This is a Jewish holiday.
- Adat Yisrael
- Jan 20, 2025
- 1 min read
Martin Luther King jr. was a complicated man, and like most great men, not worthy of praise in all areas. Jewish over-representation in the Civil Rights movement has been conspiracy fodder for antisemites who love the opportunity to combine their Jew-hatred with anti-black racism. Race-relations have declined since the election of Barack Obama, and relations between blacks and Jews have soured particularly, with blacks becoming one of the statistically most antisemitic groups in the U.S. These are all reasons for Jews to not identify MLK Day as a source of Jewish pride. That would be a mistake. We knew what it was to be second-class citizens under the law. We knew ghettos. We knew senseless hate. That is why we helped, and it was not a mistake. Here are three contemporary black thinkers and leaders who are good friends of Am Yisrael, and perhaps some small part of their being where they are is Jewish support of the Civil Rights movement: Thomas Sowell Larry Elder Pastor Dumisani Washington
I would add Walter E. Williams to this list. it was during one of his presentations that I learned about the life and the Supreme Sacrifice made by PVT. William Williams to these United States during The War of 1812. In conjunction with learning about Jews in the American & Canadian military I remember walking during Religion School when I was 15 to the African American Baptist Church near our Synagogue to listen to a speech made by MLK, Jr.on the radio.
MLK had a dream that people should be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. How ironic is it that his spiritual descendants, the modern left, via policies like DEI, are unsupportive and adversarial to this vision?