WERE YOU SILENT OR WERE YOU SILENCED? CANCEL CULTURE AND THE BULLYING OF AN ENTIRE RACE.

If Senator Obama refused to disown his Christian pastor for his alleged anti-Semitic and anti-American rhetoric, why should we disown Kanye West??

While running for President of the United States, conservative news criticized then-Senator Barack Obama for being a member of Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s church. If you recall, Reverend Wright was quoted saying: “The government gives them (African Americans) the drugs, build bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then want us to sing God bless America. No, no, no, God damn America, that is in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God Damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”

In addition to the above comments, after 9/11 Reverend Wright said: “We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our front yards.”?

When asked to disown Reverend Wright, Obama responded by saying: “Reverend Wright contains within him the contradictions—the good and the bad—of the community that he has served diligently for so many years. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother—a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.”??

Earlier this year Whoopi Goldberg was suspended from The View for saying “the Holocaust wasn’t about race.” For the most part, African Americans remained silent when Whoopi was canceled. Such silence led to the attempted public humiliation of Kyrie Irving by corporate America and the Jewish community. Instead of reprimanding Whoopi for misspeaking, the ADL should have addressed the overall ambiguity in Jewish racial identity.??According to a 2018 Jewish case study conducted by Harvard, 94% of American Jews identified as white. Not once have I seen an option to identify as Jewish on a standardized test, job application, or bank loan. Nonetheless, Whoopi was canceled.?

Judah Benjamin was the first Jew to hold a Cabinet position in North America and the first to be elected to the United States Senate who had not renounced his faith. Benjamin, a Jewish American, owned over one-hundred slaves and was an advocate of slavery. Benjamin's view that slavery should continue was based on his belief that citizens had a right to their property as guaranteed by the Constitution. More recently, Bernie Sanders, also a Jewish senator whose roots trace back to Europe took a stance against the largest Jewish lobbying group. In 2020, while running for President, Bernie Sanders tweeted "The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security. So do the Palestinian people, I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason, I will not attend their conference.”?

Bernie was also on record calling Benjamin Netanyahu “a reactionary racist.” President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu clashed over settlements and the Iran nuclear deal during the Obama administration. This delighted Republicans to the point that Republicans invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress behind President Obama's back and against his administration's wishes. AIPAC's support for Netanyahu during the Obama administration offended Bernie and many other Democrats. Because of Bernie’s Palestinian position he faced smear campaigns, was discredited (i.e., nicknamed "crazy and cooky Bernie”), and was labeled by some as anti-Semitic. In January of the 2020 election year, according to data from Pew, only 11 percent of Jews supported Bernie Sanders for president.?

In 2014, Noam Chomsky, a Jewish American linguist, philosopher, historian, and intellectual, stated "What Israel is doing is much worse than apartheid. To call it apartheid is a gift to Israel. What’s happening in the Occupied Territories is much worse.” Like Ye, Chomsky also criticized the American media by saying the American media was "subservient to the grotesque propaganda agencies of a violent, aggressive state [Israel]."??Chomsky has also been labeled anti-Semitic.?

Accusing individuals of anti-Semitism is a tactic used to silence, slander, target and delegitimize individuals and groups whose comments or ideologies are not aligned with a capitalistic and Zionist society. Let me be clear, I don’t agree with Kanye’s over-categorization of the entire Jewish race as vultures or as ill-intended businessmen and women. And I certainly don’t agree with his praise of Hitler. But I refuse to cancel or disown him for his opinion.??In the same breath that Kanye praised Hitler he explained his reasoning by saying that as a Christian he was required to love everyone—including Hitler. Throughout Kanye’s career, he has fought to uplift not only African Americans but the black race in general. When Kanye lost marketing dollars by criticizing President Bush for his poor response to Hurricane Katrina, it was in defense of the black community.??When Kanye released the song “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” it was in defense of the black community. Not only did the song bring awareness to human rights violations in connection with the Diamond trade, it also ensured that countless African children and families would have a voice going forward. Thus, I’m not offended when Kanye wears a White Lives Matter shirt because his track record speaks for itself.??With that said, one could argue that Ye’s comments were Anti-Semitic. The problem is that the Jewish community and its leaders have used the "Anti-Semitic” label so often that the very essence of the term has lost weight in the black community.?

When a descendant of slaves (Kyrie Irving) explores his heritage and encourages other descendants (African Americans) to explore their heritage, and as a result, is labeled Anti-Semitic, the term loses its significance. The term also loses its significance when an African American woman (Whoopi Goldberg) is punished and labeled Anti-Semitic for mistakenly agreeing with 94% of American Jews. When mere support for Palestinian rights or a critique of the Israeli government is labeled as Anti-Semitic, the term becomes no longer significant. Especially since, by definition, the Palestinians are also considered Semitic.?

According to Mr. Johnathan Greenblatt, words matter. I agree. Absent non-blacks using the N-word, racial epithets, or extreme racial profiling from another race, blacks are often accused of playing the race card in America. And in a lot of cases, rightfully so. Are we to believe that the Jewish community is this omnipotent race that's above accountability? Or that the Holocaust created a level of sensitivity that was equal to or greater than the trauma the slave trade, indentured servitude, and Jim Crow Laws caused blacks in America??

Even when it comes to “white privilege” we have successfully identified, branded, and limited Anglo-Saxon attempts to cry wolf. So much so that “Karens” are using their middle names and the majority of whites continue to hold one another accountable. Look, as African Americans, we understand that the Holocaust was horrific. We also understand that your methods to prevent a future holocaust include, but are not limited to, psychologically enslaving, isolating, punishing, degrading, and humiliating individuals that misspeak or disagree with your view of society.??Unfortunately, what the Jewish community has failed to ascertain is that their response, treatment, tactics, and punishment towards African Americans as it relates to alleged Anti-Semitism is not only a reminder of slavery but a form.

By: Muhammad Abdur-Rahim, Esq?

As an Attorney for over ten years, Muhammad has handled many sophisticated business issues and legal matters for clients in North America, Europe, and Asia. Muhammad is a graduate of Western Michigan Law School (Magna Cum-Laude). During law school, Muhammad was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Muslim Law Society, and the Jewish Law Society.?

After law school, Muhammad started his legal career practicing criminal and contract law. In 2012 Muhammad joined Goodwin Sports Management (GSM) and first served as Assistant General Counsel. Muhammad would later hold the position of Vice President before leaving GSM in April 2017. Since leaving GSM, Muhammad has continued to practice Sports, Entertainment, Transactional, and Contract Law as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Mars Law, LC. Muhammad has represented several National Basketball Association (NBA) players and entertainers in a range of matters from player contract negotiations, business formation issues, advertising, marketing, and motion-picture agreements. Muhammad's professional experience also includes working for the Legal department of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets and teaching law at Mercer University.