Jews and the Black Lives Matter movement

By Rabbi Carlos C. Huerta

NEW YORK — This article may make many who read it uncomfortable.  It will require a decision on the part of not just American-Jews but all Americans.  In the present war we are fighting on foreign soils, it is only one percent of America that is serving.  In this war, on our own soil, Americans will not have the luxury of avoiding or evading the battle of racial injustice, discrimination, and institutional racism.  We all now have to decide whether to get into the fight or not.

I was the Rabbi at the United States Military Academy at West Point for nine years from 2000-2009.  During that time, I twice served in battle in Iraq with the 101^st AIRBORNE DIVISION. Between my time on the battlefield at the Military Academy, part of my duty was to help give all Cadets, but particularly, the Jewish Cadets the moral and spiritual structure they would need that would serve them as leaders of our Soldiers in defense of our Nation on and off the battlefield.  The Soldiers that they would lead would come from all walks of American life, all races, all religions, all cultural backgrounds.  We knew that the only way we could survive as a force on the battlefield was if we were united.

When they came to the Jewish Chapel, where I was the Chaplain (Rabbi), I needed to instill in them not just a pride to be Jewish-Americans but an understanding that they were part of a bigger unit, a unit we call the United States of America.  They needed to absorb into their blood the belief that we all were Americans whether we were African Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, White-Americans, Native-Americans, LGBTQ, etc.  They needed to live the belief that we were truly ‘One Nation Under G-d’, one people with one united future.  For example, the Jewish Chapel had services for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, we had chapel wide displays for Black History Month, Asian-American History Month, Women’s History Month, Hispanic History Month, etc.  All my Friday night sermons during those months would be about those perspective histories and the beneficial intersection between American Jews and all other Americans.

One of the sermons that gave me the most comfort was the story of the Rabbis that participated in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950’s and 1960’s.  There was Rabbi Stanley Kessler and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel who marched with Dr. King from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.  Then there were the seventeen Rabbis who were arrested during the summer of 1964 in St. Augustine, Florida protesting against racial segregation, discrimination, and violence.  Under my watch our Jewish Cadets, Americas future military leaders, were as familiar with names like Bayard Rustin, Cesar Chavez, Sojourner Truth, and Sequoyah as they were with the names of RASHI, RAMBAM, Ben L. Salomon, or Jack Jacobs (the last two were Jewish-American Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients).  Because of our welcoming environment, we had a Muslim Cadet as the head of the Cadet Jewish Chapel Choir.  He was voted their leader by the Jewish Cadets themselves.

One year at the Jewish Chapel, in celebration of Dr. King’s birthday, exemplifying what America was like in the 1950’s, I posted signs all around the Chapel that said WHITE ONLY, COLORED ONLY.  These signs segregated the entrances, the restrooms, the seats, and the drinking fountains.  Needless to say, people were shocked, but it was an education that the Cadets needed and appreciated.  We now are at another juncture in American history where all Americans, to include Jews, must take a stand.  The sides are clear.  The enemy is real and deadly and if we are to survive as a Nation, all of us must get into the fight.

I have observed an interesting phenomenon among White Americans, to include Jews, when it comes to Black Lives Matter.  The very name sticks in many of their throats.  It is as if saying it will cheapen their lives or somehow take away their feeling of privilege or entitlement.  They are quick to say that all lives matter.  All lives do matter but when I was in Iraq, as sad as it was that Americans were dying at home, on the battlefield I was only concerned with the lives of my Soldiers as they were the ones being attacked and killed.  African Americans, Hispanics, and other peoples of color are being killed needlessly.  To say that Black Lives Matter does NOT take away from the fact that ALL life is precious, it merely emphasizes the fact that Black lives are under attack in disproportionate numbers and attention needs to be drawn to it.  To say Black Lives Matter is to say that unarmed African Americans are three times more likely to killed by police than their White counterparts even though they are 1.3 times more likely to be  unarmed than their White counterparts.

There are those of us who are concerned that Black Lives Matter is not just about improving and protecting African American lives in America.  They point out, and rightfully so, that there are elements of the Black Lives Matter movement that can be viewed as anti-Semitic and pro BDS.  This cannot be denied.  Congresswoman Ilhan Omer is an example of this.  She has supported Black Lives Matter and has also said things that make Jewish-Americans feel fearful.  This week we have seen synagogues desecrated in Los Angeles during the George Floyd riots.  This is where our courage must come in.  We do not have to accept all elements of the Black Lives Matter movement to support the causes that are just and right just as we don’t have to accept the bad parts of our American history to support those causes that are just and right.

The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota has exposed an ugly underbelly in American society that many are slow to recognize.  His death is not just about police misuse of force.  The riots and demonstrations are talking about far more than that.  For instance, in hiring practices, many studies have shown that Whites with a criminal record are more likely to be hired than Blacks with no record (2003 University of Chicago).  Other studies show that applicants with Black sounding names have a 1 in 15 chance of getting a call back after sending in their resumes where applicants with White sounding names have a 1 in 10 chance of getting a call back.  A Census Bureau report shows that in 2018 the median Black household earned about 59 cents for every dollar the median White household earned.  This list, like the list of so many unarmed African American men, women, and children, killed by uncalled for violence, can go on and on.

We can and have chosen to ignore these indicators to our peril.  Now our cities are burning.  Dr. Martin Luther King once said that, “a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  As Jews, we understand the nature of state and institutional violence against a minority.  We have seen its unimaginable effects during the Holocaust.  We often ask, “Where was the world when Jews were being burned.”  Now we need to ask as Jews, “Where are the Jews when African-Americans are being killed”.  We have a choice.  The choice is a simple one. The choice is one that history will record and that our children and grandchildren will remember.  As Rabbi Hillel in Pirkey Avot said,  “ If I am not for me, who will be for me, and when I am for myself alone what [kind of person] am I”. Today, we have to decide what kind people we wish to be, what record action we wish to leave for our children and grandchildren.  Now is the time.  “If not now, when.”