IS THER.E A CUR.E FOR ANTI-SEMITISM?
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Edith Kurzweil:
Thank you, Stanley Crouch. As long as there'll be
more like you, I' m sure your optimism is well taken. Next we'll have
Gene Genovese.
Eugene Genovese:
Let me say at the outset that I've been fascinated by
the discussions among Jews about how Jews should fight anti-Semitism. I
think that's entirely proper. But speaking as a Gentile, I don't tell Jews
how to be Jews, any more than as a white man I try
to
tell blacks how
to
be black. I hope you understand the context of my remarks as the re–
sponsibility of Gentiles to the struggle against anti-Semitism, and what is
incumbent upon us folks.
Concern over the resurgence of anti-Semitism has arisen primarily in
response
to
the events in the black community, and we may as well be
frank about it. Those who suggest an overreaction among Jews and
other whites have a point. For even if the black community were gener–
ally anti-Semitic - and it is not - we would have little to fear from it.
Blacks simply do not have the power to mount a serious threat, for they
are themselves being savaged to a much greater extent than any other
section of our people. Never before in American history have so many
blacks found themselves so economically well off and socially secure. Yet,
paradoxically , never before have so many found themselves in straits so
desperate as to invite despair. Demagogues naturally feed off despair, and
today we are looking at responsible statistical projections of a majority
of young black males dead, in jail, or on drugs by age twenty-five or so.
A more fertile recruiting ground for neo-Nazism would be hard to
Imag1l1e.
The outbursts of anti-Semitism among blacks, however much exag–
gerated, are therefore a cause for concern, especially since they would
not have caused a ripple if they had not, in effect, been fueled by power–
ful sectors of white America. It should be enough
to
note that Louis
Farrakhan commands a pathetically small group of ten or twenty thou–
sand, whereas decent and respectable Black Muslim groups are much
larger but get no publicity. Yes, he gets rousing responses among blacks
wherever he speaks. So does every other black politician who kicks
white butt, the harder the better. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam are
creatures of an irresponsible, white-dominated mass media and of cynical
politicians. The extent to which Farrakhan's anti-Semitism, and, more
broadly, his neo-Nazism - for that is what it is - resonates in black com–
munities remains difficult
to
assess. In itself, it constitutes grounds for
vigilance but hardly panic. Consider, for example, the sudden appearance
of anti-Semitism on college campuses.
It
would have no prospects there,
were it not for the support given it by the unprincipled administrators
