish people in the U.S. do not step up, as Jews, to defend the rights of other minorities, how shall we expect other minorities to defend us? As minority groups, we are all in the same boat here. We need to stick together.
I suppose some folks think that since many Jews have apparently “made it” in the U.S., we should be quiet and just be glad for our own good fortune.
I think that if we are successful, we have a long experience of how it feels to be oppressed and maybe we shouldn’t be so fast to forget how it feels.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Except of course, that the Jewish community DID speak out against Imus.
May 10th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Dan writes: “I am completely confused why JVP is damning the Jewish community for not speaking out about the Imus affair. What has this to do with Muzzling, Israel, Palestine, or just about anything else other than JVP’s desire to tarnish the Jewish commuity.”
I’m confused. Most of this post is a quote from an article published in a Jewish weekly magazine.
Am I missing something? Is James Besser, a Washington correspondent for Jewish publications nationally, a closet JVP member? Is j. a JVP organ?
Or is Dan simply more interested in tarnishing JVP than in actually taking note of some healthy dialogue and criticism emanating from mainstream Jewish publications?
May 18th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Leah, I disagree. If Jews promoted an industry that claimed we are money hungry Jesus killers who control the media and the banks I would tend to agree with you. But this is not the case. However, it is the case that African-American entrepreneurs are perpetuating the worst stereotypes about black folks. Don’t get me wrong, I love hip-hop. But there is a significant proportion of the music that is promoting some pretty horrible things.
And you ask Dan:
“if Jewish people in the U.S. do not step up, as Jews, to defend the rights of other minorities, how shall we expect other minorities to defend us?”
We shouldn’t expect them to. I sure as heck don’t. We need to rely on ourselves just like every other group of people on the planet. You do remember how all those people came to the assistance of the Jews in the Crown Heights riots, right? We need to stand up for ourselves, for our rights, for our dignity, if others stand with us, great. But I am not waiting on any other group of people, whether whitey, “people of color” or the “international community” to do anything for the Jewish people.