Editor’s note: In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Forward is resurfacing some of our recent coverage related to the Black-Jewish experience and racial justice. This article originally appeared in July, 2020.
The death of Rep. John Lewis comes at a particularly fraught time for blacks and Jews in America.
A series of nasty Twitter-fueled feuds have consumed both communities. Black celebrities from the worlds of sports and music have echoed the anti-Semitic ideas of Louis Farrakhan and the Black Hebrew movement. Jews have reacted with outrage and hurt. Blacks have either dug in or, in the cases of TV host Nick Cannon and former NBA star Stephen Jackson, listened to their more thoughtful critics and apologized.